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Archive for January, 2013

Othellolagkage – Othello Layered Cake

Posted in Cake, Danish, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2013| 16 Comments »

Othellolagkage

Othellolagkage

The Othellolagkage is named after Shakespeare’s great tragedy Othello which was written in the early 1600’s. Lagkager or Layered cakes are very popular in Denmark and the Othellolagkage is the “creme de la creme” of layered cakes, a true Danish classic.

Othello

Draw circle, baked Makronbund, Cake cream, Layering cakes

The cake is served on special occasions but it can be quite expensive if bought at the bakery in Denmark. Of course you can make it at home although it is a little time consuming, but well worth your effort. To save some time you can buy the lagkagebunde (cakes for layered cake) at any store in Denmark or if you live overseas, they can be purchased online. However, I choose to make my own lagkagebunde which I had frozen and so all I had to do was pull them out of the freezer to thaw.

Roll & trim Marzipan, smear cake cream along edge, gently apply Marzipan to edge, decorate seam with whipped cream

Roll & trim Marzipan, smear cake cream along edge, gently apply Marzipan to edge, decorate seam with whipped cream

Ingredients for Othellolagkage:

2 lagkagebunde (cakes for layered cake, see link for recipe)

1 makronbund (macaroon cake layer, recipe follows)

Lagkagecreme (cake cream, recipe follows)

Kakaoglasur (cocoa glaze, recipe follows)

Marcipanovertræk (marzipan coating, recipe follows)

6 tablespoons strawberry jam (optional)

6 oz heavy whipping creme

Ingredients for Makronbund – Macaroon cake layer: (makes 1)

200 gram marzipan (7 oz.)

100 gram sugar (3 1/2 oz.)

3 egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F). Take a piece of parchment paper and trace a circle from the baking pan which you used for making the lagkagebunde, I used an 8 inch pan. Set parchment paper with circle aside.

Mix all ingredients together until you have a smooth homogeneous “dough”, this may take a good 5-10 minutes. Place mixture into a plastic bag, cut off corner and squeeze dough onto circle on parchment. Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool completely before using.

Ingredients for Lagkagecreme – Cake creme:

1 egg

3 egg yolks

4 tablespoons sugar

1 vanilla bean

4 teaspoons flour

4 deciliter whole milk (13 oz.)

1 deciliter heavy whipping cream (4 oz.)

Directions:

Whip egg, egg yolks, sugar and seeds from vanilla bean until slightly thickened and airy. Add flour and beat. Add milk and beat. Pour egg mixture and empty vanilla beans into a cooking pot and over low heat slowly bring to a simmer while whisking continously. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes while whisking. Remove from heat and transfer into a dish, cover cake cream with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to cool completely. Once cake cream is cooled, whip heavy whipping cream to a whipped cream and stir into cake cream. Continue to keep cool until ready to use.

Ingredients for Marcipanovertræk – Marzipan coating:

150 gram marzipan (5 1/2 oz.)

175 gram confectioners sugar (6 oz.)

50 gram glucose (1 3/4 oz.)

Directions:

Mix marzipan and glucose, adding confectioners sugar in increments. Mix until you have a smooth mixture. Sprinkle a generous amount of confectioners sugar onto your work surface and roll marzipan out to the height of the finished layered cake and the circumference of the cake, this is easily measured using a butcher’s twine or some other string. Make sure Marzipan does not stick to your work surface and trim edges with a sharp knife to get straight lines.

Ingredients for Kakaoglasur – Cocoa glaze:

200 gram confectioners sugar (7 oz.)

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

warm water

Directions:

Mix together confectioners sugar and cocoa. In very small increments add the warm water little by little until the consistency is thick but flowing easily. Set aside.

Assembling the cake:

Place the Macaroon cake layer (Makronbund) in the center of your serving dish. Place half of the Cake Cream (Lagkagecreme) on the Macaroon cake layer and spread to the edge. Place the first Cake layer (Lagkagebund) on top and spread a layer of strawberry jam (optional) and the remaining Cake Cream, leaving a couple of small spoonfuls as left-over. Place the second Cake layer on top of the cream. Using the left-over Cake Cream, apply a thin layer around the edges to give the Marzipan something to adhere to. Gently fold up the  Marzipan strip and then un-fold it around the edge of the cake, pressing it lightly against the edge to make it stick. If you have not already done so, mix up your Cocoa Glaze (Kakaoglasur) and spread it out over the top of the Cake layer leading the glaze to the Marzipan edge. Whip up the last 6 oz of heavy whipping cream, place in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip (or whichever is your favorite shape) and decorate the edge between the Cocoa glaze and Marzipan to cover up any gaps. Keep cake refrigerated until serving. Enjoy!

