Viking ship cake

Viking Ship Cake

I was asked to make a ship cake for a Viking themed celebration. (we are in Iceland and it's not that big a stretch of the imagination)

After some discussion with the boy/young adult who was to be the centre of attention this particular day we went for pear-and-chocolate-whipped-cream-on-a-sponge-cake cake.

It happened like this...

I baked Huge amounts of base, simple white sponge, nothing fancy there.

Then cut to shape-ish.

Hollowed out and filled with fresh pare, tinned pare and a drizzle of melted chocolate.









What you see before you is the ocean.

I decided to layer it because I wanted to fill it with chocolate whipped cream, almost like a pudding. and it would be unfair for some of the guests to get nothing but base while others would wonder how the masses of whipped cream and marzipan could be called a cake.


 What do you mean it's not a Viking Ship Cake ?

 I put a lot of cream and much more pear into the base, then cut the ship itself apart and filled it too.
Then I forgot to take pictures until I had placed the coloured marzipan on and really gone wild with the decorations....

Note to self.
Must remember to use camera more.

 By the time I remembered to take pics again it was in the fridge.
When decorating a cake filled with Whipped cream it's imperative to keep the temperature down.

So I had to work fast. (that's my excuse for not taking pictures.)

I pressed lines into the deck of the ship and painted them with black food colouring, I wanted to make a cartoon feeling ship.

 Next step was to wash the ship in water with a little coco powder, that gave it a shine.

The head of the ship is made from gumpaste.

I added little swirls of water to try to get some movement and seaweed for more colour.




















 The big mound in the middle is also full of cake.

At this point the whole thing was really heavy and the sponge cake was wet.
I worried about leakage but it stayed ok.















I tried to make it look impressive from all angles because I knew the cake table would be in the center of the room.





































The sail was made from 400 gr melted black chocolate.
Solid.


















I think it turned out nice.



Challenge me ;)

Developing the jam jar lunch

GOOOOD Morning
and in case I don't see you
good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

I've been packing the Jam Jar lunch regularly for some time now and have come up with some nice ideas to change it from time to time so that the kids don't get tired of it.
Sometimes I use blueberry-yogurt instead of the vanilla.
And I've recently started packing my own version of it in a much bigger jar, turns out it's quite good for grown ups too.

What I did was add some chunky fresh fruit to the jar after the yogurt like little bit's of
strawberry,
blueberries,
apples or bananas.

When that go old I did some raisin days :)
Then I turned to the good old granola.
But I didn't add it till later so that it wouldn't get soggy.

I'm thinking that some chocolate pieces might be next on the list for testing.

let me know in the comments below if you try this out or something like it :)

Here's a link to the original blog about these little jam jar delights.

http://topoftheworldcakes.blogspot.com/2012/12/healty-snack-in-jam-jar.html

Pizza: calzone and cheesy garlic bread in one

Make your own pizza... call it what you will

I was making pizza at home the other day, (Great Pizza recipe below... keep reading) and as it happens not everybody likes the same topping.

Our solution up until now has been to make lots of pizzas with different toppings, maybe splitting the pizza in half or quarters because you can't bake 5 pizzas in one go, at least not in my oven.

But splitting the pizza like that has it's disadvantages, the main one being, I find, is that pizza toppings don't respect borders or boundaries. They don't care which half of the pizza they should stick to.

The flavors from toppings like blue cheese, or pepperoni or pineapple or pretty much anything that releases oils, liquids or melts easily is going to find its way all over the pizza and "contaminate" other parts of the pizza.

Nobody said sharing was easy.

Leading us back to the original solution of making individual pizzas.

I have issues with this method too, it means that someone is going to eat first and someone is going to eat last, unless you want to wait, in which case someone is going to have a cold pizza and someone is going to burn their tongue.

Then there's the whole issue of the garlic bread, as a side dish.
When is the right time to make that?
First? - so that everyone can enjoy it as a starter?
Split the difference?- make it midway?
or
Last?- so that the people who got their pizzas first have filled up on it and leave more for you? 
I'm usually the one who ends up eating last.

