Scandinavian Baking (Trine Hahnemann)

Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann
Published by Quadrille Publishing

ISBN 9781849493796
Photographer Columbus Leth
This comprehensive collection of modern Scandinavian baking recipes looks into a world of
steamed-up kitchen windows, cake parties on deserted Scandinavian beaches, family
Christmas traditions, flaky Danish pastries, dense breads and creamy layer cakes. On a
savoury note, crispbreads and rye loaves abound, as do stunning tarts and recipes for
smørrebrød and different toppings to be eaten at a social lunch known as a smørgåsbord.
In this book
1. Introduction
2. Notes on scandinavian baking
3. Cakes and pastries
1. Walnut macaroon layer cake
2. Napoleon’s cake
3. ‘Potato’ cake
4. Tilly’s dream cake
5. Home-made marzipan
6. Jens jørgen thorsen meringue
7. Raspberry éclairs
8. Medals
9. Autumn apple and hazelnut layer cake
10. Crêpe cake with gooseberry ‘jam’
11. Rosehip roulade
12. Choux ring with plums and cream
13. Yeasted marzipan cream buns
14. Rye bread layer cake
15. Raspberry snitter
16. Coconut macaroons
17. Danish custard pies
18. Napoleon’s hat
19. Lingonberry and marzipan cake
20. Florentines
21. Marzipan cake
22. Rum balls
23. Apricot and chocolate marble cake
24. Autumn pear and nut tart
25. Apple cake with rosehip jam
26. Spelt orange cake
27. Honey cake with orange buttercream
28. Runeberg cakes
29. Brovst dream cake
30. Michala’s chocolate cake
31. Meringue-topped rhubarb cake
32. Basic Danish pastry dough
33. Chocolate Danish
34. Jam or pastry cream Danish
35. Poppy and sesame danish
36. Spiced buns
37. Cinnamon buns
38. Cardamom knots
39. Poppy seed Danish
40. Kringle with rosehip jam
41. Buttermilk buns
42. Saffron bread
43. Mayors krans
44. Winter spiced pastry
4. Midsummer cake party
1. Salmon and horseradish snitter
2. Choux pastries with rhubarb cream
3. Spelt cardamom rolls
4. Rose pound cake
5. Buttermilk scones with cream and jam
6. Pink meringue kisses
7. Fru Pigalopp cake
8. Redcurrant cordial
5. Breads and savouries
1. Rye sourdough starter
2. Wholemeal biga
3. Wheat-rye biga
4. Sønderjydske rye bread
5. My classic rye bread
6. Malted rye bread with mixed seeds
7. Mini rye breads with fruits and nuts
8. Mini finnish rye breads
9. Sweet rye bread with fennel seeds
10. My beautiful bread with rye
11. Caraway seed bread
12. Cold-risen wheat and oat bread
13. Knight’s grain bread
14. Sourdough bread
15. Limpa with anise
16. Cold-risen spelt and wheat bread
17. White bread
18. Mormor’s white bread with poppy seeds
19. Nordic spelt focaccia with fruit and nuts
20. Nordic cheese bread
21. Walnut bread
22. Buttermilk bread with wheat berries
23. Classic coarse wholemeal bread (Grahamsbrød) from my childhood
24. Spelt tin
25. Spelt and anise rolls
26. Buttermilk butter
27. Raisin spelt buns
28. Rye rolls
29. Holiday crunchy cardamom buns
30. Rundstykker
31. ‘Shower buns’
32. Spelt and anise crispbread
33. Rye crispbread
34. Multigrain spelt crispbread
35. Rich cheese biscuits
36. Spelt, smoked salmon and asparagus tart
37. Sausage bread rolls
38. Spring rye grain salad with asparagus, peas and dill
39. ‘Fridge harvest’ focaccia
40. Beetroot and bacon muffins
41. Bread salad with kale, beetroot and horseradish dressing
42. Norwegian potato pancakes with salmon and spinach
43. Nordic ‘pizza’ with kale and potato
44. Three kinds of open sandwich
45. Herring with apple, beetroot and red onion
46. Liver pâté and pickled beetroot
47. Roast beef and horseradish
6. Christmas
1. Honey bombs
2. Finnish sugar cookies
3. Vanilla cookies
4. Christmas stars
5. Rye and orange cookies
6. Spice cookies
7. Almond cookies
8. Little spiced apple pies
9. Doughnuts and spiced white gløgg
10. Vegetable soup and spelt baguettes
11. Scandinavian jams
Introduction
Baking – both of bread and cakes – is a labour of love. It is a small and everyday act in life
that is nevertheless one of the most powerful ways to show another person that you care
for them. Baking at home was a passion of mine long before I thought about working as a
cook.
As a child in the 1970s, I lived in a very large apartment in the centre of Copenhagen. It
was a commune. My parents were very busy changing the world into what they believed
would be a better place. They thought that women and men should live as equals and that
children should be allowed to be children… with a lot of room to explore their creativity.
So, at eight years old in our big communal kitchen, I baked my first cakes. I did not read
recipes; in fact I couldn’t read. I just mixed everything together, poured the resulting batter
into a tin and baked it. I enjoyed the cakes but, to be honest, they were pretty much
inedible. The grown-ups never told me, they just encouraged me to keep baking and so,
happily, I did. At some point, somebody explained to me that if I started a cake by beating
eggs with sugar, or butter with sugar, and then proceeded from there, I would find I baked
lighter, better-tasting cakes. That was a revelation and endless variations on pound cakes
followed.
My baking developed over the years. As a young woman, studying literature and being at
home with my newborn son, I decided to buy a generic baking book. I simply worked my
way through it, trying out all the recipes and teaching myself. For my son’s first birthday, we
were in the UK and I couldn’t imagine us all celebrating that milestone without real Danish
pastries to eat. So I learned how to make them, too.
Around that time I also started baking rye bread. I eat it every day and home-baked rye
bread is just so much better than anything you can buy. Over the years my interest in rye
has grown into a cultural journey, spinning off into a deeper interest about how rye grows
and how you can bake different breads with it, using seeds from seed banks and avoiding
depleted grain stocks.
Baking forces us to take time out from our busy lives and, in doing so, reminds us why that
is necessary. Home baking can’t be rushed. As soon as your family walks in the door and
they smell the aromas of bread or cake coming from the kitchen, their shoulders will relax
and, right away, you have transported them to another – far more pleasurable – universe.
I wrote this book during a difficult and unsettling year for me and my family. Despite the fact
that the book expanded to take far more time and work than I had ever imagined, all the
baking involved proved grounding for me and was possibly even part of the healing
process. Baking can be like that. As you explore these pages, perhaps trying a crispbread
recipe, baking a batch of rolls, or indulging in some delicious smørrebrød, I hope you will
find the same peace.
Baking has been the subject of increasing interest in the last decades and the ingredients –
especially the flours – have improved immensely in Scandinavia. It has been a small
revolution, with artisan millers and farmers developing tasty and really interesting flours. It
has made baking far more exciting. Most people can’t even remember when we didn’t have
spelt flour on supermarket shelves. Now we have a vast range of flours, with new varieties
coming all the time.
I mostly use organic ingredients when I bake (as I do in general cooking); it’s a matter of
principle. You can find a wide range of good-quality organic flours on the market and great,
tasty ingredients give better-tasting bread and cakes. Also, I do not want pesticides in my
food. Organic food is better for the environment, for our health and for the wildlife in the
fields.
Within these pages you will find what I hope is a comprehensive guide to Scandinavian
baking at home. Baking bread and cakes at home produces very different results to those
you get in a professional bakery. A professional bread baker works with dough eight hours
a day and gets to be an expert in every detail of the process. He or she also has the
specialist equipment; vitally the really powerful ovens with automatic steam. Professional
bread is therefore by definition different from home-baked loaves, but not necessarily
superior, as I hope the bread recipes within these pages will show.
Home-baked cakes are also very different and, in my opinion, much better than most cakes
you can buy. I never buy a cake from a shop, though I will sometimes buy bread now and
then from a favourite baker, especially if I want to have a 100 per cent sourdough loaf. I
don’t, though, buy commercial factory-made breads; I want my family to enjoy all the health
benefits of eating bread baked from stoneground flour that includes the health-giving husk
and germ of the grain… and you still need to visit specialist bakers for that.
Home baking is about love, peace, comfort and the simple enjoyment of making tasty
breads and cakes. My ultimate goal with this book is to make sure that the best-quality
bread and cakes, made from great ingredients, will be part of as many people’s lives as
possible.
I hope you, like me, with these recipes, will be loving baking at home.
Notes on Scandinavian baking
Flour
Flour is not just flour. Depending on the grain, where it is from, how old it is, how it was
milled, how it was stored, how the weather was at harvest, or how high the protein content,
it can make great bread or bread that is merely good. I always use the same flour from the
same producers, so I get to understand it (though that flour changes as well, due to
vagaries in the weather). I bake in Scandinavia, but, wherever you bake, find a flour you
like to work with that makes great bread; stick with it and get to know it.
Try to buy stoneground flour, milled with the husk, adding flavour and fibre and making the
carbohydrate in the flour more slowly released, which is better for maintaining stable blood
sugars. Fibre is vital for good digestion. Also look out for flour containing the germ, as that
contains omega-3 oils and vitamins E and B.
In the UK I use www.bacheldremill.co.uk; www.sharphampark.com. In Scandinavia I use

www.skaertoft.dk; www.aurion.dk
Sourdough starters and pre-ferments
Biga or leaven
For general bread baking; not North European-style dense rye breads. It gives texture and
taste. I prefer to use a sourdough starter and yeast together, because the bread is not too
sour. It’s also easier to work with than dough made with only a sourdough starter.
Rye sourdough starter
For North European-style rye bread, not for any other breads. Rye bread dough is usually
very runny; you can’t knead it, which gives a delicious, dense loaf.
Pre-ferment
A sort of ‘third way’ method: mixing a small amount of dough a day ahead, and leaving it to
harvest wild yeasts in the air, improves bread’s taste and texture.
Equipment and techniques
Equipment
Basically, all you need to bake bread is a mixing bowl, a dough scraper, a tea towel and an
oven. Of course, if you are going to bake a lot it’s probably worth investing in proving
baskets (often sold as banneton), baking stones, piping bags, a range of muffin and fairy
cake trays and some cookie cutters (watch this last one; it can become an obsession. I
have hundreds of the things!). But it is not strictly necessary to have any of these. There
are usually ways around any equipment shortage. Personally, I use my KitchenAid to mix
all my bread dough.
Kneading
Many of my bread doughs are far wetter than you might expect. The wetter the dough, the
lighter the eventual loaf, but it’s undoubtedly more difficult to handle wet dough and it takes
some practice to knead. As indicated in all the recipes, use extra flour when kneading.
Importantly, try to knead the dough without spreading your fingers, as you will find that you
have better control. I always use a dough scraper when I start kneading, until I get control
of the dough; in my house this dough scraper stage has become known as ’walking the
dough on the kitchen table’...
And a final note on kneading. After a bread dough has risen for the first time, you will
usually have to knead it briefly once more, before a second rising. But you must be gentle.
You need to maintain all the air within the dough that you have worked so hard to create.
So: do not punch the air out of the dough!
Ovens
Every oven is different. They each have their own life and it’s important to know one’s own
oven, how it bakes, what the temperature is inside (buy an oven thermometer!), and if it
bakes evenly or not, so you can use this most important of your tools efficiently.
Professional ovens with steam, a lot of power and stone bases, fired by wood, obviously
bake differently to most home ovens.
Rising, resting and proving
The time dough needs to rise, rest and then rise for the second time depends on the flour,
the kneading and the ambient temperature in the room. The more you bake, the more you
will know what the dough should look or feel like at each stage of the process. Sometimes I
will prove a dough very slowly in the refrigerator, where it takes two or more days to rise;
the advantage is that the bread becomes very tasty. If you are really into baking, you can
play around in this way to improve your results.
Proving baskets
A basket used for proving the dough; if you haven’t got one, a colander or bowl can be
used instead, just line it with a clean tea towel and dust with flour before putting in the
bread dough.
Slashing
When a loaf is ready to go into the oven it’s important to slash it to allow the gas to escape
while the bread is baking; do not slash a loaf too deeply, merely cut through the surface
with a sharp knife or razor blade.
Steam
To mimic a baker’s oven at home, you need to create steam inside (baker’s ovens do this
automatically). In household ovens, you can throw or spray cold water into the hot oven.
The steam improves the texture and crust of the bread.
Stones (baking)
I use a baking stone for some of my bread recipes. Baking stones transmit strong direct
heat to loaves, helping to give the bread volume. If you don’t have a baking stone, use a
robust, heavy-based baking tray lined with baking parchment instead.
Cakes and pastries
Cream cakes and layer cakes
More than 100 years ago, cakes with luscious layers of cream and custard became very
popular here in Scandinavia. One of the reasons (apart from their deliciousness) was that
more sophisticated cooling systems meant bakeries could make cakes that would keep
fresh for a whole day. So bakeries started to increase their production. There were plenty
of willing customers, because in the mid and late 19th century people from the higher
echelons of society liked to go out to see and be seen. This was also the time when coffee
became widespread. Cafés (konditorier), where you could eat cake and drink coffee,
started to open up in all the major towns.
Baking at home only became common in the early 20th century, when the household
cast-iron stove became widely available. These days, all families have their favourite layer
cakes. There are endless recipes containing various berries, fruits and creams, and a
plethora of ways to decorate them. They can be a lot of fun to make, especially with
children. Over the years I have made many different layer cakes for my childrens' birthdays
and in many shapes: a football field, a turtle, a castle, a ladybird…
In this chapter you will find my favourite cream cakes and layer cakes, those we enjoy the
most in my family.
Danish pastries and other sweet yeasted cakes
Danish pastries are world-famous. All around the globe they come in many different forms
and with countless fillings. But, in spite of the name, most of them bear no resemblance to
the real thing. In Denmark the general term is in fact wienerbrød, meaning bread from
Vienna! In a Scandinavian bakery in the morning you ask for the individual type, never just
for ‘Danish pastry’.
There are lots of stories about how wienerbrød came to Denmark. They probably all have
some truth to them, but it is really difficult to pinpoint the origin. One story is that it started
in 1843 in Copenhagen when a local baker returned from Vienna, where he had learned
how to make croissants. Knowing how the locals loved sugar, he added some remonce, a
sweet paste made from sugar and butter, sometimes with a little marzipan and spices such
as cinnamon, cardamom or poppy seeds. It was an instant success. Initially, only the
originating baker had the right to sell wienerbrød, but in 1850 a magistrate allowed five
cake bakeries to bake it.
Another very special thing in Scandinavia are cakes based on sweet yeasted dough. I
serve them in the afternoons. They are some of my favourite cakes. They’ve got a texture
similar to brioche and are not overly sweet. They came about many years ago, when bread
bakeries were barred from baking cake, only bread. So they developed a kind of sweet
bread that they were allowed to sell! The yeasted cakes differ depending on which region
in Scandinavia they are made in.
Loving cake baking
Why do we love cake? The answer may be a matter of psychology rather than simply of
taste. My grandparents played a huge role in my childhood – maybe even more in my
imagination as the years have gone by – but real or imagined, a particular smell, a song, or
in this case home baking, brings me back to happy childhood hours spent with my mormor
and morfar. I cherish the moments when, especially on summer days at the beach house,
we sat outside in the afternoon in a light breeze, listening to the sea while eating cake and
drinking coffee. The cake was greener than green from food colouring and covered with
thick chocolate glazing. My mother rightfully claims that today I would find the cake too
artificial… but that is beside the point. For me it is a cake of my childhood. I have never
tried to recreate the recipe, out of fear of disappointment or the risk of spoiling my
memories.
Eating sweet things has always seemed attractive to human kind; honey, berries and fruit
were prized way before sugar became part of life. The Romans ate a flat bread with honey
and spices, in effect what Scandinavians call kage (in English, ‘cake’). Medieval times had
honey cakes, while late 16th-century plays mention cakes made with eggs. The
development of cakes as we know them didn’t really take off until we had invented whisks
or forks to create volume by whisking eggs; you could say cake making was – in its day –
high-end technology!
Two crucial factors allowed home baking to become widespread: access to ovens, and
affordable sugar. Then of course came the invention of baking powder, which made baking
much easier with fewer eggs (and thus cheaper) in the mid 19th century. Until that time,
most cakes were developed by specialist patisseries or made at royal courts or grand
houses, the only places with access to ovens and battalions of staff working in the
kitchens.
Home baking became popular and widespread in the 20th century with access to new
machinery, cheaper ingredients and smaller, convenient ovens at home. Recipe books
became bestsellers; while Britain had Mrs Beeton, in Scandinavia it was Madam Mangor
and Fru Nimb. Later came the Swedish bestseller Sju sorters kakor (‘Seven kinds of cake’),
which was first published in 1945 and sold more than three million copies! (The title refers
to the Scandinavian cake table tradition).
Over the last decades, sugar has become the big enemy. I don’t just spontaneously pop
into my neighbours’ house any longer with home bakes for their children, because they are
not allowed any sugar during the week. I understand the point of a healthy diet for children,
but feel this has spiralled out of control because of all the horrible sweets and fizzy drinks
that are available today. I do not think home-baked cake can harm anybody if it is made
from good-quality ingredients.
Why do I feel so strongly about home baking? Because it’s an act of love. In Scandinavian
culture, and especially in children’s literature or films, there are so many joyful moments
where children eat cake together. These moments reflect our culture: we love the
excitement of cake baking. The idea, the preparation, the wonderful smell in the house, the
waiting for the cake to cool down and for guests, friends or family to arrive, then finally
eating the cake.
European culture also has many meaningful sayings about cakes, think of ‘the icing on the
cake’, or ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it’. Proust famously brought back childhood
memories by eating a madeleine with a cup of tea. Or consider the way Alice in
Wonderland is woven into her fantastic story by eating a tiny cake that had ‘eat me’ written
upon it in currants. All these sayings, memories, references and stories from our heritage
tell us about the cake’s role in our society. It is a luxury that we crave and that tempts us. It
shows us who we are and gives us pleasure.
Loving baking at home is about all that: the pure pleasure of baking and eating cake. You
can find a lot of peace in home baking. It gives a feeling of connection with history and
tradition, however brief, that is very important in a world that runs forever faster and faster.
Other cakes
Cake is not just cake when you visit a Scandinavian bakery. Oh no. That would be too
simple! There is a vast range, all divided into different categories. We have pastries for
morning, cakes suitable for the afternoon, and other cakes for after dinner. Pudding has
never been a great tradition in Scandinavia. Maybe that also has to do with our strong
culture for home cooking and baking and inviting people home for dinner. The restaurant
culture is more recent here.
In Scandinavia, the cakes within this chapter would be called ‘dry’ cakes (without cream or
custard) and ‘coffee’ cakes, to be eaten with tea or coffee. In English, neither term sounds
as delicious as these cakes are! I have made the collection of recipes here very simple so,
once you have familiarised yourself with them, you can play around with different fruits,
sugars or nuts; there are endless possibilities.
Some of these recipes are decades old and have a long tradition. One of the very oldest
and most celebrated ‘dry’ cakes is hindbærsnitte. It dates back to 1750 and there is a
raspberry version overleaf. The author Hans Christian Andersen famously used to travel to
Skagen, at the northern tip of Denmark, to visit Brøndums Hotel… just to eat their
hindbærsnitte. It was not only Mr Andersen who made the long journey to enjoy that cake.
Brøndums Hotel was a meeting point for the Scandinavian bourgeoisie and for many
artists. The hotel is still in business. It carries excellent food and cakes, and in the winter
you can visit the hotel on Sundays and enjoy a cake table.
A few of the recipes here are for less traditional cakes; those I've baked for years for
friends and family and that I turn to when I need baking to be no fuss. I always have the dry
ingredients in my cupboard and the fruit in the freezer, so I'm ready to bake whenever the
mood takes me. That's a very comforting thought.
Walnut macaroon layer cake
Doesn't this look impressive? I'll let you into a secret: it's just about the easiest cake I know.
The cream for this is a recipe from my mother. For this, you have to make three 24cm
cakes. Don’t worry, though, you don’t need three tins, you can just bake them one after
another.
There was a walnut tree in my grandparents' back garden when I was a little girl. I
remember my grandfather – morfar in Danish – and I would go and pick them up from the
ground, then sit together at his little bench while he opened the walnuts with his pocket
knife. He would take out the fresh white nuts and hand them to me. We sat there in silence
on the bench and ate them. Maybe that is why walnuts are my favourite nut.
Serves 10
Ingredients
For the cakes

butter, for the tin(s)
300g walnuts
200g caster sugar
6 egg whites
For the coffee cream

