For the brunkager you need to slice a frozen tubular piece of dough and its normally quite difficult to do by hand so I was so happy when I found a lovely old Eva bread cutting machine at a recycling centre. I have been wanting one for ages and here it was just when I needed it. We used it for the brunkager and it worked wonderfully.

Finally, we had decided to have duck that evening and inspired by the brothers Price I was making duck dough-balls (andeskiver) as a starter. Because who hasn’t got a tin of confit de canard in their fridge (thanks to Cecile). I made a portion of the whole tin so I have enough to make some more andeskiver for Christmas.

And yes it is Christmas soon! We have already bought Lego for our usual Lego advent calender. I have also joined the Crafty Christmas Club again and begun making presents. So if you are from my close family – don’t go looking over there because you might see you present early – and where’s the fun in that.

Afternoon Tea Party by Mary Cassatt (Wikimedia Commons)

I made this cake for my knitting group the other day and they seemed to love it. So I thought I might share it with the world in English. It is a traditional Danish recipe and a quick Google search turned up nothing in English – so here goes!

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 450 g sugar
• 500 g flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 4 tsp vanilla sugar (powdered sugar with vanilla in, often used in Danish recipes – can be bought in Waitrose. Or you can use vanilla essence instead.)
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 300 g melted butter
• 4 eggs
• 375 ml milk

Icing:

• 200 g melted butter
• 100 ml brewed coffee (brewed instant coffee will work just as well)
• 2 ½ tbsp cocoa
• 3 tsp vanilla sugar
• 200 g dessicated coconut
• 275 g icing sugar

Recipe:

1. For the cake mixture, begin by mixing the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar and cocoa)
2. Melt the butter and mix it with the other wet ingredients (eggs and milk)
3. Prepare the baking tray by lining it with baking paper. This is a big portion of cake and it’s supposed to be rather thin so the mixture shouldn’t fill out more than 3 cm at the bottom of the baking tray. In Denmark we have this type of baking tray that fills out the whole oven and is perfect for this type of cake. But I would suggest using 2 British normal size baking trays.
4. Turn the oven on at 190 degrees Celsius (gas mark 6)
5. Then mix the dry and the wet ingredients together and pour into your baking trays.
6. Bake them in the oven straight away for 20-25 min. You might have to give it a bit longer in a gas oven. To check that the cake is done you can stick a fork into the middle and if it comes out clean – it’s done!
7. Prepare the icing by mixing all the ingredients together (melted butter, brewed coffee, cocoa, vanilla sugar, dessicated coconut and icing sugar).
8. Let the cake cool off and then butter the icing in an even layer.
9. The cake can be eaten straight away but should be kept cool (fridge is good). You can also freeze it.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe and if you have any questions or troubles making it – post a comment!

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 50 g margarine
• 250 ml sugar
• 150 ml flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 500 ml milk
• 250 ml dessicated coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar

Process

1. Cut the margarine in small pieces
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk it
3. Pour into a buttered pie dish
4. Bake at 180 ? for 50 min
5. Serve with Crème fraiche

Ingredients
425g warm (not hot) water
500g Amo rye bread mix
13g dry yeast or 25g fresh

The water must have a temperature which your little finger feels comfortable in (not too hot and not too cold).
The bread mix can now be bought in the UK and this is a great chance to promote the great places where it can be bought (only two). The first one is available all year round in the shop and cafe Scandinavian Kitchen in London. The other is the fantastic Danish Christmas Bazaar which is being held this weekend 29th – 30th November 2008 at the Danish YWCA also in London.
While in Denmark it is very normal to buy and use fresh yeast I have not seen it on sale in the UK (except for at the Scandinavian Kitchen) but luckily dry yeast works fine too.

Process
1. Place the ingredients in your baking machine in the order above.
2. If you have a rye bread setting (I don’t) put it to that otherwise use the normal white bread setting (not rapid)
3. Set it to the dark crust
4. As a kg bread mix will make a 1.6kg bread I suggest setting the weight on the machine to 700-800g.
5. Turn on the machine and let it works it’s magic.
6. When the bread is done fish out the hook and let it cool down for half an hour in a damp cloth to allow the crust to be more soft.

Good Luck!

Ingredients

• 125g Flour
• 1 1/4dl Milk
• c. 1 1/4dl beer
• 1tbsp oil
• 3-4 eggs
• bit of salt
• bit of sugar
• bit of lemon

Process

1. Mix dry stuff
2. Mix wet stuff
3. Mix both together
4. Leave to rest for 1/2 hour
5. Cook thin pancakes with a little fat/margarine

Ingredients

• 10 eggs
• 175g sugar
• 50g yeast
• 875g flour
• 1L milk
• 1tsp Cardamom
• Some lemon peel
• 300g melted margarine

Process

1. Mix the fresh yeast with a bit of sugar and a bit of warm milk
2. Warm the milk with the margarine till it melts
3. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar
4. Mix the flour and the cardamom and lemon peel
5. Mix the flour and milk mixtures little by little
6. Mix the yeast in with the rest
7. Leave in the fridge for around 2 hours
8. Take out and whisk the egg whites and spoon carefully into the mixture
9. Cook in a ‘æbleskive’ pan which is basically a pan with dips in it