Maybe it's not really that big an issue... I don't know...
These things have a way of sorting themselves out for themselves.
But it got me thinking...
And when that happens... there's no turning back.
  
My solution...
The remember the calzone?
It's a kind of stuffed pizza, where the toppings are piled up on half the pizza and covered with with the other half. You end up with half a pizza stuffed with three times the topping of a normal one, can't go wrong.

The Icelandic name for it translates into Crescent Moon Pizza, which I like. I think it captures the meaning quite nicely.

I did a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and added some oregano...

Here's what I did.
I'm torn between calling it the
the Calzone Corner Pizza
or
the Custum Corner pizza
(help me decide)

Anyways...

Flatten the pizza dough into a square.
Even if I'm not making the calzone corners I like the square pizza, there's more room for toppings.

Add your pizza sauce (or ketchup and spices) as per usual, but only in the corners.
Leave lots of room in between the circles....

Add a topping of your choice.





Here I grated cheese, put some pepperoni squares and some pineapple chunks and little bits of ham. (definitely not kosher)







Fold in the corners

Cover your pizza toppings with the corners of dough by pulling them over and towards the center of the pizza.


Press the corners down so that there is less chance of the insides turning into outsides.


By doing this you have created the pizza equivalent of "no-man's land".

Even if some juicy flavors were to escape from your folded corners and roll on towards the center, no harm done..
They sit in the cheese (see next step) closest to their designated quarters.


Now...

Make garlic bread
Use the empty space in between to make the garlic bread, don't put any pizza sauce underneath.

Sprinkle cheese in the empty spaces between your stuffed corners.

Be generous with the
- pizza cheese,
- chopped fresh garlic
- grated Parmesano Reggiano

- slithers of red onion

Like like this.......



Bake the Stuffed Pizza in oven
200 dC
for
10 min
or
until Golden Brown



Serving it up
When the home made custom calzone corner Pizza looks ready, take it out of the oven, drop a little pizza sauce on each corner, some cheese and sprinkling of parmesano and let it rest for a few minutes.

Brush some garlic oil on the cheesy center.

Cut into 4 triangles

Plate up and everyone can eat at the same time.

This slice of stuffed pizza is the equivalent of at least two generous slices of regular pizza, in addition it is surrounded by tasty soft garlic bread.


Now the Pizza dough recipe as promised:
(Makes two pizzas)

You will need:
700 gr. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. yeast

280 ml. water
120 ml. oil
80 ml. beer

Yes there's beer in it.
Mix the dry stuff in one bowl and the liquids in another.
Stir together at first, when that is not possible anymore, knead for 5 min.
Leave to rest in the bowl under a damp cloth for 30 min.
Split the dough in half.
Then make pizza.

Remember
I'm torn between calling it the
the Calzone Corner Pizza
or
the Custum Corner pizza
(help me decide)

As always...
 
Happy baking

Back in baking action - Simple marshmallow fondant

Hello everyone
The last few weeks have been very busy to say the least...

But now I'm back and I'm trying out new things in the kitchen like never before, seriously, I've never before had the good sense to keep the camera in the kitchen with me at all times, but now that it's found it's new home it's up to me to use it wisely.
After all, with great pixels comes great responsibility.

Unfortunately I didn't always have the power of the photograph at my side so I have some "must have" recipes which I want to share but I will have to add more pictures later. It's not like I make some of this stuff every day... unfortunately.
Anyway

I thought I'd share something I think people google a lot :)

For the baking beginner and the brightest stars alike :)

I cannot stress enough how sticky everything will unavoidably get, but that should not stop you... after all...
It's only sugar
 

Marshmallow Fondant

You will need:

1. bag of marshmallows (between 25-30 pieces)
2-3 tbsp water
lots of powdered sugar - confectioners sugar - (at least 750 gr)
vegetable shortening (for the grease, here it's called Palmin)
microwave oven
big bowl, one that doesn't absorb the heat in the microwave
big spoon

Grease the bowl and spoon thoroughly.
Add marshmallows to bowl.
Give it 30 sec in the microwave, stir... and another 30sec.
Add water... stir.