300ml double cream
3-4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee
For the glaze

100g best dark chocolate, at least 60% cocoa solids
20g butter
12 walnut halves
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line the bases of three 24cm diameter springform tins with
baking parchment and butter them lightly… or, more probably, line and butter the one tin
you have and re-use it to make the other two cakes.
Blend the nuts in a food processor with half the sugar until the nuts are finely chopped.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining sugar little by little, whisking after
each addition, until glossy. Fold in the nut mixture. Pour into the prepared tins and bake for
35 minutes, or pour one-third of the batter into one tin and bake for 35 minutes, then repeat
to bake the following two cakes.
Leave to cool on wire racks lined with baking parchment, to prevent sticking, overnight
if possible.
Put all the ingredients for the coffee cream into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer
until stiff. Take a big round serving dish and place the base layer (usually the least
attractive layer) of cake on it. Spread half the cream evenly over, then place the middle
layer on top and spread with the remaining cream. Now place the most attractive cake on
top.
Break the chocolate into pieces, place in a small heatproof bowl and fit over a
saucepan of simmering water; the bowl should not touch the water. Melt the chocolate,
then remove from the heat, add the butter and mix well. Leave to cool slightly, then spread
the chocolate over the top layer and decorate with the walnut halves around the edge.
Keep in the refrigerator until serving.
Napoleon’s cake
There are different stories about the name of this cake: some think it was given because it
came from Naples; others think it is French. What is not in doubt is that Scandinavian
cakes were influenced by all of Europe. The world was more cosmopolitan 100 and more
years ago than we imagine…
This is a bit of a project, but totally worth it. However, if you know a really good ready-made
all-butter puff pastry, you can cheat and use that.
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the puff pastry

250g plain flour, plus more to dust
2 pinches salt
250g butter, chilled
1 teaspoon lemon juice
For the crème pâtissière

300ml single cream
1 vanilla pod
3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
200ml double cream
For the filling and icing

4 tablespoons redcurrant jelly, plus 4 tbsp more for the glaze
200g icing sugar
Method
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in 50g of the butter with your fingers until the
mixture resembles crumbs. Add the lemon juice and 125ml of water and mix into a dough.
Knead on a floured work surface just until smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30
minutes.
Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to around 50 x 30cm. Arrange the
remaining cold, sliced butter on the dough 2cm from the short edge on one side, creating a
25cm square of butter. Fold the 2cm edge over the butter then fold over the other side of
the dough and gently press, to encase the butter. Roll out to a rectangle, making sure the
butter stays inside the dough. Now, take a short side of the rectangle and fold it over
towards the centre by one third; take the other short side and fold it over the top (as if you
were folding a business letter). Wrap and rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Roll out to
a rectangle once more and repeat the folding and chilling. Do this six times in all.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 210°C. Roll the dough out to 60 x 30cm and
cut into four with a sharp knife, so you don’t tear the dough. Put on baking trays with sides,
lined with baking parchment, cover with more baking parchment, then put a baking tray on
top to stop them rising too much. You should have about a 1cm gap between the pastry
and the tray on top. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190°C and bake for
another 10 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool on wire racks.
Meanwhile, make the crème pâtissière. Put the single cream in a saucepan, slit the
vanilla pod lengthways and add that, too. Heat until steaming. In a bowl, whisk the egg
yolks, sugar and cornflour until fluffy and pale. Pour a little hot cream into the egg mixture,
then pour it into the saucepan. Place on a low heat and whisk until it thickens, taking care
not to boil. Pour it into a bowl and place a sheet of cling film on the surface, to prevent a
skin forming. Leave to cool, then chill. Whip the double cream until billowing, then mix it in.
Place the two least attractive sheets of puff pastry on a serving plate, spread 2 tbsp of
redcurrant jelly over each, then cover with a 2–3cm thick layer of crème pâtissière. Place
the other two sheets of puff pastry on top. Heat up the redcurrant jelly for the glaze over a
low heat. As soon as it melts, whisk in the icing sugar. Spread over the two cakes and chill
until serving time.
“Potato” cake
This classic has an odd name because, with dusted cocoa on top, it looks like a big muddy
potato. The cake itself, you’ll be relieved to hear, has nothing to do with potatoes at all.
This is my favourite cream cake (flødeskumskage) and the one I used always to choose at
a bakery. Since I have been making them myself, however, I haven’t bought a single one,
as the home-made version is to die for.
Makes 8
Ingredients
For the choux pastry

100g butter, plus more for the tray
100g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
Pinch salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
For the crème pâtissière

300ml single cream
1 vanilla pod
3 egg yolks
200ml double cream
For the topping

400g home-made marzipan, (60% almonds)
100g cocoa powder
Method
Put the butter in a saucepan with 200ml of water and let it melt over a gentle heat. Now
increase the heat and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl.
Take the saucepan off the heat, add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until a firm,
smooth paste is formed. Beat until it comes away from the edges of the pan and forms a
ball, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to
200°C. Add the eggs to the dough a little at a time, beating well after each addition, until
the mixture is smooth and glossy. You may not need all the egg.
Put the dough in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe an 8cm line of choux
pastry on a baking tray lined with buttered baking parchment. Follow with a second line
parallel to the first, so that they cling together. Pipe a third line on top of the other two.
Move away from this first bun, giving it plenty of space on the tray, then repeat. You need
to pipe eight of these choux buns.
Bake for 20–30 minutes; do not open the oven door for the first 10 minutes or the
pastry may not rise. The pastries are done when they are golden brown and firm. Transfer
to a wire rack and, with a sharp knife, pierce holes in the side of each, to let the steam out.
Leave to cool.
Meanwhile, make the crème pâtissière.
Carefully cut each choux bun halfway through horizontally and place a couple of
spoonfuls of crème pâtissière on the bottom half (or you can pipe it in through a hole in the
side of each bun, if you prefer). Place the other half on top, being careful not to press them
together. Roll out the marzipan and dredge with cocoa powder to cover. Cut into eight
rounds with an 8cm cookie cutter. Carefully lay one over each pastry. Place on a serving
dish and keep cool until serving time.
Tilly’s dream cake
A true Scandinavian layer cake, lavish with lots of cream and with the classic Nordic
signature – a layer of marzipan – wrapped around it. My friend Tilly Culme-Seymour has
written a wonderful novel – Island Summers – about an island in Norway that her family
owns. There, Tilly describes so wonderfully how her family sail to the bakery when it is
somebody’s birthday. It brought me straight back to my own childhood, to a time when a
birthday cake was a real sensation. So this cake is dedicated to Tilly. If you make the
marzipan yourself, blanch the almonds first to get a really white colour.
Serves 10
Ingredients
For the cake

butter, for the tin
4 large eggs
200g caster sugar
150g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
For the macaroon layer

100g skin-on almonds
100g caster sugar
3 egg whites
For the cream

300ml single cream
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
3 egg yolks
3 gelatine leaves
300ml double cream
200g blueberries
For the topping

10g butter
500g Home-made marzipan, (60% almonds)
marzipan roses
Method
It is best to bake the cakes the day before you need them, otherwise they can be
difficult to cut.
Butter a 28cm springform tin and line the base with baking parchment. Preheat the
oven to 180°C.
Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy; the mixture
should double or even triple in volume and turn pale. Sift over the flour and baking powder
and gently fold it in. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the hot oven for 25 minutes.
Check with a skewer if it is baked all the way through; it should emerge clean from the
centre of the cake. Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool, before
removing from the tin. When you are ready to assemble the cake, carefully cut it
horizontally in two, using a serrated knife.
For the macaroon layer, preheat the oven to 160°C. Line the base of the same
springform tin with baking parchment and butter it lightly. Blend the almonds with half the
sugar in a food processor until the nuts are finely chopped, but don’t take it too far or the
mixture may become oily. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add spoonfuls of
the remaining 50g of sugar, whisking after each addition. Fold in the nut mixture, pour into
the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes.
For the cream, bring the cream to steaming point with the split vanilla pod in a
saucepan, then turn off the heat. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until
fluffy and pale yellow. Stir a little bit of the hot cream into the egg mixture, then return all
the egg mixture to the saucepan. Place over a low heat and whisk until the cream starts
thickening. Take care not to boil, and whisk continuously to avoid burning. Take off the
heat and leave until only hand-hot. Meanwhile, soften the gelatine leaves in cold water for
five minutes. Squeeze the water from the gelatine, add to the warm cream and stir, making
sure it mixes in completely. Let the cream cool down. Whip the double cream until
billowing, then fold it in with the blueberries.
Place the base layer of the cake on a big round serving dish and spread with half the
blueberry cream, then place on the macaroon layer. Spread with the remaining blueberry
cream and add the top layer of cake.
then remove from the heat, add the butter and stir until mixed well. Leave to cool slightly,
then spread on top of the cake.
Roll out the marzipan in one long rectangle 12cm wide and long enough to reach
around the cake, then wrap it around the cake, gently moulding the top edge into the
surface. Add Marzipan roses and keep chilled until serving.
To make marzipan roses
For each rose, form six or so small balls of marzipan. Place them between two layers
of plastic (I use a ziplock bag or something like that). Flatten each ball out to a thin layer,
then fold the first around on itself to form the centre of a rose. Take the next ‘petal’ and
mould it around the first, tweaking it a little to look like petals, then repeat to use up all the
‘petals’. Press all the petals together at the bottom and cut the base straight. These will
keep in an airtight container for several weeks.
Home-made marzipan
Makes 600g
Ingredients
500g blanched almonds

100g icing sugar, plus extra for kneading
50ml water
Method
Whizz the almonds in the food processor and keep whizzing until they become a paste.
Add the icing sugar, whizz again, then add the water and whizz again.
Take the marzipan out of the food processor and knead it on a work surface dusted
with icing sugar. Now it is ready to be used for cakes and sweets. It will keep for up to 2
weeks in the refrigerator, and you’ll find it tastes much better than the shop-bought stuff.
Jens Jørgen Thorsen meringue
This meringue cake with caramel cream is a recipe from the early days of my catering
company. One day I was in the kitchen decorating 10 of these cakes simultaneously. My
friend Lisa stepped in and saw me at work, throwing chocolate all over the place. She
shouted: ‘Ohh, it is just like Jens Jørgen Thorsen’. He, I should add, was a famous Danish
painter. So now that’s the name of the cake. Feel free to use any other fruits instead of figs,
if you prefer.
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the caramel cream
100g demerara sugar
500ml double cream
For the meringue
6 egg whites
300g caster sugar
pinch salt
For the topping

6 fresh figs
Method
The day before you need the cake, make the caramel cream. Spread the sugar in a
heavy-based saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until the sugar melts and starts to
colour: it should turn into a light brown caramel. Add one-quarter of the cream and bring to
the boil, stirring constantly. It takes time, so be patient! When the mixture is fully combined,
turn off the heat, stir in the remaining cream, then pour it into a bowl. Cover and chill in the
refrigerator overnight.
For the meringue, preheat the oven to 140°C. Using an electric hand mixer or a food
mixer, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in half the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until
very stiff. Fold in the remaining sugar and add the salt.
Line two baking trays with baking parchment and draw, in pencil, a 24cm circle on
each. Turn the baking parchment over so the pencil marks are underneath, but still legible.
Spread the meringue inside the circles. Bake for one hour, then let them cool down on a
wire rack, still on their sheets of baking parchment. Remove the papers from the meringues
and place the least attractive disc on a serving plate.
Whip the chilled caramel cream until it is light, fluffy and billowing, then spread it on the
base meringue. Place the second meringue on top. Cut the figs into quarters and place
them on top of the cake.
then remove from the heat.
Dip a tablespoon in the chocolate, then throw it at the cake, channelling Jackson
Pollock (and Jens Jørgen Thorsen!) and approaching from different angles, until you have
a wild decoration. Try not to decorate too much of your kitchen at the same time… Serve
the cake as soon as the chocolate has set.
Raspberry éclairs
When I was growing up, the very idea of éclairs was luxurious and exotic. I think it had to
do with the French name. We ate choux pastry in other cakes, but as a young girl I just
never realised éclairs were only choux pastry with cream inside and melted chocolate on
top!
I really like choux pastry as a base for cakes because it is not sweet, and I love the texture.
Here is my summer éclair: easy to make, and containing fresh berries.
Makes 8-10
Ingredients

100g plain flour
Pinch salt
butter, for the tray
For the cream filling

200ml double cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 vanilla pod
200g raspberries
For the icing

15g butter
Method
ball, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Add the eggs to the
dough a little at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and
glossy. You may not need all the egg.
Preheat the oven to 200°C
Put the dough in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe a 10cm line of choux
pastry on a baking tray lined with buttered baking parchment. Follow with a second line
parallel to the first, so that they cling together. Pipe a third line on top of the other two.
Move away from this first bun, giving it plenty of space on the tray, then repeat. You need
to pipe eight to 10 of these.
Bake for 20–30 minutes; do not open the oven door for the first 10 minutes or the
pastry may not rise. The pastries are done when they are golden brown and firm. Transfer
to a wire rack and, with a sharp knife, pierce holes in the side of each bun, to let the steam
out. Leave to cool.
Whip the cream until billowing and fold in the icing sugar. Slit the vanilla pod
lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds with the tip. Add to the cream with
the raspberries, whipping again briefly to mix in the vanilla and roughly break up the
berries. Split each choux bun in half horizontally and place a couple of spoonfuls of cream
on the bottom half. Place the other half on top, being careful not to press them together.
saucepan of simmering water; the bowl should not touch the water. When it has melted,
remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Spread the chocolate mixture on top of the
éclairs and leave to set before serving.
Medals (Medaljer)
In Denmark, medaljer are usually offered for sale from bakeries in the afternoon, to be
eaten with coffee, not tea. We Scandinavians are coffee drinking nations. You can use any
other fruit compote or jam instead of the apple compote here, if you prefer.
Makes 10
Ingredients
For the pastry

50g icing sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated unwaxed lemon zest
100g chilled butter, chopped
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
For the apple compote

1 vanilla pod
2 tart eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped, such as Cox’s Orange Pippin
100g caster sugar
For the cream and topping

20g butter
200ml double cream
Method
To make the pastry, sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon zest.
Rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add the egg and stir
until the pastry comes together in a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the filling, slit the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the
seeds with the tip of a sharp knife. Put the apples in a saucepan with the sugar and the
vanilla seeds and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 20
minutes. Stir the apple mixture together to give a thick sauce, then leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Roll out the
pastry on a floured work surface to a thickness of 2–3mm. Use a 6–7cm diameter cookie
cutter, or the rim of a similar-sized glass, to cut the pastry into about 20 discs (you will need
an even number of discs, as you are going to be sandwiching them together). Spread them
out on the lined baking tray and bake for six or seven minutes, then transfer carefully (they
are a bit fragile) to a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, break the chocolate for the topping into pieces, place in a small heatproof
bowl with the butter and fit over a saucepan of simmering water; the bowl should not touch
the water. When melted, leave to cool slightly.
Spread half the discs with the chocolate mixture, leaving a slim border as in the photo.
Set aside to let the chocolate set. These are the tops of the ‘medals’.
Whip the cream until just stiff. Fit a piping bag with a 1cm star-shaped nozzle and fill
with whipped cream. Take the remaining pastry discs and place 1 tsp of apple sauce in the
centre of each. Pipe a ring of cream around the apple sauce. Put the chocolate-coated
medals on top and serve immediately.
Autumn apple and hazelnut layer cake
Perfect for when there are cobnuts or hazelnuts to be picked. I have made this cake for
many autumn weddings, adding a marzipan wrapping and decorating with marzipan roses
and wild flowers. It looks really fresh and is easy to do.
Serves 12
Ingredients
For the cake

butter, for the tin
6 large eggs
300g caster sugar
250g plain flour
12 tablespoons calvados or cognac
For the filling

5 tart eating apples, 500-600g total weight
600ml double cream
200g hazelnuts, preferably fresh
For the topping

30g icing sugar
50g hazelnuts, chopped
Method
Bake the cake the day before you want it, or it is too difficult to cut. Take a 24cm
square or a 26cm round cake tin, line the base with baking parchment and butter it lightly.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy; they
should double or triple in volume and turn pale. Sift the flour and baking powder into the
egg mixture and gently fold it in. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the hot oven for 25
minutes. Check with a skewer if it is baked all the way through; it should emerge clean from
the centre of the cake. Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool down,
before removing from the tin. Leave overnight.
For the filling, peel and core the apples and grate them coarsely. Whip the cream until
it billows and chop the nuts finely. Mix them all together.
Cut the cake in three horizontally with a serrated knife. Choose a serving dish and
place the base layer of cake on it. Sprinkle with half the calvados. Spread one-half of the
cream evenly over and place on the middle layer. Sprinkle with the remaining calvados,
spread over the remaining cream, then place on the top layer. Sift over a dusting of icing
sugar and sprinkle with hazelnuts.
Leave for 30 minutes to settle before serving.
Crêpe cake with gooseberry “jam”
Cooking a lot of crêpes takes time, but I find it quite therapeutic. As a child I loved a
Scandinavian children’s character called Rasmus Klump, a teddy whose mother is a
master baker; she makes the biggest pile of pancakes ever seen. She is my inspiration for
this! In my family we call this cake my Rasmus Klump pile. It is wonderful, both fun and
tasty.
I make this in late July or early August, when gooseberries are in season in Scandinavia.
We tend to make it in a summer house, where there is no oven but there is a definite need
for cake!
Enjoy this with whipped cream. You'll need to make the Gooseberry and vanilla “jam” the
day before.
Serves 6
Ingredients
4 eggs
200ml buttermilk
400g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely grated unwaxed lemon zest
200ml lager
200ml whole milk
butter, to cook the crêpes
1 quantity Scandinavian jams, Gooseberry and vanilla “jam”
Method
Make the crêpes: beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the buttermilk and beat again. Sift
the flour, sugar and salt together, then add to the egg mixture with the lemon zest and beat
until smooth. Finally, stir in the lager and milk. Cover with a clean tea towel and let the
batter rest for 30 minutes.
Melt a little butter in a heavy-based frying pan. When it’s hot, add about 5 tbsp (or a big
serving spoon or ladle) of batter, rotating the pan gently on its axis to make a large, thin
crêpe. Cook until golden, about two minutes, then flip it over and repeat. Set aside. Use the
remaining batter to make more crêpes. Stack them on a plate. They will stay warm like this
for some time but, if you prefer, you can put them in a low oven.
When they have all been cooked, place the crêpes one by one on a serving plate,
spreading the ‘jam’ generously in between each. Do be free with the “jam”, or your cake will
be dry. Serve with a flourish.
Rosehip roulade
I have a very ambivalent relationship with this cake. You can buy endless factory variations
here in Scandinavia… and they are all bad! I have had a hard time coming up with a recipe
about which I can safely say: it’s worth it! A roulade should be fresh and light, not sticky
and overly sweet. My mother and I managed to make this delightful version with rosehip
jam.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
For the cake
butter, for the tray
3 eggs
125g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp
125g plain flour
50ml whole milk
For the cream

400g rosehip jam
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 gelatine leaves
250ml double cream
2 teaspoons finely grated unwaxed lemon zest
Method

Line a 40 x 30cm baking tray with baking parchment and butter lightly. Whisk the eggs
and the 125g of sugar until pale and yellow, then sift in the flour and baking powder; it's
very important to sift the flour to get the correct, airy result. Gently fold the flour mixture into
the egg mixture, then gently fold in the milk. Pour the batter into the prepared tray and
spread it out evenly. Bake for ten minutes, or until it springs back to the touch of a finger.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the 2 tbsp of sugar and leave to cool.
Blitz the jam a bit in a food processor so it becomes more like a paste. Place in a small
saucepan with the lemon juice and place over a gentle heat until it melts, then take the pan
off the heat and wait until the mixture is only hand-hot. Meanwhile, place the gelatine
leaves in cold water to soften up for about five minutes, then squeeze the water out. Place
the softened gelatine in the rosehip mixture and stir well to dissolve evenly. Let it cool to
room temperature. Whip the double cream until it billows, then fold it into the rosehip
mixture with the lemon zest.
Turn the cake over, peel off and discard the baking parchment and spread the cream
evenly over the cake. Now roll it up from the longest side into a roulade. Wrap the roll
tightly in baking parchment and leave to chill in the refrigerator for one hour, then cut into
slices and serve.
Choux ring with plums and cream
In my opinion, there should be a choux pastry recipe for every season! This is my
late-summer-to-autumn version. If you can get hold of any damsons, make the compote
with them and sweeten it to taste; they have a fantastic flavour. They are difficult to find in
Scandinavia because they tend to grow in private gardens rather than in commercial
orchards. I get mine from one of my mother’s neighbours. I am very grateful; they are really
delicious. If you use damsons, though, you will need to pick out the stones after cooking
the compote, as they are near-impossible to remove when the fruits are raw.
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the plum compote and cream filling

