Blue Roses Marzipan Cake with Apple Jam

Fluffy, soft bottoms filled with refreshing apple jam and fresh whipped cream topped with Odense marzipan and lovely bluish turquoise roses - a glory for the sight. It is like biting into a world of dreams.


In the midst of exams and assignments my former neighbour girl wanted me to make a birthday cake for her younger brother. And she brought with her a large shopper with storebought cake mixes!!!!? Chocolate cake, genoise cake, brownies, chocolate mousse.. you name it! Failure number one: You never ask a true baker to bake with these silly mass-produced mixes!! It is like an insult. I mean I was even more shocked to see an instant mix for whipping cream! I think seeing whipping cream in a powdered form was a really turn off for me. The prize was more or less same as fresh cream and I can not understand how it can be difficult to whip fresh cream in two minutes? You have to mix the powder too, so were is the saving of time? And you can never compare the silly powdered cream taste which is no way near to the fresh one. I am a real baker and I love to bake everything from the scratch and my rule is to use everything fresh. There is no compromise in taste. Especially not marzipan cakes which are made with cream as the main filling.

Anyways, not having a lot of free time, I decided to agree for the cake making, but not with the mass-produced stuff, I was going to make the marzipan cake from scratch with fresh ingredients. What a lovely feeling to look at the fresh eggs, sugar and flour, crack the eggs, mix and fold them together, bake them and enjoy the even more lovely smell coming from the oven. What a pleasure feeling. Whipping the fresh cream, yummm, and assembling the cake. No ready cake mix can beat the feeling and taste of real and fresh ingredients and the love that is put in making the cakes.

My sister used to bake lovely cakes and yeasted goodies before she got married, but now she always use a store bought cake mix when making brownies. And I can not understand why? Firstly, baking brownies is sooooo easy! They are done before you can count to three and they are the most delicious in taste (my favorite recipe). Secondly, the store bought brownie mix is a shame like any other cake mix, because they taste nothing, but water! And that is true, because I have tasted them and they seriously lack taste. My brother bought a cake mix for a spiced cake once, it is long ago and I made it and seriously I was like "where is the taste?". By the way, I have a confession to make. I actually decided to try out one of the cake mix the girl has brought with her. Well not to try it because I wanted to, but maybe to prove them that these can not be the same as scratch made cakes. I baked the moist chocolate cake one and filled and topped it with chocolate mousse mix. Do not ask how terrible the cake and chocolate mousse tasted and the cake was breaking up and believe me never again! Never again!!

Okay, back to the cake I was making. I ended up with a marzipan cake with bluish-turqouise roses on the top with arches of pearls going all around the cake, finishing it with borders on top with royal icing. I was pretty satisfied with the result. The bluish roses is a new color to me, I have never dared to make roses in this color before, but they look so amazing! The color is coming out so beautifully. I think this design of marzipan cake is my "signature cake", because I have made quite a number of marzipan cakes with this decorating style now. I am wondering how beauitful would not this cake look if I used white fondant as base instead of marzipan?
Oh and I forgot to tell that the neighbour girl's mom sent me a beautiful zirconia jewellery set, a necklace and a matching bracelet shining so amazingly and a cute scarf pin as a "thank you". I was surprised and got heartily glad that they appreciated my effort <3.

Makes about 12-14 servings

I n g r e d i e n t s

5 eggs, large at room temperature
240 g sugar
200 g allpurpose flour
1,5 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 200C - Prepare a round spring form about 24-25 cm with parchment paper and grease the sides, dust with flour

1. Sieve and combine together flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside
2. Beat the eggs and sugar until pale in color, thick and fluffy (about 5 minutes)
3. Fold in the flour carefully

Lower the heeat of oven to 170C and bake at the lowest slot for about 30-40 minutes or until a pin inserted comes out clean

Let cool on a rack with parchment paper turned upside down


Filling

7 dl whipping cream
0,5 dl vanilla cream, thick
2 dl apple jam

1. Whip the cream until it forms soft peakes
2. Take out a little cream and add the vanilla cream, fold until combined


Topping

400 g marzipan
blue food color
pearls
icing sugar

Royal Icing (for the borders)

0,5 egg white
icing sugar

1. Beat the egg white until frothy, add sifted icing sugar little at a time until desired consistency is reached (not too runny and not too firm)

