Mette

I used to work somwhere where the orange muffins were had seville orange marmalade in them. Gives a good, strong orange flavour and a nice tang. You may consider replacing some of the orange juice with marmalade? Good Luck

I realise I'll probably get run out of town, but I like fondant - - the cat is out of the bag. i admit, I've only ever had homemade fondant, thinly covering a marzipaned fruitcake (Including my own wedding cake - married an englishman). On a fruitcake, it is great, adds a bit of sweetness and crunch to the spicy, dense cake and the soft marcipan. I imagine that a thick layer of commercial fondant could be pretty unbearable. Just my two cents /Mette p.s. I like moderate amounts of royal icing as well....

I know I'm probably hopelessly behind the current trends in chocolate and caramel, but I recently tried salty, chocolate covered almond brittle, and it spurred me on to try the recipe mentioned. They are delicious!!!!! I cooked them a bit warmer than stated in the recipe, about 122 c. (i like caramels that are quite firm)and upped the salt 2½ times (used Maldon as fleur de sel is not in my cupboard) - still not terribly salty, but quite addictive. Chocolate covered and sprinkled with additional salt. Good way of making friends at a new job

Late reply to the closing topic..... I do the 'one pour, one scrape' as well, but once the mold is scraped, I tap it lightly on the table a couple of times - it smooths out the backing.

In Denmark, stewed rhubarb is a traditional trimming for roast chicken - in the spring, with new potatoes and gravy. Had the first rhubarb of the year this way yesterday. The whole family had leftover rhubarb on muesli/porridge for breakfast - tasty.

My guess is Denmark!!!!! It is a 'træstamme' (a log), a traditional danish confection, made by mixing ground up day old pastries and cakescraps with cocoa, sugar, butter and rumflavour, shaping the mass, covering it with marcipan and dipping the ends in chocolate. It may sound quite unappetising, but it is one of those comfort foods which, when well made, are special in the way they take you back to your childhood. Close relatives are the 'trøffel' (truffle - no relation to the fungus), which is the same mass rolled into a ball and rolled in chocolate sprinkles, and studenterbrød (student's bread), a pastry crust spread with the mass and iced thickly with a simple icing sugar icing. I hope you enjoyed it, Felipe! /Mette P.S. If you found it in Ikea, as suggested elsewhere, it has very little resemblance to the real thing

I'd never pay that kind of money for sugar and gelatine, no matter how gourmet....especially now I know how easy it is to make marshmallows in the comfort of your own home. I had a stab at making caramel flavour marshmallows. Basically I used the canonical strawberry mallow recipe (minus orange flower water), but replaced the strawberry puree with the same amount of thick caramel syrup (350 g sugar cooked to VERY dark, add 1 1/4 dl. boiling water - use warm in mallow recipe - not hot - as it sets to very gooey). When I was done whippipng, I swirled in a bit of the syrup to try and mimic the 'plushpuffs'. The result is reasonably caramelly and very tasty, a bit denser than the strawberry variety and AMAZINGLY sticky, much stickier than the other varieties I've made. It stuck to the foil, to the knife, to my hands, and I managed to get some in my hair - I may have to get the scissors out. Once my children get hold of them, they (the children) will be easy to control, as they will be firmly stuck to the dining table. The marshmallow splits where there is more than a tiny amount of swirl, hence the less than smooth surface on the chaps, but it adds a very nice, strong caramel flavour.

Haven't done much baking lately due to starting a new job, but I did make the Concorde for New Year's eve. As stated many times in this thread, there wasn't enough batter to make the meringue sticks for garnish. Instead, I garnished it with raspberries, flown all the way from Kenya for our dining pleasure, and some lime peel and served it with a lime and raspberry sauce. The cake was very tasty and a great mix of textures - and the tart fruits took the edge off the very rich taste. I am almost embarrased to post the image - partly because the cake is placed on the counter amidst the flotsam of a dinnerparty (please ignore the gin bottle) and partly because this thread has evolved into a showcase of beatiful confectionary photography - I am in awe (and need chocolate cake NOW)

My neighbour has bought a little grinder to make his own flour. He mainly uses it for grinding rye to make danisk rye bread. I'd be interested in trying grinding wheat for a lighter bread. Any experiences out there? How do I generally adjust the recipes? what to look out for? I'm all excited! /Mette