Note:
(depending on the power of the microwave maybe you need another minute or two)


The marshmallows should be really fluffy and starting to puff up at this point, melted on the inside...
Then add the sugar... don't be hasty... add the powdered sugar bit by bit (may want to use a sieve, less risk of getting the fondant all lumpy)

Your basic marshmallow fondant is now taking shape (or not since it's probably just a big sticky mess)

If you want to add color, now is a good time...

Or
I like to make a lot of white marshmallow fondant first and knead in the color later, that way I'm not committed to a specific color.

Keep stirring in the sugar
BEWARE it will be extremely sticky and will go everywhere, that's why you want to grease everything up, including your hands.


When it gets thicker grease up a table top and knead in more sugar until you can touch it without it sticking to you.


You should end up with a thick white lump that you can roll out.
Keep the powdered sugar at hand while you work with it, you can add more if you think you need it.




If you don't use all your marshmallow fondant right away wrap it in plastic... It will keep good for up to a month in the fridge.

hope it works out well :)













I made this Bob the Builder with that marshmallow fondant recipe.
I think it worked out nice.

Carrot ? Cake... with chocolate trees

First up...
My Early Winter Nights cake.

Here we go ... (and you just sort of have ti imagine the sound track from Super Mario Bros playing... dum, dum, dum , durrrum, durrum, durrum, durrumm durrummm dumm dumm dumm)

You will need...
2 eggs
180 gr. sugar
150 gr flower
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp milk
100 ml. oil
4 shredded carrots
50 gr dried apples (you can use fresh apples but I like the chewy texture of the dried ones.)
50 gr chopped hazelnuts

one oven heated to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit or there about)
one mixer
one spatula
two baking tins (mine are round 22cm in diameter)
baking parchment (that's posh for paper)

You will then:
1. Beat together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is nice and light and fluffy, about 5 min. in an electric mixer at medium to high speeds, depending on how dangerously you want to live. (meanwhile you could peel the carrots, shred them and chop the dried apples, it's just a suggestion you don't have to... I mean there's no law) You could do the mixing by hand but if you do it's gonna be hurting tomorrow.

2. Add the cinnamon, baking soda and powder to the mix and stir together, just a little bit... be gentle. Then the oil and milk and now you should have some brownish- orangy looking goo. DON'T PANIC.

3. Stop using the electric mixer and add the flower bit by bit mixing it gently, try folding it in with a spatula. You don't want to beat the air out of the mixture with too much force because you want to make the cake nice and fluffy don't you?... yes you do, I know because I read minds.

4. Then you dump in the carrots (which by this point should be peeled and shredded), the apples (which should be chopped to little bitty bits) and the hazelnuts (which you should have bought pre-chopped, if not... well I guess the whole thing is ruined then isn't it?)

5. Now 
I like to keep my baking tins clean by lining them with the paper... but it's your mess, you can opt out and just smear them with butter and dust them with flower. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about let me know, but I will be adding this little tip in the "hint's and help" section sometime later)
Pour the mix into the tins dividing it evenly between them... no favorites, it will get you nowhere.

6. Oven... 20-25 min or until it's nice and golden on the outside and the edges are firming up. Test it by stabbing it with a little prick, it should come out clean... or knife. (I use a knitting needle, it's the only thing they're good for... just an opinion)

7. Let it cool down... give it time, it should be very soft and fluffy.

8. Do you want to put cream on it?

You will need

200 gr Mascarpone cheese (it's white and really creamy. You could spread it on bread but then you might as well soak the bread in double cream.)
180 grams powdered sugar (fluffy white stuff)
1 tbsp butter, really really soft... like leave-it-on-the-table-for-a-long-time soft.
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp double cream
2 tbsp Maple syrup

Put in a bowl and mix until smooth.
You may want to taste it and see if it needs some more vanilla or maple syrup (or just because you want an excuse to eat nothing but the topping.)

9. Spread over the cake once it has fully cooled down or the cream will melt into the cake. (I'm warning you... I mean it.)


