Month: January 2012

A Scandinavian Christmas part III: The food

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I know that last year’s Christmas is done and dusted, but I still want to show you what we ate on Christmas Eve. Before Christmas I gave you the low-down of what happens that day, so it is about time to show you as well.

For lunch (or breakfast for me) we have the cold foods, such as pickled herring, smoked eel, smoked salmon, eggs, bread and cheeses.

And then in the evening we have all the warm food. The reason for this divide is that we don’t want to eat too much so we think having less dishes will help with that, but I’m not sure it works. We all leave the table dying to lie down on the sofa because we’re so full.

Anyway, the first course in the evening we enjoy meatballs, Jansson’s frestelse [temptation] (potato bake with anchovies), small sausages calles prinskorv, red cabbage, brown cabbage (i.e. caramelised white cabbage), Christmas ham with mustard crust, this year we also had a boar ham which was delicious, bread, cheeses and my chicken liver mousse.

Next course is very traditional, and not my favourite I have to admit. The fish is poached salted ling, served with allspice, boiled potatoes and a mustardy bechamel with melted butter.

Dessert consists of rice pudding with lots and lots of whipped cream mixed in and a coulis. We have raspberry and cherry coulis to choose from.

After dinner Santa comes with all the presents and once they are opened we have coffee and pastries. Very typical are the almond biscuit (second from left) and ginger bread of course.

Chocolate cake with mint chocolate frosting

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

When it comed to chocolate I just love the Hummingbird Bakery frosting with cream cheese that reminds me of my mothers frosting for her chocolate cake. But because I use this frosting so much, it is fun to alter it a little sometimes, and the easiest way is of course to make a mint chocolate frosting. This version is not too minty, I still wanted the frosting to taste of chocolate, so for me this is perfect, but you can add more or less of peppermint essence to create the flavour you like.

I found this cake quite Christmasy because of the mint flavour and decorated it sparsley with candy cane sprinkles, which was an effective way to make a holiday cake.

Chocolate cake with mint chocolate frosting, serves 8-10

The cake, 2 sponges

400 ml caster sugar

330 ml plain flour

4 tbsp cocoa

2,5 tsp vanilla sugar

2,5 tsp baking powder

135 g melted butter

3 eggs

200 ml hot (recently boiled) water

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add eggs, butter and water and stir to combine. Pour it into one or two round 20cm springforms and bake in a low oven for 35-45 minutes in 175C. Leave to cool completely. Remove from the tin(s). If you only used one tin, but the cake in half with a bread knife.

Mint chocolate frosting

400 g icing sugar

150 g softened butter

60 g cocoa

300 g cream cheese, cold

2 tsp peppermint essence

Beat sugar, butter and cocoa with an electric whisk. Add the cream cheese and beat for about 5 minutes until you have a glossy frosting. Add the peppermint and beat to incorpotate.

Divide the frosting in four. Add the first 1/4 to spread onto the base sponge. Put the other sponge on top and use 2/4 to cover the whole cake with the frosting (both sides and on top). Use the last 1/4 to pipe decorations on top. Add candy cane sprinkles if you like.