Or 7 grams. ← I've been using (danish) sheet gelatine, and it substitues gram for gram. In the last batch I made, I replace the initial water and strwberry puree with fresh lemon juice, which made for quite a sharpish flavour, making it possible to eat lots more. They were very nice. I may try the same procedure with orange juice next. I envision lemon flavour dipped in white choc and orange flavour dipped in dark..... I was wondering if anyone has any experience piping the marshmallow instead of spreading them? One could pipe them onto crackers, dip in choc and have a mallowmar of sorts /Mette

I've just whipped up a half batch of nightscotchmans now legendary marshmallows with no problems - a full batch is a bit too big for my mixer and my appetite... have Fun! /Mette

I don't know anything about Alsace, but in Denmark we have something very similar to what you are describing. A cooked meringue piped on a wafer, covered with chocolate and sometimes sprinkled with dessicated coconut. In my childhood (in the 70's and early 80's) they were called negerboller (negro buns (as in bread rolls, not the other kind :-))) or negerkys (negro kisses). The brand was 'Sambo'. Now adays they are called Flødeboller (cream buns (no cream, though)) and the brand has changed to 'Samba'. For a bit of trivia, check out the manufacturer's homepage. Flødeboller's had quite a revival with the goumet chocolate crowd, in a hand made version. I've tried this recipe Clickety and it is pretty authentic, although the base would traditionally be a thin wafer. The marcipan makes for a more dessert like confection. Be ware though, that the meringue tends to slide off the base when dipping if the base is covered with chocolate. Better to pipe the meringue on the naked base and dip the whole thing afterwards - and use tempered chocolate. Have fun! /Mette

Sounds great, wish I was on your x-mas list Could you please post the recipe for the pear caramel ganache, it sounds very tasty! Thanks /Mette

The praline and black pepper is from Wybauw: Fine Cocolates (I've scaled it down and upped the dark chocolate contents by 100 g. as it was very liquid): 200 g. whipping cream 200 g. syrup (original recipe calls for corn syrup but I use light sugarbeet syrup, which is the most widely available syrup in these parts) 200 g. praline 120 g. milk chocolate 140 g. dark chocolate Freshly ground black pepper to taste - mine are quite peppery. Boil cream and syrup, pour over chocolates and praline, mix till melted, add black pepper to taste. Mould as usual. The marmalade/Grand Marnier filling was the first chocolate filling I developed myself (before I knew the 'rules' of ganache etc. ) and it is very much anticipated (and appreciated) by my friends and family. It is VERY intense, and has an almost indefinate shelf life. 200 g. dark chocolate 1½ dl seville orange marmalade (I use home made, but store bought, preferably english or scottish, is fine) 1½ dl. grand marnier 50 g. unsalted butter Depending on whether you like 'bits' in your filling or not (and how big the bits should be), you can pass the marmalade through a sieve, give it a quick whizz in the blender or chop it a bit with a knife. Bring marmalade and Grad Marnier near to boiling, pour over chocolate, mix till melted and add butter at app. 35 C. Mould as usual. It is quite firm and can be rolled to truffels. Come to think of it, it would probably be nice made with white choc as well, a bit less intense. I'd like reports back if anyone tries the marmalade/grand Marnier. Thanks. Have fun. /Mette

Thanks! It is done with clear cocoa butter and dust, which is a mixture of red and gold, as I'd run out of copper, which was my plan.

I'm just a lowly amateur but I do own the Geerts book (Belgian chocolates). The background information isn't great but the recipes are good in that they are very easy to tweak to your own liking or alter the flavouring for a completely different filling, without having to worry about the texture going weird (and good in themselves as well). And especially for the amateur (or someone in slightly un-cosmopolitan settings), it is useful in that it mostly uses quite common ingredients, available in non-specialist shops. /Mette

They look lovely - and tasty - mmmmmmmm! I felt quite inspired by this post to get the old chocolate making equipment out and try my hand at the gold leaf idea. The whole thing got a bit out of hand and I made the entire christmas assortment, about 5 kg. of a variety of chocolates (further powered by the fact that I start a new job tomorrow and will have very little time to make chocolates). Here's a peek at what the recipients can expect : They are: top row: Solid milk chocolate in keeping with the festive spirit (and something for the kids), creamy coffee and cognag ganache in dark chocolate cup with whit choc and nibs, dark, milk and white choc with almonds, walnuts and pistachios Middle row: Praline and black pepper ganache in dark chocolate, mocca marzipan in milk chocolate with a snakeskin imprint, raspberry ganache in dark chocolate with gold leaf (what a great idea, Trishad!!!) Bottom row: maramalade and Grand Marnier ganache in dark choc, crabapple liquer and cider vinegar ganache in milk choc done with powdered colour and cocoa butter. Thanks again for the inspiration. My friends and family will appreciate it. /Mette