Assembling the Cake

1. Divide the cake bottoms in three equal parts
2. Sprinkle a little milk on the bottoms
3. Spread apple jam on the bottom and cover with whipped cream
4. Add a second bottom, spread apple jam and the mixed vanilla and cream
5. Add the last bottom on top and repeat with apple jam and whipping cream, spread it all around the cake
6. Roll the marzipan measuring a little larger than the cake and the sides
7. Cover the cake with marzipan and cut the edges, tuck the excess sides down in the cake with a knife
8. Roll out a sheet of marzipan, cut in 1,5 cm strips and twist them around
9. Cover with the twisted marzipan around the cake on the bottom
10. Decorate the cake with marzipan roses (check video here), pearl arches and royal icing borders (no step-by-step pictures because I made the cake at night and the lighting is not good enough to give a good quality pciture)

And the final cake..

Time comsuming, but so worth it!

I am in love with the bluish-turquoise roses <3 I will deifnitely make roses in this color again.. so different and refreshing than the susual pink ones..

I feel like having a piece..

I think this picture was amazing, so I am adding it!

Chocolate Chip & Walnut Cookies

Chocolate chip chunks and crunchy walnuts in each bite.. these american cookies are a delicious treat to your sweet cravings with milk, ice cream, tea or coffee. Or just enjoy them as they are.

Chocolate chip cookies.. yum! Freshly baked and hot from the oven.. can it be better?? Feel the lovely smell spreading throughout the home. It is amazing. And there are few things that can compare with a glass of cold milk and chocolate cookies.

This chocolate chip & walnut cookies recipe is from my favorite blog, Passion4baking and I just had to try these out when she posted them up. These cookies have their origin from America and Manuela got the recipe from her friend's mother in 1987. Hmm, a coincidence.. I was born the same year.

The cookies turned out really good and delicious with yummy chocolate chunks and walnuts in each bite. You can have these alone, with coffee or milk, and they make good company to some vanilla ice cream. I topped mine cookie with some caramel sauce and chocolate topping to make it even more chocolicious!

Scroll down for step-by-step pictures and recipe!

Makes about 15 - 20 cookies


I n g r e d i e n t s

150 g butter, at room temperature
100 g sugar
115 g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or powder
1 egg, large at room temperature
200 g allpurpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
0,5 salt
100 g chocolate, chopped
50 g walnuts


1. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract/powder together in a large bowl

2. Add butter and beat together until it becomes pale in color and fluffy (about 5 minutes)

3. Add the egg and beat until well combined (about 1 minute)

4. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl and add in the mixture

5. Mix in chopped chocolate and chopped walnuts

6. Like this..

7. Scoop out (using ice cream scooper or use a spoon) the batter

8. Drop even sized batter on a baking tray with parchment paper keeping distance between each

Beautifully scooped out.. just like ice cream

I do about 12 a tray..

Bake in the middle of a a pre-heated oven at 160 C for about 10 - 12 minutes or until they are golden in color

Freshly baked chocolate chip & walnut cookie right out from the oven.. lovely!

Mmmm, tempted?

Want a bite?

Chocolate Heart Birthday Cake with Buttercream

Simple and cute chocolate heart cake covered with buttercream and garnish in lovely pinkish colors that fits well in a little girls dream party.


This heart shaped cake with pink and purple smarties was my cute and lovely niece's 5th birthday cake which I made for her. Actually I had a lot of ideas of making a wonderful dream-come-true girls imaginary fantasy cake with a lot of pinks and something like a barbie-in-the-middle cake or a princess cake. My niece loves being a princess, she dresses up in cute pink dresses and she really wanted a princess themed cake. But her mom told me to not make a whole lot of the cake, "just make something simple" she said, because small girlies at the birthday party waste alot and a simple chocolate cake would do well. I was fine with her wish, but wanted to give my niece the pinks she loves and a cute look to the cake that would look childish and girlish and a little princess-like.

So I ended up making a chocolate cake with a heart shape (she got a thing for hearts <3) and covered it all with buttercream (which I assumed kids would love) and some smarties in girly colors. The idea stroke to me later on (but it was too late) that I could have put a cute little ponny or doll on top of the cake to makeit even more fantastic. However, the chocolate cake turned out good and was well appreciated by my family which finished the remaining cake at the evening family party for my niece.