600g plums, halved and pitted
100g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
200ml double cream

100g plain flour
Pinch salt
Method
Put the plums and sugar into a saucepan, split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out
the seeds with the tip of a sharp knife and add them as well. Boil for 10–15 minutes until
thickened and reduced; the compote shouldn’t be runny.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the dough in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star
nozzle. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and butter it lightly. Pipe a ring 15cm in
diameter. Pipe another line right next to the first, so it clings to it. Pipe a final layer on top of
the other two.
Bake for 35–40 minutes; do not open the oven door for the first 20 minutes of cooking
or the pastry might not rise. Remove from the oven and, with the tip of a small sharp knife,
make four evenly spaced small holes in the sides, to let the hot air out. Leave to cool on a
wire rack.
Whip the cream for the filling until billowing. Cut the choux pastry horizontally in half,
place the bottom piece on a serving dish and spread the plum compote evenly over, then
top with the cream. Place on the top piece of choux pastry, sift over a dusting of icing sugar
and serve right away.
Yeasted marzipan cream buns (Semlor)
This was originally the last festive food cooked and served before Lent, the fasting period
in northern Europe. Today, semlor are eaten in Sweden from shortly after Christmas until
Easter. In Norway and Denmark there is something similar called fastelavnsboller.
Makes 20
Ingredients
For the buns

50g fresh yeast
400ml lukewarm whole milk
200g creme fraiche
100g butter, melted
1-1.1kg 00 grade flour, plus more to dust
5g salt
100g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
icing sugar, to dust
For the filling

150g home-made marzipan, coarsely grated
6 tablespoons double cream
200ml whipping cream
Method
Dissolve the yeast in the milk, then add the crème fraîche, butter and 100ml of water.
Mix 1kg of the flour with the salt and sugar, then mix this into the yeast mixture. Knead on a
floured work surface with the remaining 100g of flour if needed to form a smooth, firm
dough. Leave to rise in a warm place for two hours. Form into 20 very round buns, then
leave to rise, again in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush the buns with the egg and bake for 25 minutes.
Place on a wire rack to cool. When cold, cut the tops off, set them aside, and take out
some of the crumb from the inside to form little hollows for the filling.
Put the breadcrumbs from about five of the buns into a bowl, then add the marzipan
and double cream. Mix well. With a teaspoon, place the filling inside the semlor. Whip the
whipping cream and place in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe the cream on
top of the marzipan filling and to the edges of the buns. Replace the tops of the buns, sift
over a dusting of icing sugar and serve right away.
Rye bread layer cake (Brødtort)
This layer cake is from Sønderjylland, the southern part of Denmark that borders Germany.
That area of Denmark is famous for ‘cake tables’, served with coffee. You are invited to a
buffet consisting of 20 cakes or more, and you are seriously expected to taste all of them…
in fact, your hostess will see to it that you do! The cakes are served in a particular order
that is never broken: good old-fashioned cake rules. For this cake, you will need two 24cm
diameter springform tins; if you only have one, don’t worry, you can cook them one after
the other.
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
For the cake
butter, for the tins
150g stale rye bread
150g hazelnuts
6 eggs, separated
200g soft dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
For the filling and topping

200ml double cream
6 tablespoons Scandinavian jams, redcurrant jelly or Blackcurrant “jam”
50g best dark chocolate, at least 60% cocoa solids, finely chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Line the bases of two 24cm diameter springform tins with
baking parchment and butter them lightly… or, more probably, line and butter the one tin
you have and re-use it to make the other cake.
Crumble the rye bread into crumbs. In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts until fine.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together with an electric mixer until paler and fluffy.
Separately mix together the rye breadcrumbs, hazelnuts, baking powder and cocoa
powder, then fold them into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold
gently into the batter. Pour into the prepared tin or tins and bake for 12 minutes, then leave
to cool.
Take a round serving dish and place the least attractive layer of cake on it. Whip the
cream until billowing and spread half of it on the cake, then top with the jelly or jam. Now
spread the remaining whipped cream over the top layer of cake and gently place it on top
of the jam layer. Scatter the chocolate on top and serve right away.
Raspberry snitter
This cake is for people who like things really sweet, such as my husband! Because of the
sweetness, it has to be made with home-made raspberry jam that really tastes of the fruit
and has a little acidity to it. The word snitte means half a piece of smørrebrød, and can also
refer to cut up pieces of food, which is how this gets its name.
Makes 8
Ingredients
For the raspberry jam

300g frozen raspberries
100g caster sugar
For the base

50g icing sugar
For the icing

100g icing sugar
pink sprinkles
Method
Start by making the raspberry jam. Place the frozen raspberries in a small heavy based
saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Now add the sugar and let the jam
simmer for 20 minutes. Leave to cool. It should be very thick.
To make the base, sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter with
your fingers until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add the egg and stir until the pastry
comes together in a ball. Wrap in cling film and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out on a floured work surface to 40 x 22cm, then cut this into two 20 x
11cm rectangular pieces. Prick each with a skewer all over and bake for 20 minutes. Leave
to cool on a wire rack.
Place one of the bases on a sheet of baking parchment. Mix the icing sugar with 2 tbsp
of water and whisk until it has a smooth consistency, then spread evenly on the base.
Leave to set for 30 minutes. Place the other base on a wooden chopping board and spread
with the raspberry jam. Top with the iced base, sprinkle with the pink sprinkles and cut into
smaller triangular pieces. Serve, or keep in an airtight container for four or five days.
Coconut macaroons
I have been making these since I was a little girl; they are so easy to make. I never
bothered to temper the chocolate, mostly because I didn't know you were supposed to, so
these are just with melted chocolate. (Of course you can use tempered chocolate if you
want a shiny finish.)
Sometimes, I saved my pocket money and went to the bakery with my sister Silla to buy
two big coconut macaroons. Afterwards, we would hide somewhere out of sight of our
mother and enjoy them secretly.
Makes 20
Ingredients
250g caster sugar
250g desiccated coconut
4 egg whites
100g best dark chocolate, finely chopped, at least 60% cocoa solids
Method

Mix the sugar and coconut in a bowl. Separately whisk the egg whites until stiff, then
mix them well into the coconut mixture. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and, with
a tablespoon, place dollops of the coconut batter on the tray, making each a bit pointed.
Bake for eight to 10 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water; do
not let the bowl touch the water. Dip the flat side of each macaroon into it. Leave to set on
another piece of baking parchment. These will keep well in an airtight tin for two or three
weeks.
Danish custard pies
Linser
One day I was researching shortcrust pastry recipes and I asked my good friend and
author Carolyn Steel – whose family had been hoteliers – if she had a great version. Her
brother Brian had the recipe from the hotel, so I have him to thank for this truly excellent
pastry. It is now part of this very classic Danish cake recipe with custard, which we call
linse.
Makes 12
Ingredients
For the pastry

110g icing sugar
Pinch salt
225g butter, chopped
For the custard

1 vanilla pod
300ml single cream
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoons cornflour
Method
Mix the icing sugar, flour and salt, then mix in the butter, either pulse-blending in a food
processor or rubbing it in with your fingers, until the mixture has the consistency of crumbs.
Add the egg and mix the dough until firm and smooth. Wrap in cling film and let it rest in the
refrigerator for one hour.
Meanwhile, make the custard. Split the vanilla pod lengthways. Heat the cream and
vanilla pod in a saucepan until steaming hot, then turn off the heat. Whisk the egg yolks,
sugar and cornflour together until fluffy and pale yellow. Pour a little of the hot cream into
the egg mixture, then pour all the egg mixture into the saucepan. Set over a low heat and
whisk until the custard starts to thicken. Take care not to boil the mixture and whisk
continuously to avoid burning. Leave to cool completely.
Take the pastry out of the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured work surface to
5–8mm thick. Cut out rounds with a 7cm cookie cutter and place them in a 12-hole fairy
cake tin. Spoon in the custard. Roll out the remaining pastry and, with the same cookie
cutter, cut out the lids. Place on top and press lightly around the edges. Bake for about 25
minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool before serving. These will keep in an airtight
container for four or five days.
Napoleon’s hat
This marzipan-filled cake can be dated back to 1856. Denmark had sided with Napoleon in
the early 19th century, which cost us dearly: the English bombed Copenhagen and stole
our large naval fleet. One of the consequences of that was that Norway won its
independence.
This cake relies on good-quality marzipan, which means it should contain 60 per cent
almonds. If you can’t get a good-quality marzipan, make your own; it’s very easy.
Makes 18
Ingredients
For the pastry

50g icing sugar
For the filling

100g caster sugar
1 egg white, plus ½ egg white more, to glaze
250g home-made marzipan, coarsely grated, (60% almonds)
For the decoration

150g tempered chocolate, see note
Method
Start by making the pastry. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Rub the butter in
with your fingers until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add the egg and stir until it comes
into a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
For the filling, beat the sugar with the whole egg white until the sugar dissolves, making
sure the mixture does not get too warm. Mix with the marzipan to make a smooth paste.
Form it into 18 small balls, each the size of a walnut.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface and cut it out
with a 6–7cm cookie cutter. Take the leftover dough and roll out again, until you have 18
pieces. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Place the marzipan balls
in the middle of each. Brush with the egg white to glaze and press the pastry up around the
marzipan at three equally spaced points, so it looks a bit like Napoleon’s famous hat (see
image). Now brush egg white on the other, unglazed side as well. Bake for 10–12 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and, when cold, dip the flat bases in tempered chocolate – or
spread it on with a spatula if you find that easier – and leave to set on a piece of baking
parchment, chocolate sides up.
Note:
Tempered chocolate
Why temper chocolate? It’s simple: if you heat chocolate without controlling the crystals
in the cocoa butter through tempering, you risk it losing its shine and having stripes when it
dries. If you want a shiny finish with a nice snap, you have to temper the chocolate! This is
the easy way to do it, though you will need a sugar thermometer.
Chop best dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids) finely, take two-thirds of it and
place in a heatproof bowl fitted over a pan of very gently simmering water. Make sure the
bowl does not touch the water and that the water does not get too hot. When the chocolate
has melted and reached 50°C, add the remaining chopped chocolate and mix until all the
chocolate has melted. Heat very gently until the melted chocolate reaches a temperature of
about 31°C. Now the chocolate is tempered and ready to be used.
Lingonberry and marzipan cake
The origin of marzipan is disputed. Some claim it is from Venice, others that it can be dated
back to Persia at around 700AD. But one thing is for sure: Scandinavians love it. We use
marzipan in baking, for decorating cakes, in chocolate bars, and we eat it raw. This cake is
no exception. I like the recipe best with sour lingonberries, because they counterbalance
the sweet marzipan.
Makes 16
Ingredients
For the cakes

pinch salt
60g icing sugar
For the filling

300g home-made marzipan, coarsely grated, (60% almonds)
100g soft butter
150g lingonberries or redcurrants
Method
To make the cakes, sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter
with your fingers until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add the egg and stir until the pastry
comes together in a ball. Wrap in cling film and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out on a floured work surface to 5–8 mm thick, then cut out rounds with
a 9cm cookie cutter. Place them in a fairy cake tin, ideally an ornate one with fluted or
oval-shaped holes. Mix the marzipan, eggs and butter into a smooth paste, use it to fill the
little pies and add the berries or currants. Bake for 20–25 minutes.
Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.
Florentines
These are small, tasty, luxury cakes. Eating them always makes me feel like I should be in
Florence, sitting late at night at Caffè Rivoire at Piazza della Signoria more or less by
myself, enjoying the enchanting city.
Makes 40 small florentines
Ingredients
150g caster sugar
50g honey
50ml single cream
50g butter
150g candied orange peel, finely chopped
200g blanched almonds, sliced
Method
In a saucepan, heat the sugar, honey, cream and butter until boiling, then let it boil for
a few minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the candied orange peel and almonds, then
cool, cover and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
Place teaspoons of the fruit and nut mixture on baking trays lined with baking
parchment, leaving 3–4cm between each. Bake for eight minutes, then take them out and
push the edges back with a spoon, where they have spread, to make each Florentine
smaller once more. Bake for five to seven minutes longer, until golden brown. Leave to
cool a little on the trays, then carefully transfer to a wire rack with a palette knife to cool
completely.
Dip half of each florentine in the chocolate, then place them on a sheet of baking
parchment until the chocolate has set.
Note:
Tempered chocolate
Marzipan cake
Kransekage
The classic Scandinavian marzipan cake. When I was growing up it was only served at
parties, weddings or for New Year’s Eve. I love kransekage, so for me New Year’s Eve was
something special to look forward to. I had never baked one until I became a chef and
somebody ordered a festive tower kransekage for a wedding. You couldn’t say, ‘No, I can’t,
I have never done that’; I simply smiled and said, ‘Yes, of course I can do it…’
Makes 24
Ingredients
100g blanched almonds
200g caster sugar
3 egg whites
500g Home-made marzipan, (60% almonds)
Method
Whizz the almonds and sugar together in a food processor until finely ground. Add the
egg whites and whizz again until you have a smooth, white mixture. Work quickly to make
sure it does not get too hot in the processor; otherwise the egg whites start clotting. Grate
the marzipan and blend it into the almond mixture. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly and
leave to rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, or even overnight.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 190°C.
Shape the mixture into 24 rectangular cakes, each about 2cm wide and 4–5cm long,
like shortbread fingers. Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for
15–18 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
With a spoon or a whisk, decorate with the tempered chocolate, just lightly drizzling the
chocolate back and forth.
Note:
Tempered chocolate
Rum balls
Romkugler
This is a classic Danish leftover cake that all bakers sell. It is made out of all the cakes they
did not sell the day before. Everybody knows this, and it is therefore cheap! But it is very
delicious and a great recipe to have in your repertoire, especially following big celebrations,
when cakes might have hung around a little too long afterwards… If you're making these
for children, leave out the alcohol!
Makes 15
Ingredients
500g stale cake, such as coffee cakes or Danish pastries
200ml orange juice
2 tablespoons Scandinavian jams, blackcurrant jam
1 tablespoon cherry rum, or wine
Method
Cut the stale cake into small cubes. Place in the bowl of a food mixer fitted with a
dough hook and add all the other ingredients except the coconut. Mix until you have a
thick, even paste.
Form into 15 round balls each a bit bigger than walnuts. Roll in a plate of the
desiccated coconut and leave to rest in the refrigerator for one hour before eating. (Store
them in the refrigerator, too.)
Apricot and chocolate marble cake
In my childhood I made loads of versions of this pound cake... Anybody can memorise this
recipe; it is so simple. And then you can add all kinds of other things according to what you
like. Marble cake is a classic among them; my recipe has chocolate and dried apricots. It
can last for days and tastes good even when a bit dry, when it's best dunked in coffee!
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
250g butter, plus more for the tin
250g caster sugar
220g plain flour
50g plain flour
50g best dark chocolate, finely chopped, at least 60% cocoa solids
50g organic dried apricots, chopped
Method

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and mix again
just until a smooth dough forms. Halve the batter and put each half in a bowl. Add the
chocolate and cocoa to one bowl and mix well. Mix the dried apricots into the batter in the
other bowl. Butter a 1.5-litre loaf tin.
Pour the chocolate batter into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly, then pour over
the apricot batter and spread that evenly, too. Take a spatula and dip it into the batter,
going right to the bottom of the tin and pulling up to make a swirl inside the cake. Repeat
three times in different places in the tin.
Bake for one hour. Insert a clean skewer into the middle of the cake; it should emerge
clean. If not, bake for five minutes more, then check again.
Leave to cool in the tin and serve cold.
Autumn pear and nut tart
I subscribe to an organic box scheme that supplies fruit and vegetables every week. The
best thing about it is that you have to use whatever they give to you; it's great for stretching
your creativity in the kitchen. In the autumn, that means a lot of pears and apples. This tart
is perfect with some extra-ripe pears. Sometimes I mix in some apples as well, if that is
what is left in the box.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
For the pastry
100g wholegrain spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
100g cold butter, chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten
For the filling

100g Home-made marzipan, coarsely grated, (60% almonds)
1 vanilla pod
100g caster sugar
100g soft butter
3-4 ripe pears
25g walnuts, finely chopped, (optional)
Method
Sift the flours with the salt into a bowl. Stir in the sugar. Rub in the butter with your
fingers until the mixture resembles crumbs. Mix in the egg without over-working the pastry.
Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll the pastry out on a floured work surface until it is large enough to line a 28cm
diameter tart tin, then use it to line the tin. Trim off the excess pastry from the sides of the
tin with a knife. Cover it with baking parchment, pressing it carefully into the sides, then fill
with dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and baking parchment and allow
the pastry to cool a little.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Tip the marzipan into a bowl. Split the vanilla pod in half
lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a sharp knife. Carefully mix the
marzipan, vanilla seeds and sugar together. Now add the butter little by little, stirring very
well so there are no lumps in the mixture, or use your hands.
Core the pears and cut them into thin slices.
Spread the marzipan filling into the pastry case, then arrange the pear slices in
overlapping circles on top, gently pressing them into the filling. Sprinkle evenly with the
walnuts (if using).
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Serve warm or cold with crème fraîche.
Apple cake with rosehip jam
Just as the rosehip season ends and I have finished making all my rosehip jam and other
preserves, the apple season starts. I love everything with rosehips and apples; it's an
excellent combination. Don’t be daunted by picking and rinsing rosehips, it’s therapeutic!
Makes 16–18 pieces
Ingredients
600g caster sugar
6 eggs
300g plain flour
1kg cox’s orange pippin or other tart apples
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
75g flaked almonds
100g rosehip or apricot jam
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter a 40 x 30cm baking tin and line the base with baking
parchment.
Cream the butter and 500g of the sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add
the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and baking powder
and mix just until combined. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin.
Core the apples and cut them into wedges; put into a bowl. Mix the remaining 100g of
sugar with the cardamom and mix into the apples. Place the apples on top of the cake
batter, lightly pressing them in, and sprinkle with the almonds. Bake for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan set over a low heat, melt the jam, with 2–3 tbsp of water if it
is very thick, stirring until it melts. Remove the cake from the oven, spread the melted jam
evenly on top, then bake for five to 10 minutes more, or until a skewer inserted into the
middle of the cake emerges clean.
Leave in the tin to cool. Serve warm with crème fraîche.
Spelt Orange Cake
Spelt has been really popular for the last 20 years and, in the canteens that I run in
Denmark, I am often asked to serve spelt cake. Frequently, however, that is because a lot
of people mistakenly think spelt is gluten free. It is not. But it is a great grain and I really
appreciate the taste. In this cake, spelt works wonderfully with the orange.
Makes 10 pieces
Ingredients
300g caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 organic orange, plus more for the top of the cake
100g plain flour
150g wholegrain spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
150ml freshly squeezed orange juice
100ml double cream
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Lightly butter a 24cm diameter

springform tin and line the base with baking parchment.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with 250g of the sugar and the zest until light
and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
Sift in the flours and baking powder and fold into the batter, then fold in 100ml of the
orange juice and the cream. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for one hour.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, boil the remaining 50ml of orange juice with the remaining
50g of sugar for a few minutes until it starts thickening. As soon as the cake comes out of
the oven, prick it all over with a skewer and pour over the orange syrup; let it sit in the tin
for at least 10 minutes, to absorb the syrup.
Decorate with more orange zest, then serve warm or cold.
Honey cake with orange buttercream
Honey was used for baking before sugar became widely available in northern Europe. This
type of honey cake has been part of the Scandinavian tradition for the last 200 years. The
most famous are those from Christiansfeld, a small town in Denmark, where they still bake
the honey cakes and hearts covered in chocolate that carry the town’s name. For me this is
a real winter treat. I love to eat it in the afternoon with a strong cup of tea. If you leave out
the buttercream you can eat it as bread: a slice in the morning – toasted with butter – is not
bad at all.
Serves 10
Ingredients
For the cake
125g honey
60g soft brown sugar
275g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons finely grated organic orange zest
200g creme fraiche
For the buttercream

250g butter, softened
150g icing sugar
2 organic oranges, finely grated zest
For the icing (optional)