Hi All, I am on a quest to get the most of my newest toy, a mandoline (a birthday present, 36 - Brrrrrrr). I searched the forum for mandoline related threads and found a few useful ones, but unfortunately, most of these threads stray into sliced off fingers and the merits (or non-merits...) of various makes. So here's the challenge: Recipes that use this wonder of razor sharp steel, so I can show my mom that her trip to the kitchen store wasn't wasted. I'm a fairly accomplished cook and ready to try all sorts of stuff (not just potatoes...) Thanks in advance /Mette p.s. I mostly hang out in 'pastry and baking' but was adviced that there are lots of savory whizzes here willing to help in the mandolinizing.

The cake looks fab!!!!! and so do the headpieces and the happy couple:-) A quick question: is this cake firm enough to cut in half and fill with something lovely and fruity, fx. passion fruit mousse. Because I like the idea of a cake that is mostly just chocolate, but maybe it is a bit much on its own Thanks /Mette edited for spelling

If there's any interest, I'll post the recipe for the fruit cake. We have it every christmas and had it as a wedding cake as well :-) /Mette ← Yes! Expressing interest here.... it would be lovely if you could post the recipe. pat w ← The recipe is now in recipeGullet click I'm sure a bit of jackal10's 'special spice' would add a certain je-ne-se-quois (and the rich flavour of the cake would mask the nasty flavour), but as this is a family oriented site....... Anyway, all this talk about fruit cake has led my Husband to start talking about getting the christmas pudding under way - looking forward to it already

Dark english fruit cake This is the traditional rich dark fruit cake I make every year for christmas, as well as a couple of times during the year - even had it in three tiers for our wedding. It is very dark and intense in flavour. The fruity ingredients can be substituted quite freely, as long as the final weight of fruit comes to app. the same weight as in the recipe. Try adding dried, diced apricots or figs. I'm sure dried cherries or cranberries would be nice as well. Almond flakes could be replaced by coarsly chopped walnuts. And so on and so forth. The sky is the limit. If using alcohol is not an option, substitute the brandy with orange juice. If you can get hold of natural glace cherries (the very dark red ones) they are preferable to the nasty red/green ones. And whole candied orange and lemon peel that you dice yourself makes a lot of difference to the overall flavour. I add quite a lot more peel than in the recipe when I have access to whole peel. 325 g raisins 225 g sultanas 175 g currants 150 g halved glacé cherries 50 g mixed peel (go for whole candied peel that you chop yourself) 50 g flaked almonds 2 tsp grated lemon rind 2 T lemon juice 3 T brandy or rum (I use a lot more) 250 g flour 2-1/2 tsp mixed spice 65 g ground almonds 200 g dark brown sugar 200 g butter, softened 2 T black treacle (or molasses) 4 eggs The day before baking (or several days or weeks before) place the raisins, currants, sultanas, peel, glacé cherries, flaked almonds, lemon juice, lemon rind and alcohol in a bowl, mix and cover until needed. The longer the soaking, the more alcohol is needed. Mix the remaining ingredients and beat with a spoon for a couple of minutes until the batter is smooth. Spoon batter over fruit and stir until everything is well blended. Spoon the mixture into a 22 cm springform tin lined bottom and sides with waxed paper. Smooth the surface. Bake for 3-3½ hours in a 140 c. oven. The cake should feel firm and a wooden skewer should come out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin. Do not remove the linig paper when removing the cake from the tin. Spoon 1-2 spoonfuls of brandy/rum over the cake and wrap in double foil to store. 'Feed' the cake every 2 weeks with a spoonful og rum brandy. Keeps for up to three months (in our house nowhere near that long.......) Can be eaten as is with a nice cup of tea, or brushed with heated, sieved apricot jam (or marmalade) and covered with marcipan and royal icing or rolled fondant. The marcipan layer prevents dark discolouration from the cake seeping through the icing. Keywords: Easy, Christmas, Fruit, Cake, British ( RG1396 )