Serves about 10 - 12

I n g r e d i e n t s

1 spring form heart shaped about 22 - 24 cm

Chocolate cake

1 recipe chocolate cake recipe, doubled quantity (click for recipe and step-by-step photos)

Buttercream frosting

100 g butter
175 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
0,25 tbsp milk

pink coloring


smarties in pinkish colors
white heart sprinkles
white pearls


1. Cream the butter until it becomes creamy and smooth
2. Sift in icing sugar, little by little while you mix well between each time until it becomes really pale (almost white) in color and smooth
3. Add vanilla sugar and a little milk to get a smoother icing
4. Keep aside about 1/5 part of the icing in another bowl and add som pink coloring to get a very light pink color
5. Spread the white buttercream icing evenly on all the sides of the cake
6. Spread the pink buttercream on top of the cake and pipe swirls all around following the heart shape with white icing using a medium star tip
7. Likewise pipe all around the bottom also to give a nice finish (small flat-tagged tip)
8. With the remaining white buttercream pipe branches all around on the sides and dot with pink butter cream to give them a flowery look and some white pearls
9. I used pink and purple smarties on the top to give it a more childish and cute look
10. Complete the cake with some heart sprinkles and pipe in desired message or leave it plain - you can also put a cute ponny in purple or pink or a small doll on top of the cake

Love you, my cute little nieces <3

Troika Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Mousse

Layers of chocolatey, berry, creamy, almondy and silky smooth components. Troika chocolate cups are a fusion of dark and light flavors, hard and smooth texture.


I love chocolatey treats. And chocolatey desserts can never fail to me. I do not really make dessert often, it usually goes in baking and the reason of that is perhaps that we never have had any tradition of serving dessert after a meal at home. Okay, maybe special occassions, but then we mostly goes for a creamy fruit salad or custard or trifle.
So on this special occassion I wanted to go for something different and very chocolatey (not everyone at home are fan of chocolate - like seriously - I know it is hard to believe!). I had planned for long to make a dessert which could be served in a edible container, my idea was more of a cupcake form of chocolate filled with chocolate mousse or anything alike. So what I had available was two large bars of dark chocolate, marzipan, nougat, strawberry jelly and fresh cream and I wanted to make a dessert with all the components that goes in a Troika bar (a norwegian chocolate filled with layers of nougat, raspberry jelly, marzipan and chocolate truffle). Here is a recipe for Troika cake and more information about the Troika bar.

I started with making the edible chocolate cupcake forms by painting melted chocolate inside the cupcake forms. I had to coat them for twice and some even thrice to achieve a thick coating which would make the chocolate form stable and not break easily. The next day, I made instant jelly and filled 1/3 part of the chocolate forms, a little nougat, grated marzipan and finished it off with a good amount of chocolate mousse.


The Troika chocolate cupcakes turned out delicious and should quench the thirst of every chocoholicer. The combination was amazing, but I had a few errors. Like the jelly did not get fast enough (maybe I added too much water) and the chocolate mousse should have rested overnight, but since I made it the same morning it was going to be served the texture and flavors was not set completely.
So having these the next day was a delight for my and others chocolatey palate.

Makes about 12 Troika Cups

Chocolate Cups

200 g dark chocolate (good quality)

1. Melt the chocolate (it is advisable to temper the chocolate for a shiny finish) and coat the cupcake forms completely covering inside
2. Let set in the freezer for a few minutes and apply a second coat of chocolate
3. Let set in the freezer again and apply a last coat so that it will get solid (otherwise it can break easily)
4. Set in the freezer again, let rest in room temperature for a few minutes and then carefully peel the cupcake forms so that you will have beautiful edible chocolate cupcake forms

Filling

1/2 packet (40 g powdered) raspberry or strawberry instant jelly
50 g nougat
75 g marzipan, grated

Chocolate Mousse (Makes more than enough)

125 g dark chocolate of good quality
1,5 dl whipping cream
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
1,5 tbsp sugar

1. In a clean bowl whip the egg white until it form stiff peaks
2. Whisk the egg yolk along with sugar until it becomes pale in color and creamy (egg nog)
3. Melt the chocolate over hot water bath with one tablespoon of cream
4. Whip the cream until it starts to form peaks and fold in the melted chocolate, egg nog and lastly the egg whites (a even creamy mass)

Let cool in the refrigator preferably overnight

Assembling

1. Keep the chocolate cups on a tray in the freezer and make jelly following the instruction of the packet, wait till the jelly gets luke warm and pour carefully in the chocolate cups while they are still in the freezer. Let the jelly set keeping them in the freezer and transfer them to the refrigerator later

2. Have a spoonful of nougat in each chocolate cup on top of the jelly

3. Cover with some grated marzipan

4. Finally pipe or spoon the chilled chocolate mousse on top

Garnish with some blanched and chopped almonds and chocolate decorations, serve with some strained raspberry jam!