Enjoy
And remember to lick the bowl clean.

Gingerbread cookies.. or House... or Boot... or whatever

So I finally got round to writing this down for all y'all out there.
This recipe is actually really simple and easy to make and doesn't have to be cooled over night in a refrigerator like so many others.
No, You can use it while it's nice and warm.
That also means you can make nice cookies at short notice.
Great for impatient kids.

You will need.
100 gr butter
150 gr brown molasses sugar (the really dense dark brown stuff)
150 ml syrup
a sprinkling of ginger
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
5-600 gr flower

What you want to do with that is this:

Put the butter and the sugar and the syrup in a big pot and melt it thoroughly together... it needs to start boiling slightly.
You may want to keep the kids away from this part.
When it's nice and dangerous go ahead and take it off the heat and let it cool down so that it's a little less dangerous.
Then...
Add the spices and stir.
Then...
When it's cooled down a little bit more... add at least a third of the flower.
Now it should look like a really gooey brown, sweet smelling, sticky mess...
You've done good so far.
If you feel up to it try to kneed more flower into it...
If it's still too hot... give it a moment... it's been through a lot.
Ok now you should be able to dump it on a tabletop along with the rest of the flower, make a little nest in it and crack open the egg...
It's gonna wanna run, but you mix it up and squish it in.
Now you just keep kneading it until it's nice and smooth... shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
Roll it out thin and go wild with the cooky cutters.

fire that oven up to 180 C.
Bake in oven for 10 - 15 min depending on the thickness of the dough.

Let them cool
Decorate if you must...
No I'm kidding... decorate them with Icing sugar and candy, they'll be great.

Good luck
Sweet times.

Leftover lunch

All right... I have a confession to make...
I sometimes cook food in my kitchen, not just cakes...
Today I had about half a chicken leftover from the other night, what to do, what to do?
well... I had two simple choices...
Egg noodle stir-fry with chicken, peas and sweet corn.

That's what the kids had,
They added just a little bit of soy sauce.
Not too bad?











or...
BBQ Chicken salad sprinkled with brown sesame seeds and flakes of sea-salt.

 

I couldn't help myself..
The cookie cutters were just lying there on the table looking like they wanted to do some work so I had some fun.
Who said you shouldn't play with your food?
This is what happens when you do...

 Meet them all...

Starstruck,

Heartfelt and

Be there or be square

 Make a simple salad..
Spice up the Christmas salad
Or just have fun...

What do you think?

Icelandic Christmas "Leaf Bread" - Laufabrauð

It can be nice to sit down with the people you love and share a moment.
It doesn't hurt if that moment is in the kitchen... or if there is baking involved.
One of the most celebrated Icelandic, family oriented, Christmas traditions (Try saying that ten times fast) is the annual gathering of the clan in the kitchen...
Preferably a grandmother is involved at this point to lead the proceedings.
Their mission... to cut out personal patterns in a very very thin piece of "bread" (it's a wafer thin piece of dough) and have it deep fried (by said grandmother) to be enjoyed at some point over the festivities.

It is a wonderful tradition which I urge everybody to try out... it's really not that difficult... Promise.
Given that this tradition is at least a few centuries old it isn't surprising to find out that there are very many variations of the recipe floating around (so don't worry if you find another one on some search engine or other.)
It originated in the "good old day's" when people didn't have much of anything here (everything had to be imported, for obvious reasons) But they wanted to make the Christmas celebration a festival of food none the less... What is a struggling, half starved housewife to do? Make Beautifully handcrafted flaky deep-fried bread of course... there's really nothing else for it.
It is a feast for the eyes and the taste buds.

The one I have here is a very simple, easy to make, no fuss, step by step, tried it myself kind of recommendation.

Here is what you do...
And how you do it...

You will need:

500 gr. flower
40 gr. butter
1 tbsp. sugar
1tsp. salt
300 ml milk

Oil to boil it in.

Heat the milk and melt the butter in it.
Mix the flower, the sugar and the salt together.
Add the milk.
Mix some more.
Dump it on the table.
If it looks like this... You did good.