I am feeling inspired by this thread to start thinking about chrismas cake. I make a very traditional dark english fruit cake. I can't help you with a source for fruit, but I too am looking for a good online source for dried fruit, especially whole candied orange and lemon peel (makes a world of difference), preferably in the UK, that will ship internationally. Most standard ingredients for fruit cake aren't widely available in Denmark. Thanks! If there's any interest, I'll post the recipe for the fruit cake. We have it every christmas and had it as a wedding cake as well :-) /Mette

Thanks, I'll try them as soon as I get a chance /Mette

I was experimenting with making various containers and the like using chocolate, and feeling inspired by the great demos here, I thought I'd share. There was a fair bit of experimenting involved in makinig these. I did the containers in two sessions, so bear with the non-consistency of the images. Making chocolate containers is something I do occasionally. The great thing about it is that it requres very little equipment other than items found in the average home kitchen. Half the fun is experimenting with bits and bobs from the kitchen (and the toy box), and once your imagination gets going, there's no telling where the containermaking will go. Any disasters can simply be remelted. I use the various containers for serving desserts, presenting chocolates and cookies and for gift boxes when giving goodies away. HAVE FUN!!!!!! You need: chocolate in temper a variety of cookie cutters or cake rings the odd tupperware containers and plastic bowls balloons waxed paper saran wrap acetate (plain, textured or transfer sheet) or just plain old freezer bags Here's the variety of containers I used (some of them succesfully, some not): The bowl and orange cup are plastic (from IKEA), the little black thing is a sake cup. The blue things are little oblong pieces of sponge (the softer the better), app. 2 cmx 2 cm x 4 cm, wrapped in saran. The childrens plate has a sheet of textured acetate under the crumpet ring, but a piece of freezer bag stuck on with a few dots of chocolate would work just the same. The pudding basins are lined with waxed paper and saran wrap. Things to be aware of when choosing moulds in the kitchen cabinets: Make sure the bowls or containers you use are SMOOTH on the inside - The sake cup I tried with has matte finish and the chocolate hung on for dear life and had to be washed out with hot water. Older tupperare containers or bowls that are slightly scratched can be a problem, as the chocolate has trouble releasing, and may break in the process. The more sloped the sides of a container are, the easier the release is. Make sure your containers are really clean, next time I think I'll polish them before using When doing the moulding, remember to scrape the edge of the bowl clean. On this one, I forgot, and the edge chipped and the bowl cracked as I tapped it on the counter to release the chocolate. For tempering the chocolate, I use a micowawe oven and a heat gun: The chocolate is ready for melting in the microwawe. I melt it at full power (800w) in 30 second burst, stirring between each burst, until the chocolate is about 2/3 melted. At this point it looks like a terrible mess. The 2/3 melted chocolate ready for the heat gun. Finishing the melting with a heat gun (remember to stir to avoid hot spots). Remember to test the chocolate for temper when it is fully melted (dip the corner of a metal scraper or a knife in the choc - if it seets hard with a nice sheen (no streaks) in 2 to 5 minutes, youre ready to go). If the chocolate gets too cool while working with it, just blast it with the heat gun for a few secs. Now for the moulding. I did this with a bunch of the containers depicted above, but I will just show the principles for: moulding a bowl in a bowl or tupperware making a lid for a bowl moulding a bowl in a crumpet ring making a lid for a crumpet ring bowl making a cup making a bowl in a paper or saran wrapped bowl making bowl with sponge wrapped in saran making bowl using balloons Moulding a bowl in a bowl or tupperware: Fill the bowl with chocolate swirl right to the edge dump out excess chocolate - tap the bowl gently to help the process along Scrape the rim to get a clean edge, If there is chocolate stuck on the rim, you may have trouble releasing the item refrigerate untill touch dry fill bowl with chocolate swirl Dump out excess chocolate Let the chocolate set When the chocolate is fully set, you will se that it releases from the bowl (if the bowl is semi or fully transparant). You can help the release process along by carefully tapping the bowl upside down on the counter. Gently ease the chocolate bowl out of the plastic bowl If the mould has vertical sides the unmoulding can be tricky - try putting the bowl perfectly aligned upside down on an identical bowl and press down on the bottom (this only works with slightly flexible bowls) The finished bowl. It could be used for serving fruit, ice cream, mousse, cookies, chocolates etc. or even as a container for giving away a selection of chocolates. Making a lid: Spread chocolate