2-3 tablespoons orange juice
160g icing sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated organic orange zest
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter a 30 x 11cm loaf tin and line the base with baking
parchment.
Melt the butter and honey in a saucepan and leave to cool a little. Meanwhile, beat the
eggs and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until light and paler in colour. Sift in
the flour, bicarbonate of soda and all the spices and fold in gently, then do the same with
the honey mixture. Finally, fold in the zest and crème fraîche and pour into the prepared
tin.
Bake for one hour. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake; it should emerge clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream: in a small bowl, beat all the ingredients until
smooth. Cover and keep cold until you need it. When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally
into three with a serrated knife. Spread the buttercream on the bottom and middle layers,
then reassemble the cake.
Mix all the ingredients for the icing (if using) and spread it over the top. Leave the icing
to set before serving.
Runeberg cakes
These cakes got their name from the Finnish poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg who, according
to legend, enjoyed them every day for breakfast. The story goes that his wife Fredrika, also
a poet and a mother of eight (eight!), invented the recipe. Runeberg cakes are very popular
in Finland on the poet’s birthday, 5 February.
I sometimes serve these cakes with plum compote instead of the raspberry jam used here.
Do make sure that, whatever you use, it has good acidity and is not too sweet.
Makes 16 cakes
Ingredients
200g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g breadcrumbs
150g ground almonds
3 tablespoons finely grated organic orange zest
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
100g creme fraiche
For the raspberry jam

200g frozen raspberries
100g caster sugar
Method
I sometimes serve these cakes with plum compote instead of the raspberry jam used
here. Do make sure that, whatever you use, it has good acidity and is not too sweet.
Cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs
one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix together the breadcrumbs, ground almonds and baking powder and fold into the
cake batter with the orange zest, ground cardamom and crème fraîche. Pour half of it into a
silicone canelle mould with eight holes, filling each 1cm from the top. Bake for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the raspberries and sugar in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then reduce
the heat and allow to simmer for five minutes. Scrape into a small bowl, cover and
refrigerate. Let the Runeberg cakes cool down a bit before you take them out of the
moulds. Place them on a wire rack to become completely cold while you bake the
remaining eight cakes in the same way.
Spoon the raspberry jam on the top of the cakes and serve, with whipped cream, if you
like.
Brovst dream cake
The story of this cake is not romantic. In 1960, the leading flour company in Denmark hosted a
cake get-together in Brovst for local housewives. A 13-year-old girl from a different town showed up
with her granny’s cake and the recipe for it. The flour company were so impressed by this cake that
they published the recipe and named it after the town. The girl found out when she saw the recipes
on cards at a local shop. The shopkeeper was a bit cross that the flour company had not
acknowledged the girl, so he wrote to them. As thanks they posted the girl a box set of recipes.
Makes 20 pieces
Ingredients
For the cake
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
250g caster sugar
200g plain flour
200ml whole milk
For the glaze

100g butter
50ml single cream
Method
parchment.
Melt the butter and leave to cool a little. Beat the eggs and sugar together with an
electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold it into the
batter, then gently fold in the cooled butter and milk. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for
20 minutes.
Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the glaze into a small saucepan and let it melt
together over a low heat, stirring. Make sure the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat.
Remove the cake from the oven and spread the glaze over, then bake for 10 minutes
more. Leave the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the tin before cutting into squares to serve.
Michala’s chocolate cake
This is a real family recipe. I created it many years ago when my daughter Michala was
around four years old. She loved chocolate… and especially chocolate cakes. She liked
them very dark and rich, unlike most other children. So I created this easy recipe that has
lots of flavour and a soft texture. It is a cake most children would like to eat and it became
Michala’s favourite. This can be baked a day in advance and keeps well.
Serves 14
Ingredients
For the cake
150g best dark chocolate, chopped, at least 60% cocoa solids
4 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar
150g plain flour
200ml single cream
For the icing

200g best dark chocolate, at least 60% cocoa solids, chopped
10g butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly butter a 28cm diameter springform tin.
Place the butter in a heatproof bowl with the chocolate for the cake and fit over a
saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Melt the
chocolate, then set aside to cool a little.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar well until pale and fluffy, then mix in the cooled chocolate
mixture. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a separate bowl and stir in the
desiccated coconut. Fold the flour mixture alternately with the cream into the batter. Beat
the egg whites until stiff, then gently fold them into the batter. Pour the batter into the
prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes. Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake; it should
emerge clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack.
For the icing, melt the chocolate as before (though this time, without the butter).
Remove from the heat and beat in the butter. Leave to cool slightly, then spread the icing
over the cake and scatter over the coconut. Serve when the icing has set, with crème
fraîche or whipped cream, if you like.
Meringue-topped rhubarb cake
Somebody once told me this cake has galactic proportions, which is some compliment… If
you like rhubarb and soft crunchy meringue, this is the cake for you. I have served it to
family and friends for years and it has always spread a lot of joy. Baking is all about love.
Serves 20
Ingredients
For the cake
1 vanilla pod
175g caster sugar
4 eggs
175g plain flour
100ml whole milk
For the topping

400g fresh or frozen and defrosted rhubarb, cut into 1cm pieces
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
Method
parchment.
Cut the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out all the seeds with the tip of a sharp
knife. Cream the butter, vanilla seeds and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Grind the almonds, with their skins, in a food processor, until fine. Mix them with the
flour and baking powder. Add to the batter, alternating with the milk. Pour into the prepared
tin, then spread the rhubarb evenly on top. Working quickly, whisk the egg whites until stiff,
but do not over-beat them. Gradually add the sugar, still beating, then evenly spread the
meringue over the rhubarb.
Bake for about 20 minutes, then cover the cake with foil to stop it getting too dark and
bake for another 20 minutes. Insert a skewer to check if the cake is done, it should come
out clean; otherwise bake for five minutes more.
Serve warm or cold.
Basic Danish pastry dough
The great thing about wienerbrød is that it all comes from the same basic pastry dough, so,
when you master that, you can make all the different versions. The pastry is not hard to
make but it takes time and, as with a lot of things in life, the more you do it the better you
will become.
Makes 20–24 pastries
Ingredients
25g fresh yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
325g 00 grade flour, plus more to dust
300g cold butter, in thin slices
Method
Crumble the yeast into 150ml of lukewarm water, stir to dissolve, then add the egg, salt
and sugar. Stir in the flour and knead the dough with your hands until it is even and light.
Put it in a bowl, cover with cling film and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface into a rough 45cm square. Arrange
a square of butter in the centre at a 45° angle to the corners of the dough, so it forms a
smaller diamond inside the pastry square. Fold the corners of the pastry over the butter to
encase it fully and seal the joins well. Roll out the dough again carefully, this time into a
rectangle, making sure that it does not crack and expose the butter.
Then fold a short end one-third over into the centre, and the other short end over that:
you are folding the rectangle into three, as you would a business letter (see photo). Wrap in
cling film and rest once more in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Repeat this rolling and folding procedure three times in total, remembering to let the
dough rest for 15 minutes in the refrigerator between each. Now the dough is ready to
make any "Danish".
Chocolate Danish
This pastry is the one I bake for a family birthday breakfast table. This has become an
important tradition; I started doing it when I became a mother, when I lived in London and
could not find proper wienerbrød anywhere. For my son’s first birthday I baked my first
Danish pastry, because it was utterly impossible to think he could have a birthday without
one for breakfast! This was years before I knew I was going to be a cook. Back then I just
loved to bake and spent most of my free time doing so.
Makes 24
Ingredients
For the pastry cream
300ml single cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
3 egg yolks, to glaze, plus 1 whole egg, lightly beaten
For the rest

1 quantity Basic Danish pastry dough
00 grade, or plain flour, to dust
200g best dark chocolate, at least 60% cocoa solids, chopped
20g butter
Method
Bring the cream to the boil with the vanilla pod in a saucepan, then turn off the heat. In
a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until fluffy and light yellow in
colour. Pour a little bit of the hot cream into the egg mixture, whisking all the time, then
pour all the egg mixture into the saucepan. Set the saucepan over a low heat and whisk
until the cream starts to thicken. Take care not to boil and whisk continuously to avoid
burning. When it has thickened, remove from the heat and leave to cool, placing a sheet of
cling film directly on the surface to prevent a skin forming.
Roll out the Danish pastry dough on a lightly floured work surface into a big rectangle
measuring 60 x 40cm. Now cut it into 10cm squares. Place 1–2 tsp of the pastry cream in
the middle of each square.
Now form the pastries: take each square and fold the corners into the middle over the
cream until all four meet. Close all the dough seams completely by pressing them together
so the cream is encased. Now pull the new four ‘corners’ of the dough up as well, to make
a very tight ball of pastry around the cream. Turn each bun upside down, so it is
smooth-side up, and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover with tea
towels and leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush the pastries with the egg to glaze and bake them for
15–18 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl fitted over a saucepan of simmering water,
making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Remove from the heat and stir in the
butter, then leave to cool slightly. Spoon a little chocolate glaze on each pastry and spread
it out with a spoon to a circle that stops 5mm from the edge of the pastry. Leave the
chocolate to set, then serve right away.
Jam or pastry cream Danish
Spandauer
A Spandau divides the Scandinavians: jam or pastry cream? You get to choose here, so I
leave it up to you! Many bakers also ice these pastries, though I think that is a shame
because it makes them too sweet; I like to be able to taste the freshly baked pastry.
Makes 24
Ingredients
Pastry cream
300ml single cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
3 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg, lightly beaten, to glaze
Method
Bring the cream to the boil with the vanilla pod in a saucepan, then turn off the heat. In
a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until fluffy and light yellow in
colour. Pour a little bit of the hot cream into the egg mixture, whisking all the time, then
pour all the egg mixture into the saucepan. Set the saucepan over a low heat and whisk
until the cream starts to thicken. Take care not to boil and whisk continuously to avoid
burning. When it has thickened, remove from the heat and leave to cool, placing a sheet of
cling film directly on the surface to prevent a skin forming.
Roll out the Danish pastry dough on a lightly floured work surface to 60 x 40cm and cut
out 10cm squares. Place 1–2 tsp of either Pastry cream or jam in the middle of each
square, so you have 12 of each variety.
Now form the pastries: take each square and fold the corners into the middle over the
cream until all four meet. Close all the dough seams by pressing them together so the
cream is encased (it doesn’t matter, on this occasion, if you don’t seal them completely).
Place on baking trays lined with baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rest
in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Brush the pastries with the egg and bake for five minutes, then reduce the oven
temperature to 200°C and bake for 15 minutes. They will have opened up like the petals of
a flower, to reveal the filling within.
Poppy and sesame danish
Frøsnapper
These are perfect for morning coffee or brunch, though I can easily eat one heated up, late
at night, with a cup of strong tea.
Makes 20
Ingredients
For the filling
150g butter
50g poppy seeds
For the rest

1 Basic Danish pastry dough
100g poppy seeds
100g sesame seeds
Method
Mix the butter and sugar for the filling together with the poppy seeds.
Roll the Danish pastry dough out on a lightly floured work surface to a 60 x 30cm
rectangle. Spread the filling, lengthways, on one half of the dough, then fold the plain half
of the dough over the filling: the folded pastry should measure 60 x 15cm. Press the seams
together to encase it and brush with egg (reserve the remaining egg), then dredge with the
poppy seeds and sesame seeds for the topping so the dough is covered.
Cut the pastry crossways into long strips, each 15 x 4cm. Take one at a time, twist
them, then place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover with tea towels and
leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Brush each pastry with the reserved egg on the cut edges and the pieces that aren’t
covered with seeds, so every bit turns golden in the oven, then bake for five minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire
rack.
Spiced buns
Kløven buns
Some people just love dried fruit and raisins and I am definitely among them. A friend once
said to me, when I chose one of these in a café, ‘These buns are for old ladies!’ Perhaps
one day I will be old enough to eat kløven buns respectfully. In the meantime I will just
enjoy them inappropriately…
Makes 24
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
200g butter, melted and left to cool a little
200g creme fraiche
100g raisins
100g dried cranberries
300g candied mixed peel
1.1kg 00 grade flour, plus more to dust
5g salt
200g caster sugar
Method
Put the lukewarm milk in a bowl, crumble over the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the
butter and crème fraîche, then mix in all the dried and candied fruits and peel.
Mix 1kg of the flour with the salt and sugar, then mix the flour into the yeast mixture.
Knead on a floured work surface with the remaining 100g of flour into a smooth dough.
Return to the bowl and leave to rise for two hours at room temperature. Tip the dough out
on to a floured work surface and gently form into 24 buns. Place on baking trays lined with
baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Brush the buns with the egg and bake for 25–30 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack
before serving.
Cinnamon buns
The famous Scandinavian buns, there are countless recipes for these. Everybody claims
theirs are the best, but who is to judge? I think they have to be soft, with a crisp shell, and
that there has be cardamom in the dough. Also, the mixture has to have the right balance
of spice and sweet. These are a home-baked version, very much a family affair.
You can make the dough and leave it to rise in the refrigerator for one or two days. I never
have time, because there are always some impatient children waiting…
Makes 18–20
Ingredients
For the buns
50g fresh yeast
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
150g soft butter
For the filling

200g soft butter
150g caster sugar
Method
Crumble the yeast into the milk and stir to dissolve, then add the egg. Now mix in the
flour, sugar, cardamom and salt. Mix the butter into the dough, then knead well on a floured
work surface. Put the dough into a bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it rise in a warm
place for one or two hours, or until doubled in size.
Make the filling by mixing together the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Divide the dough in
half and roll each piece out on a floured work surface to make a rectangle measuring about
40 x 30cm. Spread the cinnamon filling over each. Roll each piece of dough into a wide
cylinder, starting from a long side to get a long, slim log, then cut into 2.5cm slices.
Line some baking trays with baking parchment. Place the cinnamon rolls on the paper,
pressing down on each one so they spread slightly. Cover and leave to rise again, in a
warm place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the cinnamon buns for 25–30 minutes. Leave to cool
on a wire rack before serving.
Cardamom knots
Knutar
When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town is a legendary Scandinavian children’s story
about a very peaceful place where three robbers enter in the night… but they are rather
nice and do not take more than they need. In the end they go to jail, but soon they are
reformed and part of Cardamom town everyday life. Why Cardamom town, I don’t know… I
suppose it just shows how much we love cardamom!
Makes 18–20
Ingredients
For the filling
200g soft butter
150g caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
For the knutar

1 quantity Cinnamon buns, dough only
00 flour or plain flour, to dust
Method
Make the filling by mixing together the butter, sugar and cardamom.
Divide the dough in half and roll each piece out on a floured work surface to make a 40
x 30cm rectangle. Spread the cardamom filling lengthways over half of each rectangle.
Fold the plain side over the filled, then cut crossways into 2cm strips.
Roll these strips of dough twice round your hand, then secure with the end, pulling it
through the middle of the mass as you would a hank of leftover wool (this forms the ‘knot’
shape). Place on baking trays lined with baking parchment. Cover with tea towels and
leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Brush with the egg and bake for 20–25 minutes, then leave the knots to cool on a wire
rack.
Poppy seed Danish
Tebirkes
At the weekend the traditional Scandinavian breakfast is rolls, cheese, butter and jam, your
favourite Danish and – of course – filter coffee. This recipe is very much a Copenhagen
thing. Just 100km away, where my family is from on the Island of Fyn, they call this pastry
a Københavner, meaning somebody from Copenhagen. I still find it fascinating that in such
a small country there can be so many regional variations. You can leave the marzipan out
of the filling here, if you prefer.
Makes 20
Ingredients
150g Home-made marzipan, coarsely grated, (60% almonds)
125g softened butter
00 flour or plain flour, to dust
50-100g poppy seeds
Method
Mix the marzipan, butter and sugar together to make a smooth paste and set aside at
room temperature.
Roll out the Danish pastry dough on a lightly floured work surface to 56 x 36cm then
cut it in half lengthways. Roll both out a little more until you have a pair of even-sized
rectangles, each measuring 60 x 18cm.
Halve the marzipan filling. Take one portion and spread it evenly, lengthways, on one
half of a dough rectangle. Fold the plain half over the marzipan half to give a filled pastry
measuring 60 x 9cm. Repeat with the other dough rectangle. Push the seams of the dough
gently together.
Brush both with the egg (reserve the remaining egg) and dredge with poppy seeds. Cut
crossways into 5cm pieces and place them on baking trays lined with baking parchment.
Cover with a tea towel and leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Brush each pastry with reserved egg on the cut sides, so they turn brown. Bake for five
minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for another 15 minutes.
Kringle with rosehip jam
Quintessential farmhouse baking. When I was around eight years old, my mother rented a
cottage as an experiment in trying to live in the country. I became friends with our
next-door neighbour, whose parents had a big farm. Her mother baked the best kringle I
had ever eaten and she baked several times every week.
This is best the day you bake it, but you can reheat it the next day and serve it warm.
Makes 3
Ingredients
For the kringle
50g fresh yeast
100g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
350g butter
For the filling

150g almonds, chopped
200g caster sugar
250g butter
300g rosehip jam, (or apple compote)
50g flaked almonds
Method
Pour the milk into a bowl, crumble over the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the eggs,
sugar and salt, cover and leave for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the butter into cubes and,
with your hands, rub them into the flour. When the 30 minutes is up, mix the yeast mixture
into the flour mixture. Knead on a floured work surface until you have a smooth dough. The
dough is very delicate, so you might have to use a bit more flour and handle it with care.
Place in a bowl, cover and leave to rise at warm room temperature for about one hour.
For the filling, mix the chopped almonds into a paste with the sugar and butter. Set
aside.
Return to the dough. Roll it out on a floured work surface into a rectangle. Fold it into
three, crossways, like a business letter, then turn it by 90°, roll it out and fold it once more,
in the same way.
Now divide the dough into three and roll each out into a rectangle.
Divide the filling into three. Spread each portion out over a 4cm-wide strip down the
middle of each dough rectangle. Spread the rosehip jam on top. Fold the short ends up
over the filling and then the long sides, first one side over the filling and then the other, so
they overlap by 1cm. Place on baking trays lined with baking parchment, cover with tea
towels and let rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Brush each pastry with the egg and sprinkle with the flaked almonds. Bake for 15–20
minutes, keeping an eye on them so they don’t turn too dark. If they are looking too dark,
reduce the oven temperature to 200°C. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm or cold.
Buttermilk buns
Kærnemælkshorn
Emil from Lønneberg is a famous character from children’s literature in Scandinavia. He
always gets into trouble in clever and rather charming ways. He lives with a family on a
farm and they cook and bake all the time. Emil loves everything sweet and baking these
reminds me of his stories.
Makes 12
Ingredients
For the buns
50g fresh yeast
200ml buttermilk, (60% almonds)
75g caster sugar
5g salt
For the filling

