My Danish Kitchen

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.

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

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

Source: Himmelske Kager