relatively thinly on acetate or piece of freezer bag plastic - the bigger the lid, the thicker the chocolate, but beware that chocolate tends to warp when setting, so too big may be a problem. When the chocolate is touch dry - - use the appropriate vessel as a cutter. Typically you want to use the same model as the bowl the lid is for, but other shapes may work, eg. a star shaped lid for a round bowl When the chocolate is fully set, remove the lid from the acetate - finished and ready to use Here's an example of a bowl made with a small tupperware container and a lid cut with an identical container. Moulding a bowl in a crumpet ring - any cookie cutter or cake/tart ring can be used the same way, although a very detailed cookie cutter may be difficult to unmould. Set the ring on a piece of acetate or plastic on a plate Fill ring up with chocolate Press the ring firmly to the plastic covered plate, using your thumbs to press the ring and the other fingers under the plate, and pour out the excess chocolate. Remember to scrape the edge clean (sorry - no pic - this is a two hand operation) Refrigerate till touch dry and repeat as described in bowl making When completly set, peel the ring and chocolate container off the plastic Carefully release the container Making a lid using a crumpet ring Spread chocolate thinly on acetate or plastic from freezer bag When touch dry, use the ring as a cutter When fully set, peel off plastic and release from ring (I got impatient, and wanted to see the pattern before the chocolate was completely and fully set, hence the matte area on the lid) Finished bowl with some truffles Making a cup The same principles as for making a bowl applies to making any container one can imagine - I made a couple of cups Using a plastic cup - I placed this upside down to set, and it created an unsightly lip on the cup. Using a childrens mug making a bowl in a paper or saran wrapped bowl The principles for making a bowl with saran and paper are the same. When using saran wrap, tape it to the outside of the bowl, as it tends to collapse. I use a pudding basin, as it has a flat inside bottom, giving the chocolate bowl a potential for standing on its own.....(doesn't always work) Bowl lined with saran wrap - try to make the wrap as smooth as possible for easy peeling off when set Bowl lined with waxed paper - try to make the paper as smooth as possible for easy peeling off when set Carefully spread the chocolate on the inside of the bowl after spooning it in, using either a spoon or your fingers (very messy......). Pop in the fridge till touch dry Apply second coat. As you can see, there are areas where the chocolate is very thin. These will be holes in the finished bowl. If you want to avoid this, be more thorough than I was..... Leave to set completely Lift chocolate and paper/saran carefully out of bowl Peel paper or saran off very carefully. The paper/saran gets stuck in all sorts og grooves and cracks so be gentle. Finished bowl moulded in saran Finished bowl moulded in paper This type of bowl woul be pretty filled with strawberries or maybe as a mousse bowl. This bowl broke into bits when removing the paper Making bowl with sponge wrapped in saran Cut a piece of sponge to an appropriate size - mine was app. 2x2x4 cm. The softer the sponge, the easier the unmoulding will be. Wrap the sponge in saran and tie it at the top Dip the sponge in chocolate to about ½ way up Leave to set Very carefully remove the sponge by squeezing it and easing it out of the chocolate shell The little bowl can be used for individual chocolates or petit four type things, depending on the size of the bowl. Finally Bowls made with balloons In the process, I realised that balloons are not just balloons, some have a smoother surface than others when blown up, making the final removing of the rubber simpler. Balloons ready to go. It is a real challenge to make them the same size You can do balloons in one type of chocolate, but I wanted stripes, so I dolloped in some tempered milk chocolate. To make straight stripes, dip straight up and down, for a more groovy look, twist the balloon while dunking. Dip the balloon Place on waxed paper or acetate to set When fully set, the fun starts - popping the balloons Finished bowls can be used for all sorts of dessert serving (maybe a bit retro, but they always get eaten around here). Next time I think I'll double dip them, to get a more sturdy edge (note the chipping) and to prevent some of them from having a small hole in the bottom where the balloon was resting. You may note some white streaking on some of the balloons - the milk chocolate was slightly over-crystallised....oh, well Leftover chocolate can be spread out thinly to set and be reused - - and broken pieces can simply be remelted Happy Moulding!! /Mette Edited by Mette for spelling

I've searched high and low for a recipe for lemon mousse, firm enough to make little 'eggs' to go on a dessert plate. Ideally, it should not be based on lemon curd or lemon cream, but just plain old lemons. Also, please throw me the best chocolate mousse recipe EVER - I'm in a mousse phase.... Thanks in advance.