150g Home-made marzipan, coarsely grated
For the topping

100g skin-on almonds, finely chopped
Method
Crumble the yeast into the buttermilk and stir to dissolve, then stir in the egg. In a
separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the
flour with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Stir in the yeast mixture, then knead the
dough on a floured work surface until smooth. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a
tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for one hour.
Mix together all the ingredients for the filling.
Roll out the dough into a circle on a floured work surface, spread the filling evenly over
it, then cut into 12 triangles. Roll each into a little horn (kind of similar to a croissant but
without the curve, see photo, right) and place on baking trays lined with baking parchment.
Leave to rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush the pastries with the egg, sprinkle with the almonds
and bake for 20–25 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Saffron bread
Legend has it that on 13 December 1764 a gentleman in Sweden was woken in the middle
of the night by a beautiful voice. He saw a young woman in white moving through his
bedroom, singing. She brought light, food and wine as comfort on what was, in the
Gregorian calendar, the longest night of the year. That was St Lucia. We still celebrate her
coming on 13 December, when we eat this saffron Lucia bread.
Makes 24
Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
50g fresh yeast
200g creme fraiche
1.1kg 00 grade flour
5g salt
200g caster sugar
Method
Mix 100ml of boiling water with the saffron, stir a little and leave for 10 minutes.
Crumble the yeast into the milk and stir to dissolve, then add the crème fraîche, butter
and saffron water. In a separate bowl, mix 1kg of the flour with the salt and sugar, then mix
into the yeast mixture. Knead with the rest of the flour into a smooth dough. Return to the
bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for two hours.
Form the buns by rolling the dough into 24 sausages, then curl each into a round bun.
Alternatively, you could shape each as the numbers eight or five, or other shapes inspired
by Nordic mythology.
Set on baking trays lined with baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to
rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush the buns with the egg and bake for 25 minutes.
Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.
Mayors krans
This is a big Danish, we call it a krans when it is this large. We serve it in the afternoon,
never in the morning (the mornings are reserved for the smaller pastries). You can change
the filling to other jams, pastry cream or fruit compote, there are loads of possibilities.
Serves 8
Ingredients
150g ground almonds
100g raisins
150g butter
50g skin-on almonds, finely chopped
Method
Mix the ground almonds, raisins, butter and sugar together to make the filling.
Roll out the Danish pastry dough on a floured work surface to a rectangle measuring
60 x 40cm. Cut it into three long rectangular pieces. Divide the filling into three and spread
one part evenly down the middle, lengthways, of each piece of dough. Roll each piece,
lengthways, to make a thin roll.
Take each long rolled dough and press them together at one end, then plait them and
press together again at the other end.
Now form the plait into a circle, pressing the two ends together. Cover with a tea towel
and leave to rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush the pastry with the egg and sprinkle with the
almonds. Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C
and bake for 25–30 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Winter spiced pastry
There is a pastry for all seasons, such as the Spandauer with jam I make in the summer.
When it’s cold outside and my world is covered in snow and silence, I like something spicy
which goes well with a hot drink. This is excellent with a glass of white gløgg. I serve these
pastries with gløgg every year at my Christmas staff party.
Makes 20
Ingredients
25g fresh yeast
150ml lukewarm water
1 egg, lightly beaten, plus 1 more to brush
1/2 teaspoon salt
325g 00 grade flour, sifted, plus more to dust
1 teaspoon ground coriander
50g raisins
50g mixed candied peel
250g butter, chilled, sliced
Method
In a mixing bowl, crumble the yeast into the water and stir to dissolve. Stir in the egg,
sugar and salt. In a separate large bowl, combine the flour, spices, raisins and candied
peel, then stir in the yeast mixture until the dough comes together and leaves the edge of
the bowl. Turn it on to a floured work surface and knead for five minutes until shiny but not
sticky. Return it to the bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in the refrigerator for 15
minutes.
Now roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface into a 50cm square. Spread the
sliced butter over the dough, about 10cm in from the edge, so the square of dough has a
smaller square of butter on top. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter so they meet
in the centre, making a smaller square parcel.
Carefully roll the dough into a 60 x 40cm rectangle, making sure it doesn’t crack and
that the butter stays inside the parcel.
Next you want to fold the dough so that the butter is layered within it. Starting from a
short side, fold the bottom third of dough over the middle third, then fold the top third down
over that, as if folding a business letter. Roll it out again, then fold into three in the same
way. Repeat three times, wrapping the dough in cling film and resting it in the refrigerator
between each repeat for 15 minutes.
Finally, roll out the dough on a floured work surface and cut out 20 squares. Take each
one and press all the corners together. Place, corners down, on a baking tray lined with
baking parchment. Cover with tea towels and leave to rise for one hour in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush the pastries with the egg and bake them for 10
minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for 10–15 minutes more,
keeping an eye on the pastries so they do not turn too dark. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Midsummer cake party
In Scandinavia, to invite people over for a coffee and cake party is a wonderfully
old-fashioned thing to do. It is a tradition that was common for my grandparents’
generation.
The parties started around 1890 in Sønderjylland in the south of Denmark, where people
were invited to sample 15–20 different cakes and were expected to try every one! Cake
parties began on larger farms, primarily because to be able to bake that many cakes you
had to have a kitchen maid or other helpers, but also because the large farms had all the
eggs, cream, butter, flour and milk. Such a party was simply too expensive for most other
people to throw.
The parties evolved to become a popular pastime. When my grandmother was alive, a
cake party meant – at the very least – offering some buns; a plain pound cake; a kringle; a
cake with marzipan and berries; and a selection of butter cookies, all served in a set order.
In my family, having people over for what we called a ‘cake table’ always happened at
birthdays and then also a few times over the summer. The cakes were always served with
coffee, or a berry or currant cordial for the children.
I like the tradition so much that I have kept it alive and, at least once every summer, I have
friends and family over for an afternoon cake feast. I always hold mine at my grandparents’
house at the beach so, for me, the light, the sounds and the fragrances of summer bring
back memories of all my summer cake feasts.
If you were to serve all the recipes in this chapter together, you would feed 10–12 people
more than handsomely. In fact, they might well need help getting home…!
Salmon and horseradish snitter

We are familiar with the concepts of tapas, sushi and mezze… and now I would like to
popularise snitter! Snitter are small pieces of smørrebrød traditionally served at parties in
the evening, if you want to serve the cold meal which was usual at parties in Scandinavia a
couple of decades ago. Now, the tradition has changed somewhat. Here I suggest serving
them with smoked salmon, but they can in fact come with any selection from a large range
of smørrebrød toppings.
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the horseradish cream
6 tablespoons full-fat or extra-rich greek yogurt
1 teaspoon caster sugar
4 tablespoons grated horseradish
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
For the snitter

1 cucumber
1 bunch chervil
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
6 slices My classic rye bread
10 slices smoked salmon
Method
Start with the horseradish cream: mix everything together in a bowl and season to
taste. Cover and set aside until needed.
Cut the cucumber into small cubes, chop the chervil and mix it in along with the lemon
juice, salt and pepper.
With a 4cm round cookie cutter, cut out 16 pieces of rye bread and place them on a
work surface. Cut the salmon into long slices and roll each into a salmon ‘rose’. Place one
on each piece of bread and fill with 1 tsp of horseradish cream. Divide the cucumber mix
on top of all the snitter; the decoration should look a bit rustic, so don’t worry if they’re not
perfect.
Choux pastries with rhubarb cream
This is a favourite of mine, as I love anything both sweet and sour. Choux pastry is perfect
because it is barely sweet in itself. It can be a challenge to work with the first couple of
times you make it, but you will master it eventually with practice. When I started my
catering company more than 20 years ago, these were often on the menu for parties.
Everybody loves them and they are easy to eat with your fingers.
Makes 16–18
Ingredients
Choux pastry
100g butter, more for the tray
100g plain flour
pinch salt
For the rhubarb cream

1 vanilla pod
300g rhubarb
150g caster sugar
200ml whipping cream
icing sugar, to dust
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and butter it
lightly.
With two teaspoons, place walnut-sized pieces of the dough on the baking tray a few
centimetres apart; you should get 16–18. Bake for 20–25 minutes; do not open the oven
door for the first 10 minutes or the pastry may not rise. The pastries are done when they
are golden brown and firm. Transfer to a wire rack and, with a sharp knife, pierce holes in
the side of each bun, to let the steam out. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C. Cut the vanilla pod in half
lengthways and scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife. Cut the rhubarb into 1cm-thick
slices, place in a baking dish and mix in the sugar and vanilla seeds. Bake for about 15
minutes, then leave to cool completely.
Whip the cream until it is quite stiff, then fold into the rhubarb. Cut each choux pastry in
half and place 2–3 tbsp of the rhubarb cream in the middle. Dust with icing sugar and serve
right away.
Spelt cardamom rolls
You cannot start a cake party without a roll with butter; it’s the first item a guest is required
to try! It is also very common to serve these at birthday parties, with hot chocolate and
whipped cream.
Makes 29
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
850g white stoneground spelt flour, plus more to dust
100g wholegrain stoneground spelt flour
8g salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm milk in a bowl and stir to dissolve, then stir in the
butter. Sift the flours, cardamom, sugar and salt together and stir these into the milk
mixture. When a dough forms that comes cleanly from the edges of the bowl, turn it out on
to a floured work surface and knead for five minutes.
Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place
for one hour. Tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and knead it again, then shape
it into 28 small buns. Place them on two baking trays lined with baking parchment. Cover
with tea towels and leave to rise again for 20 minutes.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C. Lightly glaze each bun with the
beaten egg and bake for 20–25 minutes.
Make some hot chocolate while the cardamom buns are in the oven. Serve the freshly
baked buns with butter on the side and mugs of hot chocolate to drink.
Rose pound cake
Sandkage
Easy to make, this is always part of a ‘cake table’, as it is the one cake everyone can agree
on! It’s also the cake I baked most as a child, as it can’t really go wrong. The almonds keep
it wonderfully moist, so it is great for a day or so after baking as well, especially to dunk in
coffee. This basic recipe can be adapted to make many different flavours, by adding finely
grated unwaxed or organic citrus zest, dried fruits or cocoa powder.
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the cake
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
150g plain flour
100ml whole milk
For the icing

6 tablespoonsrose jelly
200g icing sugar
pink food colouring, (optional)
unsprayed rose petals
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter a 1.5-litre loaf tin and line the base with baking
parchment.
Blitz the whole almonds, with their skins, in a food processor until they are ground. You
will get far superior results with freshly ground almonds, so do take the trouble and don’t
skip this step!
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add
the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder and mix them into the ground almonds. Fold into the
butter mixture with a spatula, adding enough of the milk to reach a dropping consistency.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake for one hour in the hot oven. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a
wire rack. Leave until cold.
Place the rose jelly in a bowl, gradually add the icing sugar and mix until you have a
smooth icing; the colour will be a pale rose-pink. If you want a bright pink, add a tiny bit of
food colouring. Now add the minutest splash of water, continuing to whisk, until the
consistency is smooth and not too runny.
Place the pound cake upside down on a serving dish – so the flat base is on top – and
spread the icing over the cake. Decorate with the rose petals.
Buttermilk scones with cream and jam
These mini scones became part of my cake table when I lived in London in the early
1990s. There I learned about afternoon tea. My sister Silla and I invited our mormor
(granny in Danish) to London. It was her first time travelling alone and also her first time in
London. One of the highlights of her trip (apart from buying a dress in Harrods) was
afternoon tea at the Ritz. She chose coffee, of course, because my mormor would never
drink tea unless she had a very high fever! Her favourite cakes among the afternoon tea
selection were the scones, with clotted cream and jam. I make lots of jams in the summer
that are fresher and runnier than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts and meant to be stored
just for a short time.
Makes 14–16
Ingredients
2 teaspoons salt
200ml buttermilk
300ml double cream, to serve
Scandinavian jams, Gooseberry and vanilla or Raspberry and vanilla ‘jam’, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C

Sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a big bowl, add the cold butter and,
with your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it has the consistency of crumbs. Add the
buttermilk and fold in until the dough becomes smooth. Remove from the bowl and knead
on a floured work surface until the texture is even, but do not overwork, then roll the dough
out to 2cm thick. Fold the dough in half, then roll it out to 2cm thick again. Repeat this
folding and rolling three times, then finish by rolling the dough out to 1.5cm thick.
With a 4cm round cookie cutter, cut out 14–16 scones and place on a baking sheet
lined with baking parchment. Bake in the oven for 15–18 minutes. Leave on a wire rack
until just cold.
Whip the double cream until billowing and serve with the scones and the jam. I put the
cream on first, then the jam, but this is a contentious issue, so just do as you prefer! Serve
right away, and definitely on the same day they are baked.
Pink meringue kisses
Crunchy on the outside, soft inside and sweeter than sweet: these are just so irresistible.
We call them kys, which means kiss in Danish. If you prefer to stay away from artificial food
colouring you can use raw beetroot juice. The pink colour is bit paler, but it still looks great.
Makes 35–40
Ingredients
4 large egg whites
250g caster sugar
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon pink food colouring
or 1 teaspoon juice from raw beetroot
Method

Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, but do
not beat them too much. Gradually whisk in the sugar a spoon at a time, then add the
vinegar and food colouring or beetroot juice.
Using two tablespoons, place big dollops of the pink meringue on the baking trays,
each a few centimetres apart. Bake for 45–50 minutes, then cool on the baking parchment
on a wire rack.
Fru Pigalopp cake
Ever since the first time I came across Fru Pigalopp in a children’s book, I have loved her.
She is big and warm and always ready to give a hug; she is all about fun and games; she
is always happy and sees possibilities in everything. And she does not mind a bit of chaos.
I think we all have a bit of Fru Pigalopp in us, just waiting to come out. This cake is all
about her: wild and full of love.
Serves 12
Ingredients
For the cake
butter, for the tin
6 large eggs
300g caster sugar
250g plain flour
For the cream

2 vanilla pods
4 egg yolks
6 tablespoons icing sugar
600ml double cream
For the fruit

1kg strawberries
300g redcurrants
500g raspberries
Method
Bake the cake the day before you want to serve it, otherwise it is too difficult to cut.
Butter a 28cm cake tin and line the base with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to
180°C.
Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy; they
should double or even triple in volume and turn pale. Sift over the flour and baking powder
and gently fold them in. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the hot oven for 25 minutes.
Check with a skewer if it is baked all the way through; it should emerge clean from the
centre of the cake. Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool, before
removing from the tin. Leave overnight to settle.
To make the cream, cut the vanilla pods in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds
with the tip of a sharp knife into a bowl containing the yolks and icing sugar. Beat with an
electric whisk until very pale and fluffy. Whip the double cream until very stiff, then fold it
into the egg yolk mixture.
Rinse the strawberries, remove the green tops and cut each into halves or quarters,
depending on size. Take half the redcurrants and remove the stalks. Rinse all the
redcurrants.
Cut the sponge cake into three horizontally with a long serrated knife.
Take a big round serving dish and place the base layer of cake on it. Spread it with
one-third of the cream and arrange over one-third of the berries, using half the redcurrants
that have been removed from their stalks. Repeat to assemble all three layers, topping the
cake with the redcurrants on their stalks.
Leave for 30 minutes before serving. Be careful when carrying to the cake table, and
be aware that it is a real challenge to slice neatly, so have the plates ready!
Redcurrant cordial
This is the Scandinavian summer drink: sweet and sour and all about the Nordic summer
berries. It is lovely just with sparkling water and a sprig of mint. It is also really very good
for using in cocktails, or for adding to sparkling wine or vodka.
Makes 1 litre
Ingredients
1kg redcurrants
350g caster sugar
Method
Rinse the redcurrants and remove the coarsest stalks. Tip them into a saucepan, pour
in 500ml of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer just until the
berries burst.
Line a sieve with muslin, place over a large bowl and strain the cooked berries through
it.
Measure the resulting juice and pour it into a clean saucepan. Return to the boil, then
add 350g of sugar per litre of juice. Let it boil until the sugar is completely dissolved,
skimming any scum from the surface.
Pour the hot liquid into sterilised bottles and seal. If stored in a dark and cool place, the
cordial will keep for at least two months. When the bottle has been opened, store the
cordial in the refrigerator.
Breads and savouries
Grains and flour
Flour is not just flour. Flour comes from grains that come from different seeds.
Furthermore, the harvest of grains isn’t consistent every year because the weather can be
particularly cool, hot or wet. This can give the flour from similar grains quite different baking
abilities.
Rye grows in the northern hemisphere. There is a ‘rye border’ in the world that runs
through North Europe and Russia. Rye grows to the north of the border and this region is,
therefore, where the tradition for eating rye bread exists. Rye flour does not have great
baking ability because of its low gluten content. It is usually mixed with wheat to correct
that. (But 100 per cent rye bread does exist in Scandinavia and you’ll find recipes here.)
Wheat is the grain mostly used for bread all around the world, everywhere south of the rye
border. It grows in Europe and the US, but also in vast quantities in China, India and
Pakistan. Wheat is easy to work with for baking because of the flour’s strong gluten
structure. There are many different varieties of wheat, with varying flavours, that grow in
different areas. While 100 per cent wheat bread tastes great, it is not the healthiest bread if
it does not contain at least some wholemeal flour or whole grains.
Wheat also faces other problems; it’s getting overused due to the monoculture that has
followed conventional agriculture. Monoculture is responsible for an increased use of
fertilisers and decreased crop rotation. Wheat allergies could be a consequence of that: as
the same seeds get depleted from being used on the same soil over and again, more
fertiliser is needed to give a satisfying yield. It becomes a vicious circle. The way that the
modern bread industry bakes could also be part of the explanation: gluten is difficult to
digest and only broken down by sourdough cultures and long fermentation, and that takes
time. Time is one thing the industry does not have if it is to churn out loaves at a rate of
thousands every hour.
Spelt is a very tasty grain that also has a great baking ability, in fact, very similar to wheat.
Spelt’s gluten structure is not as strong as that of wheat, but is still strong enough to give
volume to spelt bread. Spelt flour is different to work with; you will often find breads made
with 100 per cent spelt are a bit flat until you get the hang of working with the flour. Spelt
grows primarily organically and the world market remains very small.
Good-quality flour comes from grains that, mostly, have been grown organically, treated
correctly after harvesting and milled on stone mills. Flours that have been milled with as
much of the husk and germ as possible have great flavour and the highest nutritional value.
But that kind of flour is not easy to find, because including the germ in flour – which has a
small amount of oil and is packed with vitamin E – means it has a dramatically shorter shelf
life in the supermarket (six or seven months as opposed to about two years for flour milled
without the germ).
Too long a shelf life is not desirable for flour’s quality and taste. After being milled, it needs
to rest for just a few weeks to allow the gluten to strengthen and improve the flour’s baking
qualities. Danish millers such as Skærtoft Mølle will only start milling when they receive an
order from a supermarket, then they set the terms for how long the flour can sit on the shelf
(usually no more than seven months).
Biodiversity has to be present in the variety of bread we eat. What does that mean? It
means that the grain should not be sitting in seed banks, but be growing out in the fields.
However, the development of seed diversity is a long and slow process. More than 20
years ago in Scandinavia, millers and farmers started growing a larger variety of seeds. It
has resulted in a wider selection of rye, wheat and spelt grains such as Ølands wheat,
Dalar wheat, black barley, Svejde rye and emmer; all very interesting and tasty.
I have not used these new Scandinavian grains in this book because they are difficult to
find in the UK. I mention them anyway because I hope they will be available in the near
future. I think it’s something to aim for everywhere in the world: get the seeds out of the
seed banks and grow them in the fields for the enjoyment and nourishment they will give us
in our food. It improves our health. Furthermore, if you buy flour made from the new grains,
it is usually easy to use in many of the different sourdough and yeast breads in this book,
so I suggest you experiment.
Rye breads
I love rye bread. I eat it every day.
As a child, for lunch or dinner, I would get three slices of rye bread and then create my own
smørrebrød; that is, traditional open sandwiches. I would spread a bit of butter on each
slice, then choose different toppings. My favourite was sliced summer new potatoes and
roasted onions. A close second was hard-boiled egg, ripe tomato slices and cottage
cheese. My third was the simplest: raisins. I would eat the smørrebrød slowly, saving the
raisin one for last. It was a treat, my dessert.
But it wasn’t until I married that I started baking rye bread regularly, My classic rye bread, I
call it. I was very serious about it. I baked with lots of love for my new family. I mixed my
sourdough rye bread starter in 1989 and it’s now a very treasured possession. It moved
with me to London and I also had rye flour sent over, because it was difficult to buy in the
UK at that time. The sourdough starter also moved with me to Paris, later to Washington
DC and then back to Denmark. Now my husband has taken over baking our classic rye,
that is his weekly duty.
Rye has a lovely earthy, nutty taste that becomes sourer when baked with a sourdough
starter. It does not contain much gluten. As gluten helps bread to rise, 100 per cent rye
bread is very dense, so usually rye bread contains a little wheat flour. This chapter has
recipes for both 100 per cent rye and mixed rye breads.
In recent years, university science departments in the Nordic countries have conducted
major research on the virtues, strengths and properties of rye. Most rye flour in
Scandinavia is stoneground whole grain, which makes it very healthy and perfect in the
everyday diet. Rye is known to grow well in a cold climate. Like oats, it is thrifty, hardy and
survives frosts, making it a robust grain for farming.
And the scientists aren’t the only ones excited about rye. The number of home bakers that
bake rye bread is on the increase in Scandinavia. I have given away a lot of my own rye
sourdough to other people and have also travelled the world serving rye bread, from South
Africa and Brazil to the US and Moscow. The appetite for the tasty, dense dark bread has
never been larger. In my travels, and in this chapter, I am very proud to share some of the
DNA of our food culture.
Other breads
Baking bread started for me early in life. Over the years, I have learned to bake with a biga,
was introduced to spelt, came to understand kneading techniques, resting, proving and the
making of dough, worked with different flours, fell in love with my KitchenAid… and
travelled around the world, meeting a lot of passionate bakers and cooks, from whom I
have learned and with whom I have shared experiences. And I am still learning.
Baking bread is a life-long assignment. The wonderful thing is that, even if you do not want
baking to be part of your everyday life, you can just bake tasty loaves now and then without
having to commit to encyclopaedic knowledge, or make sourdough, or travel to
Scandinavia to buy specialist flour!
No matter what route you choose, baking is a wonderful gift; a small miracle every time
yeast, water and salt are mixed, given time to absorb air and then baked into bread. No
matter if you do this often or only rarely, baking is about understanding the dough.
Handling the dough also has a lot to do with training. As a home baker you can’t expect to
get into the consistent routine of the professional baker; you will do things a little bit
differently each time… but that is also the beauty of it.
The most common mistake in home baking is to use too much flour. Wet – or, at least, not
too dry – dough gives the best result and it can be very intimidating to handle dough like
that… sometimes it feels like it’s walking all over your kitchen table! The only way forward
is to practice. With wet dough, remember that when it is left to rise, apart from capturing air,
the flour absorbs water. Therefore wet dough will be drier after rising. Too much flour in
dough at the offset will make the loaves heavy and dry.
Baking is therapeutic and highly satisfying. There is nothing like the smell of home-baked
bread. Good bread can’t be rushed; it needs time but – and this is important – not your time
but its own time. You can work around it.
Bread is embedded in our culture; deeply connected to our history, to life and to love.
‘Peace goes into the making of a poem as flour goes into the making of bread.’ Pablo
Neruda
Rolls
Why rolls? Why not just bake bread? Because I think rolls are special. They are often
connected to celebrations of different kinds in Scandinavia, or eaten for a leisurely
breakfast at the weekends. In the same way that Americans have pancakes and the Brits
have their full English breakfast, we indulge in rundstykker, soft-boiled eggs, cheese and
Danish pastries.
I grew up with rundstykke rolls. At the weekends, you would get up and go straight to the
baker for rundstykker with either white or black poppy seeds on top (white poppy seeds are
most common). Rundstykke just means ‘a round piece’. Thirty years ago, every
neighbourhood had a bakery; some had more than one. It’s not like that any more.
Bakeries have been disappearing for decades. But, thankfully, there is now a new trend,
where either big chains or artisan bakeries are opening. So freshly baked bread is back,
and not just some baked-off product you pick up at the petrol station.
Rolls are all about the crust, it’s that simple. You get more crust on a roll than on a slice of
bread, and some toppings are just better on a crusty roll than on bread.
There are also different kinds of buns and rolls for occasions such as birthdays, or religious
holidays. You will find them in this and other chapters in the book.
Crispbread
Crispbread, flat bread or, as we call it, knækbrød or knäckebröt. If you think about it, it’s not
hard to understand why flat crispbreads should come out of Scandinavia...
Rye grows really well in the Nordic climate; therefore we have a long tradition for baking
with rye. But it’s difficult to bake with rye because it contains only a small amount of gluten
and so does not rise well. Bread that is crisp and flat is therefore perfect to bake with rye
flour. An additional advantage is that crispbread can last for a long time. That was a
welcome benefit in the old days when you needed food that could be stocked to get the
family through cold and tough winters, especially for the families living in vildmarken, the
wilderness in the north of Sweden.
But this is all history. Now, most of the crispbread we eat in Scandinavia comes from a
factory. Home-baked crispbread is not as common as home-baked leavened breads and
cakes. Most artisan bakers in Sweden will bake a signature crispbread, but most bakeries
in Denmark wouldn’t bother.
I bake a few different kinds of crispbread. I like to eat them with cheese, dips and houmous
and I serve them as snacks for dinner parties, or as an appetiser.
Savouries
Baking is not only about bread and cakes. Most food cultures also have savoury baked
goods that can be made from rice flour, corn or barley: just think of blinis, tacos or filled
pasta.
Leftover bread can be used in salads and, conversely, leftover vegetables can be used in
baking.
I think that, in our future diet, grains will play a more important role. Grains are much more
sustainable to eat than meat; we can’t go on eating meat as we do now on an everyday
basis.
In these recipes I use a little bacon and salmon, but it can always be left out or substituted
without problems.
Smørrebrød
There would be no smørrebrød, the classic Danish lunch, without rye bread. Smørrebrød
plays a vital part in Danish food culture and rye bread underpins it all. We eat smørrebrød
at restaurants, or buy pieces of smørrebrød as fast food. Take-away smørrebrød shops
were the first fast-food outlets in Denmark at the beginning of the 20th century.
Obviously, Scandinavians also make and serve smørrebrød at home. It can be served as a
buffet, where you sit at the table and everyone makes up their own combinations. This is a
very sociable and lovely way to eat lunch, known as smørgåsbord. If you invite people over
for smørrebrød, your guests would normally eat two or three pieces each. The normal
order is to start with the fish, then proceed via an egg or a vegetable option to finish with
the meat.
For a quick everyday lunch, Danes eat pieces of rye bread with a few toppings that can be
eaten without cutlery. We call this madder, and it can often be found in a child’s lunch box.
In this chapter is a selection of some of my favourite smørrebrød on My classic rye bread.