Othellolagkage

Othellolagkage

Source: Himmelske Kager

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Rugbrød – Dark Rye Bread

Posted in Bread, Danish, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2013| 68 Comments »

Rugbrød - Dark Rye Bread

Rugbrød – Dark Rye Bread

Rugbrød is a staple in, dare I say, all Danish households and it is the foundation for most pieces of Smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches) whether it be the elaborate pieces bought in restaurants or the common pieces found in the daily Danish lunch box. What makes Rugbrød super healthy is that it is very low in fat, has no oils, no sugars and it is typically loaded with whole grain and fiber. That being said, there are many different versions of Rugbrød, some packed with seeds and grains, others with only the basics.

Sour Dough Starter

Sour Dough Starter

Speaking as a Dane living in the US, the lack of Rugbrød can be a source of frustration and so you have to adapt. Either you go without, or perhaps you are lucky to live close to a place where they sell a dried-out version of Rugbrød or you bake it yourself. And let me tell you that baking it yourself is worth every bit of effort you put into it, I promise! Baking Rugbrød is not difficult at all but it takes planning. It’s sometimes difficult to gather all the special ingredients required and hopefully you have the special size bread pan that everyone in Denmark possess. If not, it can be purchased on Amazon. And for all the special ingredients I use Bob’s Red Mill products because they carry everything I need. Sometimes I’ll get lucky and find some of the ingrediens at the local supermarket but I usually have to buy the rest online (once again, thank you amazon).

Making Rugbrød

Making Rugbrød

I would like to note that Danish Rugbrød is different than the German Pumpernickel bread and the two words are often a source of confusion when translating the name  into English as Dark Rye bread. Pumpernickel  is darker in color, stronger in flavor and it is steamed for a long period of time to allow the ingredients to caramelize.

Poke holes into dough to allow steam to escape.Brush with water/oil mixture. Baked Rugbrød. Place warm bread in plastic bags to soften crust.

Poke holes into dough to allow steam to escape.
Brush with water/oil mixture. Baked Rugbrød. Place warm bread in plastic bags to soften crust.

How do you maintain your sourdough starter? If you talk to ten different people you’ll likely get ten different answers. This is how I do it. To continue feeding your sourdough starter add 3 oz (1 1/2 deciliter) Dark Rye flour and 5 oz (1 1/2 deciliter) water to remaining sour dough starter, mix and allow to bubble up before storing in refrigerator. Continue to feed starter once a week while in fridge. As a general rule keep it cold when the sourdough starter is resting and at room temperature when it’s getting ready to be used for baking. Remove starter from refrigerator 24 hours before baking your bread and feed it twice (every 8 hours) at room temperature before using.

Feed your Sour Dough Starter. Keep at room temperature until it bubbles up and then refrigerate.

Feed your Sour Dough Starter. Keep at room temperature until it bubbles up and then refrigerate.

Rye Sour Dough Starter

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

10 fl oz water (3 deciliter)

6.2 oz Dark Rye flour (3 deciliter or 175 gram)

Directions:

Day 1: heat water to 100-110 degrees F and remove from heat. Sprinkle yeast over water, give a quick stir and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir Rye flour into yeast mixture until smooth. Cover bowl loosely with a lid and let sit out on your counter at room temperature.

Day 2: add 2 oz Rye flour and stir (1 deciliter or 60 gram)

Day 3: stir dough.

Day 4: stir dough.

Day 5: in the morning or evening mix 1/2 of the sour dough starter with the following ingredients.

Rugbrød (makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

1/2 of the sour dough starter (approx 7 oz or 1 1/2 deciliter)

9.7 oz Dark Rye flour (275 gram)

11 oz Cracked Rye (Bob’s Red Mill) (5 deciliter or 315 gram)

10.5 oz Whole Wheat flour (300 gram)

2.8 oz Flaxseeds (1 deciliter or 80 gram)

23.7 liquid ounces cold water (7 deciliter)

1 tablespoon molasses

1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt

Directions:

Oil a 13 x 4 x 4 inch bread pan and set aside. Mix all of the ingredients together, stirring to make sure there are no dry pockets left within the dough. Pour into oiled pan and smooth top of dough. Cover pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 10 to 12 hours. Before baking, pierce the dough with a skewer 20 times. Brush top of dough with an oil/water mixture and bake in a 400 degrees F preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. After baking allow bread to cool in the pan on a baking rack. When bread is still a little warm place in a plastic bag. The condensation inside the bag will help soften the very hard outer crust. Once completely cooled remove the bread from the moist bag, wipe the bag dry before placing the bread back into the bag. The bread is now ready for slicing or freezing. Enjoy!

Sliced Rugbrød

Sliced Rugbrød

This recipe has been submitted to YeastSpotting.

Source: adapted from Camilla Plum

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