<3 Deux ans et demi - de doux souvernirs avec des friandises sucrées <3

Lemon Tartlets

Creamy sweet lemon curd with a lovely fresh lemon flavor filled in crunchy tartlet shells. Simple and deliciously good!


I have never found lemon tartlets appealing when it comes to baked goodies. And I think the reason may be the "lemon" itself, more than the "tartlet". When I was younger my mom used to buy these double sandwiched square cookies that comes in a long packet with a good quantity of biscuits with lemon flavor. And that lemon flavor in those biscuits did not have a chance to be added in my favorite list. Later on I have baked lemon cake which has been pretty good with a slight lemon flavor, but I have still not managed to see how lemon or more specifically lemon curd alone can be good in a tart shell. Until recently.


The first time I had a bite of a lemon tartlet was last year on a vacation abroad. It was not the best, but surprisingly alright in taste yet still not good enough to be remembered. And after that I never had a second try on lemon tartlet before just a few days ago and this time I was the pastry chef myself.
The matter here in this case is that my brother-in-law loves lemon tartlets. He has been eating them in restaurants, bakery's and stuff and has definitely found his favorite. So my challenge was to create "perfect" lemon tartlets and all the experience I had regarding lemon tarts was the bite I had a year ago.

Anyways, I had not only to take the challenge, but win it also and my research for lemon tartlets started on google. It is never easy to find recipe in google, because you do not have a clue which one is good and which one is not so I tried to read some blogs and make an idea of what a good recipe could be like. The problem was not the tart shell crust, it was the lemon curd. My sister told me she tried to make lemon tartlets once and ended up with too intense lemon flavor which ruined the tartlets and almost all of the recipes I checked had a large quantity of lemon juice added. Do not the lemons outside scandinavia have a strong flavor??


All the google searching made me even more confused so I just picked up the recipe that made sense to me and went off trying it. Even this recipe called for a whole half a cup of lemon juice and I reduced it till barely 1 tbsp which according to me also was too much and gave a strong enough flavor. For the tartlet shells I used a recipe from an old norwegian cooking book.

Ok, so did I win this challenge of making the "perfect" lemon tartlets? Uhm, well not really, but I can say I was pretty close. A few adjustments and I could have got greater results. The judge himself (my bro-in-law) could sum it up with that it was a good effort, but the lemon curd had to be thicker and the yellowish color was too strong (I added coloring since swedish eggs are too pale). My mom thought it had a strong buttery flavor (which is true cause of all the butter I added).

So what do I think? Firstly, I think it was a good attempt, secondly lemon tartlets are not at all bad. They tasted lovely with a fresh lemon tast, but yes, less butter could make them even tastier. And I wanted to pipe the lemon curd like a swirl so the curd has to be thicker next time. I will try to make them again at the end of this week with another lemon curd recipe that is made with maizena and very little butter. I guess this will thickens the curd and hopefully give "perfect" lemon tartlets.

Makes about 12 lemon tartlets


I n g r e d i e n t s


Tartlet Shells

12 - 14 tartlet shells

100 g butter
100 g allpurpose flour
1 tbsp water, ice cold

Grease the tartlet shells with butter

1. Dice the butter into cubes and have the flour in a medium sized bowl
2. Crumble the butter into the flour with your fingertips
3. Bind the dough together with the water (do not over-work the dough), wrap it in plastic foil and chill in the refrigerator for atleast 1 hour or preferably overnight

4. Roll out the dough and cut circles that are a little larger than the tartlet shells. Cover the shells and prick with a fork and fill them with beans (to avoid shrinking of the tarts wile baking)

Bake in the middle of a hot pre-heated oven at 200C for about 15 minutes or until they are golden in color


Lemon Curd (taken from Ono Kine Grindz and modified a little by me)

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 dl sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly pressed
75 g butter

1. Combine eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until well blended
2. Add the lemon juice and continue to whisk until the sugar has dissolved
3. Transfer the egg mixture to a sauce pan, add in butter and cook on medium-low heat until it thickens (about 10 minutes). Do NOT allow it to boil
4. Pour in a bowl and let cool completely at room temperature

Fill the lemon curd in the baked tartlet shells and bake them again in a moderately hot oven at 125C for about 5 minutes to set the lemon curd

Let cool completely at room temperature and store in a airtight container


Beautiful lemon tartlets..

garnished with peel of clementine

I had to take pictures with a half cut clementine since I had no lemon