Rye sourdough starter
This is to make Danish-style rye bread. Sometimes, it starts to turn mouldy before it begins
to ferment. If that happens, you have to start all over again. But don’t despair! It happens to
all of us, often if the kitchen is too cold.
Ingredients
350ml buttermilk
200g stoneground rye flour
Method
Mix the buttermilk and rye flour, cover and leave at 22–25°C for two to three days.
When small bubbles start appearing, along with a bit of a sour smell, it is fermenting and
ready to be used.
The sourdough hotel
In Sweden there is a sourdough hotel, where you can leave your biga when you go on
holiday. That’s what I call committed sourdough baking…
Wheat-rye biga
Using rye gives a more sour taste to the bread.
Ingredients
100g strong white flour, plus more to feed
100g stoneground rye flour, plus more to feed
300ml water, plus more to feed
Method
Measure the flours into a large mixing bowl. Gradually pour in the water, mixing with
your hand or a whisk, until it is the consistency of pancake batter.
Every day, discard 80 per cent of the biga, add about as much water and both of the
flours to make up the difference (no need to be exact) and mix well. Do this ‘feeding’ for
five to 10 days until the biga comes to life: you will notice small bubbles or a sour smell.
Ideally you should feed it every day, as above. If you forget for three or four days, just
discard and refill as though there had been no gap. Mine has worked for years despite me
sometimes forgetting. Though I do get people to babysit my biga when I travel!
Wholemeal biga
The wholemeal flour used here gives more taste. This is what I would call a classic biga.
Ingredients
150g strong white flour, plus more to feed
100g strong wholemeal flour, plus more to feed
300ml water, plus more to feed
Method
Measure the flours into a large mixing bowl. Gradually pour in the water, mixing with
your hand or a whisk, until it is the consistency of pancake batter.
Every day, discard 80 per cent of the biga, add about as much water and both of the
flours to make up the difference (no need to be exact) and mix well. Do this ‘feeding’ for
five to 10 days until the biga comes to life: you will notice small bubbles or a sour smell.
Ideally you should feed it every day, as above. If you forget for three or four days, just
discard and refill as though there had been no gap. Mine has worked for years despite me
sometimes forgetting. Though I do get people to babysit my biga when I travel!
Sønderjydske rye bread

This is a 100 per cent rye bread made from stoneground flour, a very traditional bread from
the southern part of Denmark that borders with Germany. It is named after the area:
Sønderjylland. You will need to start the rye sourdough starter three or four days before
producing the rye bread. However, once you’ve done it the first time you don’t have to do it
again, as you take your next starter from each loaf as you make it.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
Day 1
400g Rye sourdough starter
20g salt
Day 2
200g stoneground rye flour, plus more to dust
olive oil, for the tray
Method
Day 1
Dissolve the sourdough starter in the water in a large bowl. Mix well, either with a
wooden spoon or in a food processor fitted with a dough hook, then add the rye flour and
salt. Mix very well; this is a very sticky dough and cannot be kneaded by hand.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
Take 400g of the mixture, seal it in an airtight container and refrigerate; this will
become the rye sourdough starter for the next time you bake the bread.
Add the rest of the rye flour to the remaining dough and knead on a wellfloured
surface. It’s very sticky in the beginning, but will come together into a firm dough. Form into
a loaf, 30cm long and 13–14cm wide, with rounded ends. Line a baking tray with baking
parchment and brush with little oil. Place the bread on the baking parchment, cover with a
tea towel and let it rise in a warm place for two or three hours. It will not double in size, but
will crack a bit on the top.
Preheat the oven to 240°C, or to as hot as it will go. Bake for five minutes, then reduce
the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for another 35 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire
rack.
My classic rye bread
My husband bakes this rye bread and has done it every week for the last 15 years. I
started it up when I became a professional cook, then he took it over. Rye bread is what
my family lives on; it is our staple diet. We eat it toasted in the mornings with cheese,
avocado or soft-boiled egg. We eat it for lunch with various toppings. In the winter, in
particular, I eat rye bread with herrings almost every day for lunch. During the last couple of
years I have been lucky to travel around the world to talk about rye and the traditions
around it. I have met a lot of people that share my passion for rye and rye bread. From
what I have seen, I believe eating rye bread will be a bigger part of the future.
You have to begin the sourdough starter two or three days before you can start on your
bread. But the good thing is, as soon as you have that starter, you do not have to make it
ever again, because you save a little each time you make the rye bread for the next time.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
Day 1
8g salt
250g strong white flour
Day 2
500g cracked whole rye
250ml cold water
a little flavourless oil, for the tin
Method
Day 1
Dissolve the sourdough starter in the lukewarm water in a large bowl. Stir in the salt
and flours with a wooden spoon, or in a food mixer fitted with a dough hook, until well
mixed. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rise for 12–24 hours at room temperature.
Day 2
Add the cracked rye and water to the remaining dough and stir with a wooden spoon
until smooth. It’s a runny dough that cannot be kneaded with the hands. Take 3 tbsp of the
mixture, seal it in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator; this will become the rye
sourdough starter for the next time you bake the bread (it will need a rest of at least three
days, but will last up to eight weeks). And yes, that is right, you only need 3 tbsp of the
mixture for all your subsequent loaves; the 400g is just for your first attempt.
Lightly oil a 3-litre loaf tin (mine was 30 x 10 x 10cm). Pour in the dough, cover with a
damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for three to six hours, or until the dough
has almost reached the top of the tin.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes.
Take out of the tin immediately and leave to cool on a wire rack. This is great to eat just out
of the oven, but difficult to cut, so it’s better the next day… if you can wait!
Malted rye bread with mixed seeds
This is another classic Danish rye, softer and with more seeds. It has a dark, almost
bluish-colour from the malt flour, as you can see in the photo. Some Danes prefer this kind
of rye bread to a more sour bread with no seeds, only grains. To me, it is almost like a
cake; I serve it with cheese and honey.
Makes 1
Ingredients
Day 1
2 tablespoons honey
8g salt
2 tablespoons pure malt flour
Day 2
100g sunflower seeds
50g poppy seeds, plus more for the top
250ml cold water
flavourless oil, for the tin
50g linseeds
Method
Day 1
Dissolve the sourdough in the lukewarm water in a large bowl, then add the honey.
Now stir in the salt and flours with a wooden spoon, or in a food mixer fitted with a dough
hook, until well mixed. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rise for 12–24 hours at
room temperature.
Day 2
Add the cracked rye, all the seeds and the water to the remaining dough and stir with a
wooden spoon until smooth. It’s a runny dough that cannot be kneaded with your hands at
all. Take 3 tbsp of the mixture, seal it in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator;
this becomes the rye sourdough starter the next time you bake the bread (it will need a rest
of at least three days, but will last up to eight weeks). And yes, that is correct, you only
need 3 tbsp of the mixture for all your subsequent loaves; the 400g is just for your first
attempt.
Lightly oil a 3-litre loaf tin (mine was 30 x 10 x 10cm). Pour in the dough, cover with a
damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for three to six hours, or until the dough
has almost reached the top of the tin. Dredge with poppy seeds so the bread is almost
covered.
When you’re about ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake for 1 hour 45
minutes. Take the bread out of the tin immediately and leave to cool on a wire rack. This is
lovely when freshly baked, but difficult to cut, so really better eaten the day after baking.
Mini rye breads with fruits and nuts
We call these ‘school breads’, because they are perfect for lunch boxes, or to bring on
school trips. I take them along when I go for long walks; they are a great source of energy
with a good combination of slow- and fast-released carbohydrates. You can bake them with
dark chocolate instead of the dried fruit, which is fabulous. If you can’t get malt syrup
(though you should be able to find it in health food shops), you can use honey instead. The
breads will simply be lighter in colour.
Makes 12
Ingredients
Day 1
3 tablespoons Rye sourdough starter
500ml cold water
2 tablespoons malt syrup, or honey, if you can’t find the syrup
Day 2
100g rye flakes
100g raisins
50g organic dried apricots, chopped
butter, for the tins
Method
Day 1
Mix the sourdough starter with the water and the malt syrup, then add the flours and
mix well. The dough is very sticky and cannot be kneaded by hand. Cover with cling film
and leave overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
The next day, remove 3 tbsp of the mixture, seal it in an airtight container and place in
the refrigerator; this will become the rye sourdough starter for the next time you bake the
bread (it will need a rest of at least three days, but will last up to eight weeks).
Add the rye flakes, cracked rye, raisins, apricots and hazelnuts to the remaining dough
and mix well. The dough cannot be kneaded because it’s still too runny.
Butter 12 mini loaf tins (or muffin tins) quite well. Pour in the dough, cover with tea
towels and leave to rise in a warm place for two or three hours, until it has almost reached
the top of the tins.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Take out of the tins immediately and cool on a wire rack. Eat warm, with butter, or cold. In
an airtight container these last up to a week.
Mini finnish rye breads
Ruisliepa
These are very good served as simple but super-healthy open sandwiches with cheese or
salmon on the day they are baked, but also great toasted the next morning and eaten with
cheddar or marmalade: a Scandi-Anglo crossover. Rye does contain gluten but,
nevertheless, this bread is easy on the digestion for those who have a wheat intolerance.
Makes 20
Ingredients
Day 1
15g fresh yeast
200ml cold buttermilk
Day 2
10g fresh yeast
10g salt
Method
Day 1
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a large bowl, then mix in the buttermilk
and rye flour. Cover with cling film and leave the bowl overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
Pour the lukewarm water into another large bowl, then crumble in the yeast and add
the buttermilk mixture from Day 1. Mix well, then add the flour and salt. Now start kneading
with your hands in the bowl. It is very sticky, the idea is just to work the flour into the dough.
Cover with cling film and leave for four hours at room temperature.
Now flour your hands very well with rye flour and make 20 small flat breads, each
about 8cm in diameter, from the dough. Place them on baking trays lined with baking
parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Preheat
the oven to 200°C. Now prick lots of holes in the breads with a skewer, brush with water
and bake for 30 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Sweet rye bread with fennel seeds
This is inspired by a Swedish rye bread, that tends to be sweeter and softer than Danish
rye. I like to go Sweden to walk in their vast woods; they have a wildness you do not find in
Denmark. After my walk, I eat soft sweet rye bread with västerbotten cheese.
The dark syrup you need here can be bought on the internet from Scandinavian food sites
(it is called just that: ‘dark syrup’). If you can’t find it, you can substitute golden syrup,
though it won’t have quite the same slightly burnt ‘dark’ flavour.
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
25g fresh yeast
500ml lukewarm milk
4-6 tablespoons dark syrup
8g salt
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
Method
Crumble the yeast into the milk in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Mix in the syrup
and butter, then add the flours, salt and fennel seeds and mix really well in the bowl with a
wooden spoon. (It will be too sticky to knead with your hands.) Cover with cling film and
leave to rise at room temperature for two or three hours.
Line two 1-litre loaf tins with baking parchment. Pour in the dough, cover with tea
towels and leave to rise again, in a warm place, for one to two hours, or until each has
increased in size by one-third.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the loaves with water and bake
for 1 hour 30 minutes, then turn them out of the tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.
My beautiful bread with rye
You may ask why this bread is not in the rye bread chapter and I wouldn’t blame you! The
reason is that it only contains 30 per cent rye, so is made by the same method as non-rye
breads, using yeast and biga. In my Scandinavian world this is not considered a rye bread;
rather a bread with rye. I love all breads with rye flour, it just has such a wonderful flavour.
Makes 2 round loaves
Ingredients
200ml Wheat-rye biga
or 200ml Wholemeal biga
800ml cold water
20g fresh yeast
10g salt
coarse polenta, to dust
Method
Mix the biga and the water, crumble in the yeast and mix well, then add the flours and
salt. Mix very well, using either a food processor fitted with a dough hook or a wooden
spoon. The dough will be very sticky. Cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator
overnight, or for at least eight hours.
Tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and, kneading it as little as possible, fold
it into two round loaves. Place each in a well-floured 21cm bread proving basket (or in
similar-sized colanders or bowls lined with well-floured tea towels) and leave to rise at
room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 240°C, or to as hot as it will go. Place a baking stone or a sturdy,
heavy-based baking sheet lined with baking parchment inside the oven. Take a flat baking
sheet dusted with the coarse polenta and tip the first loaf out on to it, so the basket pattern
is visible on top of the bread. With a razor blade or a sharp knife, slash the top of the
bread. Spray or throw cold water into the oven to create steam inside.
Now quickly put one bread on the baking stone or lined baking sheet, using the flat
baking sheet and a jerking motion. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature
to 200°C and bake for another 25–30 minutes. Repeat to cook the second loaf. Leave to
cool on a wire rack.
Caraway seed bread
This is called surbrød, meaning sour bread. It’s an old-fashioned, dense wheat bread.
Traditionally we would eat this with smoked salmon, or gravadlax with sweet mustard
sauce. I serve it for lunch in the summer with brown shrimp (fjordrejer), home-made
mayonnaise and dill.
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
Day 1
400ml buttermilk
25g fresh yeast
Day 2
25g fresh yeast
1kg strong white flour, plus more to dust
2 tablespoons caraway seeds, plus 1–2 tbsp for the top
10g salt
Method
Day 1
Mix the buttermilk and rye flour in a large bowl, crumble in the yeast and stir. Cover
with foil and leave overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
Mix yesterday’s dough with the lukewarm water and crumble in the yeast, then add the
flour, caraway seeds and salt and mix well. Knead on a floured work surface until firm and
smooth, then cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for two hours.
Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface once more, then form it into two
oval-shaped breads. Place on baking trays lined with baking parchment. Cover with tea
towels and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C, brush the loaves with the egg and sprinkle with caraway
seeds. Spray or throw cold water into the oven to create steam inside. Bake the loaves for
35–40 minutes, then leave them to cool on a wire rack.
Cold-risen wheat and oat bread
Cold-risen breads have a different texture and are often not as heavy as warm-risen
loaves, because you can use less flour. Oats are very useful in baking bread; they have
great taste and texture.
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
300ml Wheat-rye biga, Wheat-rye or Wholemeal biga
500ml cold water
15g fresh yeast
400g strong white flour, plus more to dust
300g rolled oats
10g salt
Method
Mix the biga and water in a large bowl, crumble in the yeast, then add the flour, oats
and salt. Mix really well, using either a food processor fitted with a dough hook or a wooden
spoon. The dough is very sticky, so do not try to knead it with your hands. Cover with cling
film and place in the refrigerator overnight, or for at least eight hours.
Tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and knead as little as possible, just fold
gently into two rectangular loaves and place in well-floured oval shaped bread proving
baskets (or use oval kitchen containers lined with well floured tea towels). Leave to rise at
room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 240°C or to the hottest it will go. Place a baking stone or a sturdy,
heavy-based baking sheet lined with baking parchment inside the oven. Take a flat baking
sheet dusted with the coarse polenta and tip the first loaf out on to it, so the basket pattern
is visible on top of the bread. With a razor blade or a sharp knife, slash the top of the
bread. Spray cold water into the oven to create steam.
Now quickly put one bread on the baking stone or lined baking sheet, using the flat
baking sheet and a jerking motion. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature
to 200°C and bake for another 25–30 minutes. Repeat to cook the second loaf. Leave to
Knight’s grain bread
Breaking bread is about sharing and exchange. The Latin root of the word ‘companion’
literally means someone with whom you eat bread!
This bread is about exactly that: great for dinner parties with a hearty vegetable soup, it’s
easy to break off a piece.
Makes 1 big loaf
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
50g spelt flakes
50g rye flakes
50g oat flakes
50g linseeds
100g sunflower seeds
100g cracked wheat
6g salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a big bowl, then mix in the flour, most of
the flakes and seeds, the cracked wheat and the salt. Give it a really good stir. Now knead
on a floured work surface for five minutes. Return to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and
leave to rise in a warm place for two hours.
Flour your hands very well, then form 21 buns, one by one, and arrange them on a
baking tray lined with baking parchment: first place one in the middle, then seven round
that one, then 13 in the largest ring round that. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise
again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush the bread with water and sprinkle with the reserved
mixed flakes and seeds. Bake for 35 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Sourdough bread
I like sourdough bread, but it is not my favourite home-baked loaf. I think it can be difficult
to get it right when you’re lacking an industrial oven with integral steam and a lot of power!
Don’t get me wrong: this recipe makes an excellent sourdough loaf. But it will not be the
same as the sourdough loaves you buy from artisan bakers. They can perfect their loaves,
working hard to get every stage of the process exactly right. I don’t think home baking is
about that; leave it to the professionals! This is my basic sourdough. It is mostly wheat
flour, but you can easily play around and add spelt or einkorn flours to the recipe.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
Day 1
Day 2
10g salt
Method
Day 1
Mix the water and biga in a bowl, then mix in both flours until you have a smooth, very
runny dough. Cover tightly with cling film and leave overnight on the kitchen table.
Day 2
Put the biga mixture in a big bowl, add the lukewarm water and mix well. Now add the
flour and salt and mix well again. Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface and
knead it. The dough will be sticky, so it is good idea to use a dough scraper to help, or to
knead it in a food mixer fitted with a dough hook (let it run for 10 minutes). Place the dough
in a big bowl, cover tightly with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature for six
hours, or until doubled in size.
Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface, knead lightly and fold into a
round bread. Leave in a well-floured 21cm proving basket (or similar-sized colander or
bowl lined with a well-floured tea towel), in a warm place, until doubled in size; this should
take one or two hours.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 240°C, or to the hottest it will go. Place a
baking stone or a sturdy, heavy-based baking sheet lined with baking parchment inside the
oven. Take a flat baking sheet dusted with the coarse polenta and tip the loaf out on to it,
so the basket pattern is visible on top of the bread. With a razor blade or a sharp knife,
slash the top of the bread. Spray cold water into the oven to create steam.
Place the bread on the baking stone or lined baking sheet, using the flat baking sheet
and a jerking motion. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and
bake for 20–25 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Limpa with anise
It is a well-known fact that Scandinavians love liquorice. Therefore we also love anise
served in many variations, one of them in bread. Spices are part of our heritage and have
been in Scandinavia for centuries.
Makes 3 round loaves
Ingredients
Day 1
20g fresh yeast
125g strong wholemeal flour
Day 2
50g butter, chilled
10g salt
10g anise seeds
50g fresh yeast
150g dark syrup, see note
50ml cold coffee
Method
Day 1
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a bowl and stir to dissolve. Mix in the
flour, cover with foil and leave overnight.
Day 2
Mix the flours in a bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes, add to the flour, then rub it in
with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Add the salt. Pound the anise seeds roughly in a
mortar and pestle, then add them as well.
In another bowl, crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water, then stir in the syrup and
the dough from yesterday. Now mix the yeast mixture with the butter mixture to form a
smooth dough. Knead on a floured work surface for five minutes. Place in a big bowl, cover
with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature for two hours.
Knead lightly again and form into three even-sized round loaves. Put them on baking
trays lined with baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rise in a warm place
for 30 minutes.
Mix the egg with the coffee. Brush the loaves with some of the egg mixture. Spray cold
water in the oven to create steam and bake for five minutes, then brush the loaves again
with egg mixture and bake for another 25–30 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Note:
Pour the lukewarm water into another large bowl, then crumble in the yeast and add
the buttermilk mixture from Day 1. Mix well, then add the flour and salt. Now start kneading
with your hands in the bowl. It is very sticky, the idea is just to work the flour into the dough.
Cover with cling film and leave for four hours at room temperature.
Cold-risen spelt and wheat bread
Cold-risen dough is very easy, because it takes care of itself. You can leave this dough in
the refrigerator for days; time will only enhance the flavour. I really like the taste of spelt,
both in 100 per cent spelt breads and when mixed with wheat flour. You can replace all the
plain flour with spelt if you like (but remember: spelt is not gluten-free).
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
600ml cold water
20g fresh yeast
20g salt
Method
Mix the biga and water in a large bowl, crumble in the yeast, then add the flours and
salt. Mix really well, using either a food processor fitted with a dough hook or a wooden
spoon. The dough will be sticky. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate overnight, or
for at least eight hours.
When you’re ready to bake, tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and leave it
to rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220°C and place a
baking stone – or a sturdy, heavy-based baking sheet lined with baking parchment –
inside.
Kneading as little as possible, fold the dough into two long loaves. Place on two flat
baking sheets and slash the tops of the loaves on the diagonal with a razor blade or sharp
knife.
Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake the loaves on the baking stone
or lined baking sheet for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake
for another 25–30 minutes. (Or bake one after another, if that’s more convenient.)
White bread
For centuries, 100 per cent white wheat bread was for the rich, while darker bread was for
peasants. That has all changed now. As we know, there is a lot of really bad white bread
around, while many people prefer something with a bit more taste and fibre. I love white
bread, but I could not live on it alone. When I was growing up, it was a treat. You had to eat
your rye bread before you could have any white bread!
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
20g fresh yeast
20g salt
Method
Mix the biga and water, crumble in the yeast, then add the flour and salt. Mix really
well, using either a food processor fitted with a dough hook, or a wooden spoon. The
dough is quite sticky, but knead it on a floured work surface anyway, using a dough scraper
to help. Return it to the bowl, cover with cling film and leave it to rise at room temperature
for two or three hours, or until doubled in size.
Take the dough and knead again on a floured work surface: use a folding technique for
your kneading, folding the dough towards the middle and, at the same time, turning the
dough around clockwise.Then flip it over, tuck the ends underneath and form it into two
round, tight, smooth balls. Put on a work surface to rest for 30 minutes, in a warm place,
covered with a tea towel.
Preheat the oven to 240°C, or as hot as your oven will go. Place a baking stone or a
sturdy, heavy-based baking sheet lined with baking parchment inside. With a razor blade or
a sharp knife, cut a cross or slash in the top of the bread. Spray water into the oven to
create steam inside. Place the breads on the baking stone or lined baking sheet and bake
for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for another 25–30
minutes. If you can only fit one of the breads on the baking stone at a time, cook the loaves
one after another.

