Cloudberry Cream Cake

White Cake Layers

* 2 1/4 cups or 5,50 dl cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
* 1 cup or 2,35 dl whole milk, at room temperature
* 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
* 2 teaspoons almond extract
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
* 1 3/4 cups or 4,25 dl granulated sugar
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon table salt
* 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) or 170g unsalted butter, softened but still cool and cut into small chunks

Layers and frosting

* Lakka/cloudberry jam or 2-3dl of fresh berries
* 2 cups or 5 dl whipping cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
* almond slivers or crushed almonds for decorating (optional)

Gelée

* 2 dl or 3/4 cup cloudberries
* 2 dl or 3/4 cup pure fruit juice, e.g. apple, grapefruit
* 2 teaspoons sugar
* 3 2g sheets gelatin

1. For the Cake: Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350F/175C degrees. Butter two or three 9-inch/23cm round cake pans, line the bottoms with baking paper. Grease the baking paper, dust the pans with flour, invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour. (The pan prep isn't excessive. These cakes will stick to teflon.)

2. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into small bowl and mix with fork until blended.

3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

4. Add all but 1/2 cup(1 dl) of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining milk to mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer. (The addition of the milk makes the mixture a bit gloopy so be careful of splashing batter.)

5. Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 25 minutes.

6. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto cooling racks covered with baking paper. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

7. Assembling: Soak the gelatin sheets in a bowl cool water. Microwave the apple juice until it is piping hot. Dissolve the gelatin and sugar in the apple juice and quickly cool by placing juice bowl in an ice/cold water bath. When it is cool enough to touch, add cloudberries, reserving a few whole berries for decorative placement. Place in refrigerator while assembling the cake.

8. Fill large mixing bowl with ice water and place beaters in with the ice water. Once chilled, drain ice water and dry bowl and beaters thoroughly. Add cream, sugar and vanilla to the bowl and mix on low-medium speed for about 30 seconds and increasing the speed to medium until the cream begins to thicken. Increase the speed to high and continue until the cream has doubled in volume. Stop when the cream forms soft peaks. You can also stop using the electric mixer once it has doubled in volume and continue with a whisk until it has the right texture.

Just don't overbeat the cream as it will have a bumpy, unappealing look when you ice the cake with it. Place the first cake layer on a plate and spread a thin layer of jam topped with a layer of cream. If you use fresh berries instead of jam, apply a layer of cream and cover with berries and add a small amount more cream to keep the next cake layer in place.

Cover with another cake layer and repeat application of jam and cream. Cover with the third and last layer. Place the bowl of whipped cream into a cold refrigerator until you are ready to ice the cake.

9. Take a piece of baking paper long enough to run the circumference of the cake. Trim so that it projects about 3cm above the top of the cake. Apply a thin layer of cream to the outer edge of the top cake layer and wrap the paper around the cake, securing it with the cream.

Check the cloudberry gelatin mixture and wait until it has begun to set a little bit before pouring it onto the top of the cake. When it has reached a good consistency, pour gently onto top of the cake, taking care that it doesn't break through the baking paper/cream seal, smooth evenly and carefully with a spatula, add whole berries in a decorative pattern and place cake into the refrigerator for a few hours for the gelatin to become firm.

10. Remove cake from refrigerator, peel away the baking paper and begin by icing the edges of the cake with an icing spatula. Pipe a border of cream along the bottom and top edges, add almonds around the sides of the cake or other decoration as desired, and place in the refrigerator until time to serve.

Crazy Cake

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups or 3,5 dl sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons or 0,88 dl vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl cold water

Frosting

• 3 tablespoons or 43g butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl sifted confectioners' (10X) sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• chopped nuts (optional)

1. Cake: Preheat oven to 350F/175C degrees.
2. Sift four, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt together into ungreased 8X8X2-inch or 20cmX20cmX5cm baking pan.
3. Make three wells in mixture with spoon: one large, one medium, and one small. Into large well pour oil; into medium well, vinegar; into small well, vanilla. Pour water over all and stir with fork until smooth; do not beat.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until springy to touch
5. Frosting: Melt butter in saucepan, add 10X sugar, cocoa, salt and vanilla and beat until smooth. If too stiff to spread, soften with warm milk or water.
6. As soon as cake is done, transfer to wire cooling rack and spread at once with frosting. Cool cake before cutting.