DON'T PANIC
Just knead it till it's nice and smooth.
It takes a few minutes, no more.
Don't add flower, just keep kneading it...
Then it should look like this...

Obviously I added the nice stripes with a knife after I had formed it into a roll.
The stripes are not just pretty.
No.
That's actually the next step...
Divide the dough up into 16 "equal" pieces...
Don't cut all the way through, just mark it for now.
Dampen a clean cloth (tea towel for example) and place over the dough so it doesn't dry out while you work each little piece.
Take one piece at a time and roll it out flat...
Like so...

According to tradition it is supposed to be so thin that you should be able to read the newspaper through it.
Don't worry about the shape, it's unavoidable (unless you're grandma)
This is how we make it nice and round.

Yes it's that simple.
I would have used a lid from one of my pots but it wasn't big enough.
You want to use a nice medium sized plate to get the dough big enough to make your design on it but small enough to fit into a frying pan / pot.
Don't throw the cut-offs away, just gather them in a bowl somewhere nice and quiet, you will want them later. 

Now...
Rolling them out and cutting into shape is really 80% of the work, this can be done by one person who generously offers him or herself up for the job, or if you want to do it beforehand, just make sure you store the dough carefully so that it doesn't dry out.
I make a pile.. ready to be used as soon as the rolling is complete.
I dampen another cloth, cover it with a sheet of baking paper.
Then put one flattened out piece of bread on the baking paper and another piece of paper on top, then repeat. Layering bread / paper / bread /paper on top of the damp cloth which prevents it from drying out.
Ok then the next step.
Cutting your individual design out in the bread.
THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO DO THIS
But here are some, easy to make, traditional patterns.
All you need is a sharp knife.

Step one
Fold in half...

Step two
Groovy,
Cut some grooves into it at an angle (not angel, angle.)
Simple...

Step three...
Open up.
Don't be shy, share the joy.

Now... at this point some people like to lift the pointy part and attach to the pointy part above it or do something fancy... this is not strictly necessary... have a go... or not.

Step four.
Aaand repeat.

A pretty, snow flake pattern emerging here...

One done 15 to go...

Other variations are
The window...
Made like this...

The candle... (below)
The leaf... (sides)

But honestly... you just let that knife dance on that little pre-cooked pancake.
Like so...

See the little triangles on the bottom... that's the pattern I was talking about above in step three.

Right...
Next...
You will of course be storing these little beauties after you make little masterpieces on them in much the same way as you did the per-decorated pieces. (baking paper and cake layering on a damp towel)
Then...
You need to heat some vegetable oil.
Really hot.
I don't know what temperature is best... not in degrees anyway...
I use the good old, time tested, traditional way of throwing in some cut-offs and waiting to see of they fry up nice and brown.

Then, while the oil is getting up and running... you are trying out the best way to add the cut-offs and remove them and finding out just how to work a scalding hot pan full of boiling oil.

 So much fun :)

Anyhoo...
Add a piece of bread to the oil when you run out of cut-offs.
Pattern side down.

Look at me posing in my Christmas apron.
Now you will want the bread to get that nice golden-brown color so leave it for a little while on each side.
Be EXTRA careful when you flip it over.

When it's done place it on a paper towel and cover it with a board for a few seconds pressing down. That way they will at least be moderately flat later on when you attempt to stack them up for storage.

Here are some I made earlier 
The window...

 The plait..

 The One, Two, Three Steps from above...

A nice close-up...

 A selected few...

Now these will keep nice and tasty in a pile covered by a plastic bag for at least 14 days... but they usually don't last that long.
Everyone should have a taste of the cut-offs, they are the first to go...

Add a generous helping of butter, something nice and salty.
The kid's really love this.

It has a golden look to it,
A feel-good taste to it,
And you have a family friendly time making it.

And like I said, you can't really mess it up...
It all end's up in the frying pan anyway and get's deformed,
or re-formed.

So have a good time...
Have fun,
Let the artist in you go wild...

Ask me anything you like and I will try to answer as soon as I can.
For now...
Keep that bread boiling :)
Enjoy.