Mormor’s white bread with poppy seeds
This is the kind of bread my grandmother – mormor – would bake; a real simple white
bread. We would eat it for breakfast and as a treat after eating our rye bread. This bread
makes me feel safe and loved. It’s interesting how food is so connected to your emotions
and your personal history. If I feel shaken or sad, I bake this bread: it makes me feel
reassured that everything is going to be fine. Maybe that is why I bake when I need to find
balance in my life.
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
850g strong white flour, plus more if needed, plus more to dust
10g salt
4 tablespoons poppy seeds
Method
Crumble the yeast into the milk, then stir in the butter. In a separate bowl, mix the flour,
sugar and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the milk mixture until you have a smooth dough. If
the dough is quite sticky, knead in a little more flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave to
rise at room temperature for one hour, then knead lightly on a floured work surface and
return to the bowl. Cover and leave to rise for another hour at room temperature.
Knead lightly again and form into two oval loaves. Place them on two baking trays lined
with baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rise in a warm place for another
30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush the loaves with the egg and dredge with the poppy
seeds. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for 35–40 minutes. Leave to
Nordic spelt focaccia with fruit and nuts
A lovely sweet and nutty bread. I really like dried fruit in bread and will happily eat this
instead of cake, as it sort of falls in between and is not too sweet. We do tend to have a lot
of cakes and buns that are not too sweet in Scandinavia. I serve this bread for brunch and
with cheese. Then I snack on it throughout the day!
Makes 1
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
800m lukewarm water
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the tray
8g salt
650g wholegrain stoneground spelt flour, plus more to dust
100g dates, chopped
100g raisins
100g dried apricots, chopped
Method
To make the focaccia, crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water. Add the honey, oil
and salt and stir again. Stir in the flours, then add the dried fruits and nuts. Knead on a
floured work surface, then leave in a bowl covered by a tea towel to rise, at room
temperature, for one hour.
Line a 40 x 30cm baking tray with baking parchment and oil it lightly. Press the dough
into the tray as evenly as possible, pressing ‘dimples’ into the surface with your fingers.
Now cover with a tea towel and leave the focaccia to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Brush the focaccia with the egg and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven
temperature to 200°C and bake for another 20–25 minutes, or until the bread sounds
hollow when tapped on the base. Turn out of the tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Nordic cheese bread
This bread is spicy, soft and salty from the cheese: a perfect loaf for supper. Serve with
soup, or take it on a picnic and serve with charcuterie or salad. It is one of my very first
recipes from before I became a cook, so it is also an old friend that has accompanied me
for many years.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
10g salt
175g vesterhavs or cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water, then add 50g of the flour, mix well and
leave for 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix the remaining flour with the pepper and salt. Rub the butter into
the peppery flour with your fingertips until it looks like crumbs.
Mix the eggs into the yeast mixture and add to the flour-butter mixture with the cheese.
Knead lightly on a floured work surface, then place in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and
leave to rise in a warm place for two hours.
Roll the dough out on a floured work surface into a fat sausage shape. Form this into a
big ring and put it on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover with a tea towel and
let it rise at room temperature for about one hour, or until doubled in size, depending on the
temperature of the kitchen.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for
35–40 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack.
Walnut bread
Walnuts grow in the southern part of Scandinavia. We use them in baking and salads, but
they are mostly eaten at Christmas time, or in chocolate bars with marzipan. Walnut bread
is great for breakfast, but also with stilton or other blue cheese. There is a good variety of
blue cheeses in Scandinavia, many from small producers. You can make this bread as two
smaller loaves if you prefer and not bother with the plaiting; they will need slightly less time
in the oven.
Makes 1 large loaf
Ingredients
25g fresh yeast
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons malt flour
100g walnuts, chopped
7g salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a large bowl, stir in the honey and mix in
all the flours, then the walnuts and salt and stir into a smooth dough.
Knead on a floured work surface for five minutes, then place in a large bowl, cover with
a tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature for one hour.
Tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and divide into six even balls. Roll each
into a long sausage shape. Take three pieces of rolled-out dough and press them together
at one end, then plait them and press together again at the other end. Repeat with the
other three pieces. Now twist both plaits of dough together to form one long, rounded loaf,
tidying the ends underneath.
Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, cover with a tea towel and leave to
rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake the
loaf for 35 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
Buttermilk bread with wheat berries
This is one of the first bread recipes I ever made, many years ago, way before sourdough
bread became the trend. It is a very traditional, dense wheat bread. I enjoy it both freshly
baked with cheese, and toasted the next morning with butter and jam.
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
150g wheat berries
500ml cold water
400ml buttermilk
50g fresh yeast
8g salt
Method
Put the wheat berries in a saucepan with the water. Place over a medium heat, bring to
the boil, then reduce the heat slightly. Simmer briskly for 20 minutes. Pour the wheat
berries, with any remaining liquid, into a large mixing bowl. Add 100ml more cold water and
the buttermilk. Crumble the yeast into the mixture and stir until it has dissolved.
Mix the flour and salt into the buttermilk mixture. Knead for about five minutes on a
floured work surface, then place in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for
two hours at room temperature.
Knead the dough again lightly. Divide it in two and form each into a round loaf. Place
each on a separate baking tray, cover with tea towels and leave to rise again, in a warm
place, for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Slash the tops of the loaves with a razor blade or sharp
knife.
Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for five minutes, then reduce
the oven temperature to 200°C and bake the loaves for 35 minutes more, or until the bread
sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Classic coarse wholemeal bread (Grahamsbrød) from
my childhood
A real 1970s bread, from when a whole generation rebelled against society and changed
our diet to whole grains, beans and lentils.
This was long before the resurgence of spelt, so there were a lot of solid bricks being
baked; most of them were inedible. My coarse wholemeal bread is a simple recipe and
very coarse, but don’t worry: it isn’t a brick! It brings back fond childhood memories of when
we ate this bread toasted, with houmous and cucumber. Houmous was something I ate
long before many others in Denmark even knew what it was!
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
10g fresh yeast
700ml cold water
1 tablespoon honey
150g oats
500g stoneground strong wholemeal flour
8g salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the water and add the honey, oats, flour and salt. Mix very well
with a wooden spoon; the dough will be really wet. Oil a 3-litre loaf tin (mine was 22 x
12cm), pour in the dough, cover with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature until
the dough has doubled in size; it takes three to four hours, depending on the temperature
of the kitchen.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for
40 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Spelt tin
This is the perfect loaf for bakers who find kneading difficult, because spelt is best in a wet
dough that is not kneaded too much, as in this recipe. The grain became a real big trend in
the 1990s and now it has become a far more common flour. Spelt contains gluten, but not
with the same gluten structures as wheat. The flour, therefore, becomes softer instead of
tighter the more it’s kneaded, so spelt bread can easily become too dry. This loaf is great
for making sandwiches.
Makes 1 big loaf
Ingredients
Day 1
30g fresh yeast
150g white stoneground spelt flour
Day 2
8g fresh yeast
10g salt
Method
Day 1
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a bowl, stir to dissolve, then add both
flours, mix well, cover with foil and leave overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
Add the lukewarm water to yesterday’s dough, crumble in the yeast and mix well. In a
separate bowl, mix the flours and salt, then mix the flour mixture into the yeast mixture and
stir until you have a smooth dough. Place in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave
to rise for two hours at room temperature.
Knead the dough again lightly on a floured work surface. Place it in an oiled 3-litre loaf
tin (mine was 22 x 12cm), cover with a tea towel and leave to rise again, in a warm place,
for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Slash the top of the loaf in several places, widthways, with
a very sharp knife or a razor blade. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake
for 45 minutes. When it is ready, if you tap the loaf on its base it should sound hollow. Turn
it out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Spelt and anise rolls
The flavour of all forms of aniseed is much appreciated in Scandinavia, in sweets, alcohol
and baking. When I was a young girl in secondary school I remember sleeping over at a
friend’s house and we had these coarse aniseed buns for breakfast. They have stayed with
me since; I still really like them. They are great with Buttermilk butter and Blackcurrant
”jam”.
Makes 25
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
2 tablespoons honey
2-3 tablespoons anise seeds, plus more for the top
5g salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water to dissolve, then add the honey. In a
separate bowl, mix the flours, anise and salt, add to the yeast mixture and stir until you
have a smooth dough. Knead on a floured work surface, then return to the bowl, cover with
a tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature for two hours.
Now form into 25 small rolls and place on baking trays lined with baking parchment.
Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes. Preheat the
oven to 200°C.
Brush the rolls with the egg and sprinkle with anise seeds. Spray cold water in the oven
to create steam and bake for 30 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
Buttermilk butter
You must try this: it’s creamy, light and easy to spread. It’s also highly versatile; you can
make savoury versions by adding finely chopped herbs, fried onions or roasted garlic.
Makes 250g
Ingredients
75-100ml buttermilk, not too cold
sea salt flakes
Method
Cream the butter in an electric mixer, then pour in the buttermilk little by little, still
beating. Season with the salt flakes to taste.
Keep the butter at room temperature before serving but, if you refrigerate it to keep
overnight, or if it is a very hot day, take it out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving
to allow it to return to room temperature.
Raisin spelt buns

An afternoon roll that I serve with butter, alongside hot chocolate and whipped cream, a
real Scandi classic for cold winter days. It’s also the first thing we serve at birthdays and
‘cake table’ parties, before the sweet cakes are served.
Makes 18
Ingredients
25g fresh yeast
600ml cold water
5g salt
2 tablespoons honey
150g raisins
Method
Crumble the yeast into the water in a big bowl, stir to dissolve, then add the salt and
honey. Mix in the flours and give a good stir with a wooden spoon. Knead the dough lightly
in the bowl, working in the raisins. Cover with cling film and leave to rise at room
temperature for one hour.
With a lot of flour on a work surface, knead the dough gently and form it into 18 buns,
then place on baking trays lined with baking parchment. Cover with tea towels and leave to
rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush the rolls with the egg. Spray cold water in the oven
to create steam and bake for 20 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack.
Rye rolls
Perfect everyday sandwich rolls with lots of fibre and taste. In the more than 20 years in
which I have been coming to the UK, openness to rye has never been greater. In the early
1990s, when I lived in London, my English friends were not so keen when I served
sandwiches like this, or open sandwiches. That has all changed. Many of my friends now
bake rye bread and mixed-grain breads containing rye flour.
Makes 20
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
2 tablespoons barley malt syrup
5g salt
cold coffee and rye flakes, to glaze and top
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water, stir to dissolve, then add the syrup. Mix the
two flours and the salt into the yeast mixture and stir until the dough is smooth. Knead on a
floured work surface, then return to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise at
room temperature for two hours.
Now form into 20 small oval rolls and place on baking trays lined with baking
parchment. Cover again with a tea towel and leave to rise again, in a warm place, for 30
minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Slash the rolls on top with a razor blade or sharp knife, then brush with cold coffee and
sprinkle with rye flakes. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for 30
minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Holiday crunchy cardamom buns
Hveder
Hveder are served on the big prayer day. In Denmark, it was laid down by law in 1686 that
a particular day in May should be dedicated to praying. All work stopped from dawn to
dusk. This meant that no bread was sold on that day. Instead, the bakers baked big wheat
buns the day before, which could then be toasted and eaten on the prayer day. Today the
tradition is that we buy or bake hveder on the day before the prayer day and eat them
warm at night with butter.
Makes 20 buns (40 halves)
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten, plus more to glaze
Method
Crumble the yeast into the milk, stir to dissolve, then mix in the butter well and add the
egg. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt and cardamom together, then stir it into
the yeast mixture and mix well. Knead on a floured work surface until you have a smooth
dough. Place in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for two hours at room
temperature.
Form 20 very square buns, making them as perfect as possible. Place 1cm apart on a
baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover with tea towels and leave to rise at room
temperature for 30 minutes.
Brush the rolls with egg and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire
rack.
When the rolls are cold, preheat the oven again to 200°C. Cut each roll in half, place
them cut sides up on baking trays lined with baking parchment and toast them in the oven
for seven to 10 minutes. Serve right away with butter.
Rundstykker
These are classic rolls. A few years ago I was having breakfast at a small beach hotel in
Denmark, the kind that does not really exist any more, where time stands still. Everybody
except me was 75 or more. I almost expected Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings to walk
in at any moment. One of the regular guests, a real gentleman at least 90 years old,
complained that morning about the roll. It was, he said, like eating cardboard. Then he
vividly told me about the good old days when bread had a taste and a crust worth
mentioning. This story tells me something about what has happened to our bread culture.
Makes 20
Ingredients
Day 1
20g fresh yeast
Day 2
10g fresh yeast
10g salt
poppy seeds, to top
Method
Day 1
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a large bowl and stir to dissolve. Add the
flour, mix it in well, then cover with a tea towel and leave overnight at room temperature.
Day 2
Mix the butter well into yesterday’s dough with the water, then crumble in the yeast.
Separately mix the flour and salt, then mix it into the yeast mixture and stir until you have a
smooth dough. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for two hours at room temperature.
On a well-floured work surface, form 20 very round and perfect rolls, cover with tea
towels and leave to rise again, in a warm place, for 30 minutes.
Brush the rolls with the egg, leave for three minutes, then brush them all again. Dredge
them with poppy seeds. Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for 10
minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for another 15 minutes.
“Shower buns”
Make this dough in 10 minutes and then you can use it in the mornings for fresh-made
rolls. They bake in the time that you shower. Almost effort-free! You can play around with
this dough and exchange some of the wheat flour with other types of flour, for different
tastes and textures.
Makes 20
Ingredients
15g fresh yeast
700ml cold water
8g salt
850-900g strong white flour
Method
Crumble the yeast into the water, stir to dissolve, then add the salt and flour and mix
well. The dough is sticky, so don’t use your hands for kneading; use a food processor fitted
with a dough hook or a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in the
refrigerator overnight.
Preheat the oven to 240°C, or as hot as it will go.
Gently cut away enough dough for the number of buns you wish to bake and shape
them into rolls, handling them as little as possible. Place on a baking tray lined with baking
parchment and slash each bun with a cross, using a razor blade or a very sharp knife.
Bake for five minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 210°C and bake for 15–20
minutes, while you take a shower. Get them out of the oven and leave to rest for five
minutes before eating for breakfast.
Keep the dough in the refrigerator and bake some rolls every morning. It will keep in
the refrigerator for up to five days.
Spelt and anise crispbread
This is my basic crispbread recipe, I just change the flour according to what I fancy or have
in my cupboards. This contains different textures in one-and-the same bread, both chewy
and crisp. It will last for weeks if kept in an airtight container.
Makes 10
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons whole anise seeds, plus more to sprinkle
1 tablespoon honey
100ml sunflower oil, plus more to brush (optional)
200g rolled oats
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water in a large bowl, stir to dissolve, then add
the salt, anise seeds, honey and oil and stir well. Now stir in both the spelt flours and the
oats, then knead on a floured work surface. Return to the bowl, cover with cling film and
leave to rise at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Place the dough on a floured work surface and knead once more. Preheat the oven to
220°C.
Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll each piece out between two sheets of baking
parchment to a quite big, round flat bread, as thin as possible. Relax: it doesn’t have to be
even and holes here and there are fine (see the photo sequence overleaf for a visual
reference).
Place the crispbreads, still sitting on the baking parchment on which they were rolled,
on baking trays, but remove the top layer of baking parchment. Brush with water or oil and
sprinkle with anise seeds.
Bake half – or as many as will comfortably fit – in the hot oven for five to eight minutes,
then cool on a wire rack while you bake the rest.
Rye crispbread
Crispbread is a large part of Scandi bread culture; some commercially made brands are
known worldwide. It is not that common to bake them at home; usually you buy your
favourite brand from supermarkets or the bakery. This recipe is easily doubled, if you are
cooking for a larger party. You can keep these plain, or sprinkle them with seeds, as you
prefer. Any or all of linseeds, poppy or sesame seeds are good.
Makes 40 strips
Ingredients
15g fresh yeast
60g rye flakes
50g rolled oats
50g polenta, or cornmeal
75ml olive oil, plus more to brush
4g salt
Method
Pour the water into a bowl and crumble in the yeast, stirring to dissolve. Stir in the rye
flakes and oats. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. Now mix in the remaining ingredients. Mix
really well, then knead on a floured work surface.
Divide the dough into four. On a floured work surface, roll each piece out as thinly as
possible into a rectangle about 25 x 20cm. Cut each into 10 strips. Lay the strips on baking
trays lined with baking parchment and brush with oil.
Bake for 10–12 minutes (you will probably have to bake these in batches). Leave to
cool on a wire rack while you bake the rest.
Multigrain spelt crispbread
Lovely, crisp and crunchy, and full of the flavours of seeds. Eat this with smoked salmon,
hard cheese or cream cheese, as a snack. My husband also really likes to eat crispbread
in the morning.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the crispbreads
100g butter
75g rolled oats
75g rye flakes
25g sesame seeds
25g poppy seeds
1/2 tablespoon honey
50g white stoneground spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
For the topping