Lingonberry streusel bars

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups or 6 dl unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup or 1,6 dl granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 sticks or 225g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 1/2-inch/1,25cm pieces

Filling:

• 3/4 cup or 2 dl lingonberry or raspberry preserves
• 3/4 cup or 2 dl (about 100g) fresh lingonberries or raspberries
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons or 28g butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup or 0,6 dl packed brown sugar, light or dark
• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl rolled oats
• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl finely chopped almonds or pecans

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375F/190C degrees. Grease a 13X9-inch/33X23cm pan and place sheet of baking paper on the bottom of the pan leaving excess along the sides as handles for lifting.
2. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with flat beater or with a hand mixer, stir flour, granulated sugar, and salt at low speed until combined. Add butter one piece at a time with mixer on low speed. Continue mixing on low until mixture is well blended and crumbly in appearance.
3. Place 1 1/4 cups (3 dl) flour mixture into medium bowl and set aside; distribute remaining dough mixture evenly in bottom of prepared baking pan. Using hands or flat-bottomed measuring cup, firmly press mixture into even layer to form bottom crust. Bake until edges begin to brown, 14 to 18 minutes.
4. While crust is baking, add brown sugar, oats, and nuts to reserved flour mixture and mix together. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter with mixer on a low speed or with your fingers.
5. Combine preserves, lingonberries, and lemon juice in small bowl; mash with fork until combined but some berry pieces remain.
6. Spread jam mixture evenly over hot crust; sprinkle streusel topping evenly over filling (do not press streusel into filling). Return pan to oven and bake until topping is deep golden brown and filling is bubbling, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool to room temperature on wire rack, 1 to 2 hours; remove from baking pan by lifting baking paper extensions. Using chef's knife, cut into squares and serve. You can also try using cookie cutters to cut the bars into various shapes to make them look even more appealing than they do as plain squares.

Sommerkage til st. hans

2 dl kremfløte
1 ss vaniljesukker
1 stk ferdig marengsbunn
100 g jordbær
100 g bringebær
100 g blåbær
30 g høvlet hvit kokesjokolade

Visp fløte med vaniljesukker til luftig krem. Fordel vaniljekremen på den ferdiglagde marengsbunnen. Kutt jordbærene i to, og pynt kaken med jordbær, bringebær og blåbær. Dryss til slutt over høvlet hvit kokesjokolade.

Deep dark stout gingerbread with orange sauce

• 2 1/2 cups or 6 dl all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 sticks or 140g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups or 3 dl packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl dark molasses
• 3/4 cup or or 1,75 dl flat Guinness, room temperature
• confectioners' sugar, for garnish

1. Open Guinness and pour into a measuring cup about 1 hour before making the cake to warm up and go flat. You can also add just a pinch of salt to accelerate the decarbonation process. Either drink the rest or save it for cooking with another dish.
2. Position oven rack to center position and preheat to 350F/175C. Butter and flour the inside of a 12-cup fluted tube/bundt/sokerikakku pan, tapping out the excess flour.
3. Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until blended and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Add eggs one at a time, then the yolk. Add molasses.
5. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with the Guinness. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed until the batter is smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Rap pan sharply on the countertop several times to remove bubbles. Level top of the batter with a spatula or spoon.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.. Cool on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto wire cooling rack lined with baking paper. Transfer to serving platter, sift confectioners' sugar over the top and serve warm. (If using the pumpkin cake form, trim the tops of the 2 halves with a serrated knife, spread a thin layer of apricot or other jam on the bottom half and place the top half on top of the jam. Remove crumbs or jagged bits and allow to fully cool.) Or cool completely and serve at room temperature. (The gingerbread can be prepared up to 2 days ahead, covered tightly with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature.)

**It has been said that these sorts of cakes taste quite a bit better if allowed to sit for a day/overnight before serving.

Orange sauce

• 1 1/3 cups or 3,25 dl fresh orange juice, orange rinds zested to yield 1 teaspoon zest
• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice from 1 small lemon

1. In small sauce pan bring orange juice, sugar, cornstarch, and salt to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to cook until sauce is thick and clear, about 1 minute.
2. Remove from heat, then stir in butter, lemon juice, and zest. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature over gingerbread.