1 tablespoon linseeds
1 tablespoon white poppy seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon rye flakes
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line a 40 x 30cm baking tray with baking parchment.
Melt the butter gently in a saucepan without browning, add the oats and rye flakes,
seeds and honey, then remove from the heat. Stir in the flours, salt and baking powder,
pour in 100ml of boiling water from the kettle and mix well.
With cold water on your hands, press out the dough as thinly as possible on the
prepared baking tray. Sprinkle evenly with the seeds and flakes for the topping and bake
for 35 minutes. Leave the very flaky crispbread to cool on the baking tray.
Rich cheese biscuits
This one is all about the butter and, as Julia Childs once marvellously said, ‘If you’re afraid
of butter, use cream.’ I will add that if you don’t like butter, do not bake this biscuit, choose
something else from the book! It’s the butter that makes it, it’s that simple.
Makes 40
Ingredients
10g salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2-3 tablespoons sesame seeds
50g salty cheese, finely grated, such as cheddar
Method
Tip the flour into a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture
resembles crumbs. Add the salt and splash in just enough water to hold the dough
together. Knead on a floured work surface, then return to the mixing bowl, cover and leave
to rest in the refrigerator for one hour.
Roll out the dough on a floured work surface into a rectangle, one long side facing you.
Fold the left-hand one-third over the centre, then repeat with the right-hand one-third, as
though folding a business letter before putting it in an envelope. Turn the package by 90°.
Repeat this rolling and folding process twice more, to make a total of three times.
Now divide the dough into three and roll each out on a floured work surface until 5mm
thick. Brush with the egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds, sesame seeds and cheese. Cut
into 4cm squares; a ravioli cutter is good here to give fluted edges. Place on baking trays
lined with baking parchment and bake for 12–15 minutes (you will probably have to bake
these in batches). Leave to cool on a wire rack while you bake the rest.
Spelt, smoked salmon and asparagus tart
My favourite spring tart. The combination of coarse spelt flour and fromage frais gives both
a great texture and an interesting acidic tang to the pastry. I never really make shortcrust
pastry using only butter for savoury dishes, as the resulting crust is too soft for me.
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the pastry
1 teaspoon sea salt
75g butter, chopped, plus more for the dish
75g quark or fromage frais
For the filling

200g baby spinach leaves
1 shallot, finely chopped
Knob butter
20 asparagus spears
200g smoked salmon slices
6 eggs
200g creme fraiche
200g cottage cheese
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Method
Begin with the pastry. Mix both flours and the salt together in a large bowl, then rub in
the butter with your fingers. Mix in the quark or fromage frais. Knead the dough lightly with
your hands just until the ingredients are amalgamated. Or just put everything in a food
processor and pulse-blend it together. In both cases, if the dough does not come together,
sprinkle in a little water.
Roll the pastry out on a floured work surface and butter a 28cm (ish) pie dish. Line the
dish with the pastry, then leave it to rest in the refrigerator for one hour.
Cover the pastry case with baking parchment and pour in some dried beans or raw rice
to weigh it down. Bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and
bake for five minutes more.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Rinse the spinach in cold water, then place in a saucepan
over a medium heat and allow it to wilt. When it is just wilted, drain really well in a sieve.
Sauté the shallot in the butter for three or four minutes without browning. Turn off the
heat and add the spinach to the pan.
Snap each asparagus stalk; it will break at the point that the stalk becomes woody.
Discard the woody bit, or keep it to use in stocks or soups. Cut each remaining spear into
three smaller pieces, then cut each piece lengthways.
Cut the salmon into 1cm squares. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the crème
fraîche, cottage cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix well with a wooden spoon. Now
add the salmon, asparagus and spinach mixture and mix again. Season once more with
salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture into the blind-baked pastry case and return to the oven to bake for
30–35 minutes or until the filling has set but retains a slight wobble in the centre. Serve
warm, with a green salad.
Sausage bread rolls
Not a hot dog, but close! A Scandinavian classic for children, served at birthday parties, for
TV dinners and at picnics. I add lovage pesto to half of each batch for the adult guests.
Makes 20
Ingredients
For the sausage rolls
25g fresh yeast
10g salt
4 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
20 chipolatas
For the lovage pesto (optional)

1 big bunch lovage
50g skin-on almonds
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
40g hard goat’s cheese, grated
150ml olive oil
sea salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water, stir to dissolve, then stir in the flour and
salt and mix well. Knead on a floured work surface to form a smooth dough and add the
red onion as you do so. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for one
hour.
For the pesto, place all the ingredients except the seasoning in a food processor and
blend to a smooth paste, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Divide the dough into 20 pieces on a lightly floured work surface. Roll each out into a
triangle. Place a chipolata in the wide end of a triangle and then roll it up. Repeat to make
10.
Now, for the rolls with pesto, spread the pesto evenly over the remaining 10 dough
triangles, place the sausages on the wide ends and roll up as before.
Place the sausage rolls on two baking trays lined with baking parchment, those with
the pesto on one tray and the plain variety on the other. Cover with a tea towel and leave to
rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush each roll with the egg. Bake in the oven for 20–25
minutes until golden brown.
Spring rye grain salad with asparagus, peas and dill
I like cooking with rye grains; I often use them instead of rice or potatoes. They are great in
soups and salads as well. When I’m feeling organised, I sometimes boil 500g and then
freeze it in portion-sized bags to make it easier to pop some in a soup. This is my classic
rye salad. I have one for each season, I just change the vegetables and herbs. It is great
on its own for lunch, or with fish or meat for dinner.
Serves 4
Ingredients
125g whole rye grains
sea salt
200g white asparagus
200g green asparagus
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, or to taste
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
200g peas
6 tablespoons chopped dill
4 tablespoons chopped chervil
Method
Rinse the rye grains in cold water, then place them in a saucepan with plenty of water,
bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. If they are pearled rye grains (check the
packet), cook them for 20–25 minutes; regular rye grains will need more like 40–50
minutes. They are done when they are soft but still have a bit of bite. Drain in a colander,
then place in a bowl, season with salt and leave to cool.
Snap each asparagus stalk; it will break at the point that the stalk becomes woody.
Discard the woody bits, or keep them to use in stocks or soups. Cut each remaining stalk
into 1cm slices on the diagonal, leaving the tips whole.
Add the oil to a frying pan, set it over a medium heat and sauté the green and white
asparagus for about five minutes. Turn off the heat and mix in the Dijon mustard, vinegar
and lemon juice. Leave to rest for five minutes.
Mix the contents of the frying pan with the rye, the raw peas and chopped herbs, then
season to taste; grains can take a lot of seasoning, so be generous. Taste the salad; you
may want more vinegar or lemon juice. Serve.
“Fridge harvest” focaccia
Often we find we have a random selection of leftover – and ageing – vegetables deposited
in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. This bread is a good way to make use of some of
them. It is great for dinner with salad or soup, or also a popular dish on a buffet or if
brought to a pot-luck because – in addition to tasting good – it looks both tempting and
festive on the table.
Makes 1 40x30cm focaccia
Ingredients
50g fresh yeast
1 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoons olive oil
10g fine sea salt
2 beetroots
1 carrot
1 red onion
10 sprigs thyme
1 tablespoon sea salt flakes
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water and stir to dissolve. Add the honey and 2
tbsp of the oil and stir again. Mix in both flours and the fine salt and mix well into a sticky
dough. Knead well on a floured work surface. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for
one hour.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C.
Peel the beetroots, carrot and red onion, then cut the vegetables into wedges, or in
half, depending on size and the final look you want. Line a 40 x 30cm baking tray with
baking parchment. Place the dough on the baking tray and spread it out with your fingertips
to cover the surface.
Press the vegetables and thyme into the dough, drizzle with the remaining 2 tbsp of oil
and sprinkle with the salt flakes. Let the bread rise once more in a warm place, this time for
30 minutes.
Bake the focaccia for 10 minutes, then look at the bread. If the vegetables are turning a
bit brown, reduce the oven temperature to 190°C; if not, leave the temperature as it is.
Continue baking for another 30 minutes – again reducing the oven temperature slightly if it
seems to be browning too much – or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the
base. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Beetroot and bacon muffins
Beetroot is a great vegetable and I try to use it in all kinds of recipes. This savoury muffin is
great to eat with a salad at lunch. You can also make the recipe as mini muffins for
canapés (these will need less time baking in the oven). They are a great snack for children
and I also bake them to bring along on hikes as an easy lunch. Substitute the bacon for
toasted walnuts, if you prefer.
Makes 10-12
Ingredients
150g plain flour
50g jumbo oats
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
8g salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs
250ml full-fat yogurt
200g raw beetroot, finely chopped
100g cooked bacon lardons or toasted walnuts
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, plus more to serve (optional)
Method

Mix the flours, oats, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and pepper in a bowl.
In another bowl, beat the eggs with the yogurt and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry,
then fold in the beetroot, bacon or nuts and thyme.
Cut out 10–12 x 15cm squares of baking parchment and fold each into a muffin mould.
Divide the batter between the prepared moulds and bake in the hot oven for 20–25
minutes.
Serve warm for lunch or dinner, sprinkled with a little more thyme if you like, with a
crisp green salad dressed with a mustardy vinaigrette.
Bread salad with kale, beetroot and horseradish
dressing
In my household there is always leftover bread, because I bake a lot. I use all my stale
bread either in salads, for breadcrumbs, or for spiced or garlic croutons, which make a
perfect snack with drinks.
Serves 6 for lunch
Ingredients
For the salad
300g raw beetroot
150g curly kale
200g stale bread
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
For the dressing

150g full-fat greek yogurt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
3-4 tablespoons grated horseradish, or to taste
sea salt
Method
Boil the beetroots for 20–30 minutes, depending on size. They are ready when they are
tender to the centre, but still retain a slight bite. Cool in cold water, then drain and peel
them. Cut into rough 1.5cm cubes. Rinse the kale and chop it quite finely. Cut the bread
into the same size cubes as the beetroot. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the bread until
golden brown, then turn off the heat and sprinkle with the salt flakes. Mix the beetroot, kale
and croutons in a large salad bowl.
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing, adding horseradish according to how spicy you
like it, and season to taste. Toss the dressing with the salad and serve right away.
Norwegian potato pancakes with salmon and spinach
Lefse
This is a Norwegian speciality, often made as a big pancake-like bread for weddings and
other special occasions. I make them for lunch; they are really tasty and can be served
both savoury and sweet.
Makes 10 pancakes
Ingredients
For the lefse
500g peeled potatoes
50g butter
50g creme fraiche
1 teaspoon salt
For the filling

20g butter
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
500g spinach
freshly grated nutmeg
sea salt
8-12 slices smoked salmon
Method
Day 1
Boil the potatoes until soft, then drain and pass through a ricer. Put in a bowl, mix in
the butter, crème fraîche and salt, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Day 2
Mix the flour into the potato mixture and divide into 10 small balls. Roll each out on a
floured work surface into 12cm diameter pancakes. Cook each in a dry frying pan, turning
once, until speckled with dark golden spots.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the garlic very gently, with no colour,
for two or three minutes. Now add the spinach and let it wilt, then season to taste with
nutmeg, salt and pepper. Serve the cooked pancakes with the spinach and slices of
salmon, with cottage cheese on the side.
Nordic “pizza” with kale and potato
Many Italians would consider it blasphemy to call this pizza! Nevertheless, it is a kind of
pizza... with a Nordic touch. The dough is made with spelt flour, which gives a taste that
works really well with winter vegetables.
Serves 4–6
Makes 2 “pizzas”
Ingredients
For the dough
25g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt
For the filling

500g potatoes, scrubbed
4-6 tablespoons olive oil
200g kale, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
sea salt
200g feta cheese, crumbled
Method
Crumble the yeast into 50ml of the lukewarm water, stirring to dissolve. Put 2 tbsp of
the spelt flour and 1 tbsp of the plain flour in a cup or small bowl, stir in the yeast mixture to
make a paste, then leave to rest under a tea towel for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Now place the yeast mixture in a large bowl, stir in the remaining 250ml of lukewarm water,
the rest of the flour and the salt.
Knead the dough well on a floured work surface until smooth, then return it to the bowl,
cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Meanwhile, cut the potatoes – skins still on – into thin slices (a mandoline is good for
this, if you have one).
When ready to bake the pizzas, preheat the oven to 200°C.
Divide the dough in half and roll each piece out on a floured work surface into a 40 x
30cm pizza base. Brush with the olive oil.
Mix the kale with the garlic and chilli and place on the pizza bases, then arrange slices
of potatoes on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper and feta cheese. Bake for 25–30
minutes, then serve right away.
Three kinds of open sandwich
Madder
Summertime in Scandinavia is refreshing. Temperatures are perfect, and on most days
there is a bit of a breeze. I love to get up early in the morning and bake my rye bread,
which I have worked on for days. Then I plan the lovely lunch I am going to prepare with all
the best things that summer has to offer.
Serves 4
Potato-onion
Ingredients
40g butter
200g boiled, peeled potatoes
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon finely grated unwaxed lemon zest
4 tablespoons chopped spring onions
sea salt
Method
Spread the butter evenly on the bread, slice the potatoes and place on top. Make the
Mayonnaise (see below), mix it with the lemon juice and place 1 tbsp of Mayonnaise on
each of the slices. Divide the capers, lemon zest and spring onions on top and sprinkle with
salt and pepper.
Avocado-prawn
Ingredients
40g butter
2 avocados
sea salt
4 tablespoons cottage cheese
200g north atlantic prawns
a few sprigs chervil
Method
Spread the butter evenly on the bread. Halve, stone and peel the avocados, slice them
into long wedges, then place on the bread and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon 1 tbsp
of cottage cheese on each slice, then arrange the prawns on top with the chervil.
Egg-tomato
Ingredients
40g butter
4 tomatoes
4 hard-boiled eggs
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 tablespoons cress, or snipped chives
sea salt
Method
Spread the butter evenly on the bread. Make the Mayonnaise (see below). Slice the
tomatoes and eggs, place next to each other on the rye bread and add 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
on top of each slice. Cover the Mayonnaise with cress and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Mayonnaise
Ingredients
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or lemon juice
sea salt
white pepper
300ml grapeseed oil
Method
Whisk the egg yolks with the mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper for three or four
minutes until the mixture is at room temperature. Start to whisk in the oil: add small drops
to start with and whisk after each addition, then add the oil little by little in a thin stream,
whisking constantly, until it has all been used up. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Herring with apple, beetroot and red onion
Scandinavia is world-famous for herring and for good reason. Scandinavia has some
excellent small artisan producers. Christians Ø Pigens Sild and Ruths Sild are two of the
best, sadly not yet available to buy in this country. I eat herring for lunch several times a
week, changing the condiments with the seasons. This variation is a real autumn treat.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cox’s orange pippin or other tart eating apple
100g raw beetroot
1 small red onion
4 tablespoons creme fraiche
8-12 marinated herring fillets
4 tablespoons snipped chives
sea salt
cold butter
Method
Core the apple, then finely chop the apple, beetroot and onion.
Place 1 tbsp of the crème fraîche on each of four serving plates and arrange two or
three herring fillets over it. Neatly arrange the apple, beetroot and red onion next to this.
Sprinkle the herring with the chives, then sprinkle everything with salt and pepper.
Serve with the rye bread and butter.
Liver pâté and pickled beetroot
This is a classic Danish lunch dish. If you are lucky enough to be invited to a smørgåsbord
for Saturday lunch, this is a very popular dish. I specify Saturday because this is is the day
for throwing lunch parties, with both more food and more time to sit and enjoy it.
Liver pâté, (leverpostej), is often eaten cold on rye bread with cucumber. It’s a favourite
with children and easily made. I enjoy serving the pâté warm during the winter, with
sautéed mushrooms and my own pickled beetroot on top. To me, that’s real comfort food.
You should pickle the beetroot two or three weeks before you serve it.
Ingredients
For the pickled beetroot

500g raw beetroot
salt
400ml cider vinegar
300g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
6 cloves
4 cardamom pods
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
For the pâté

5-6 canned anchovy fillets
40g butter, plus more for the mould
40g plain flour
450ml semi-skimmed milk
1 large onion, grated
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
225g minced pork back fat, sometimes sold as ‘flare’
500g minced pig’s liver
2 small eggs, lightly beaten
3 bay leaves
To serve
80g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
200g portobello mushrooms, sliced
sea salt
6 tablespoons finely snipped chives
12-16 slices My classic rye bread
60-80g cold butter
Method
For the pickled beetroot, boil the beetroots with their skins on in salted water for about
30 minutes, depending on their size. Check if they are tender by piercing with a small knife.
Meanwhile, make the brine: add all the remaining ingredients to a pot, bring to the boil,
then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
When the beetroots are tender, rinse them in cold water and remove the skins. Cut into
wedges or slices and place in a sterilised 1-litre glass jar. Pour the brine over, seal the jar
and place in a dark cupboard at room temperature for two or three weeks.
For the pâté, mash the anchovies until they become a lumpy paste. Melt the butter in a
heavy-based saucepan, add the flour and mix to form a roux. Little by little, add the milk,
constantly stirring. Bring to the boil and stir in the mashed anchovies, the onion, salt,
pepper, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Add the fat to the boiling sauce, stirring constantly
until it melts. Add the liver and stir until it is evenly distributed. Remove the pan from the
heat and cool slightly. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Add the eggs to the pâté and stir well.
Pour the pâté mixture into a buttered terrine mould, placing the bay leaves on top. Put
the mould into a roasting tin. Pour hot water from the kettle into the roasting tin, to come
halfway up the sides of the mould. Carefully slide into the oven and bake, uncovered, for 1
hour 15 minutes.
Leave to cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
While the pâté is cooling, finish off your lunch: melt the butter in a frying pan, add the
oil and sauté the mushrooms for about four minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper. Slice
the pâté, spoon over the mushrooms and sprinkle with the chives. Serve with the pickled
beetroot and the rye bread and butter.
Roast beef and horseradish
Beef and horseradish is an international combination. Horseradish has been used for more
than 3,000 years. This is a classic Scandinavian recipe, a great way to use up leftover
beef, best served with an ice-cold beer.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the horseradish cream
6 tablespoons full-fat or extra-rich greek yogurt
4 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish
sea salt
For the open sandwich

4 gherkins
1 small red onion
40g butter
8 hand-cut slices roast beef
4 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish
a few sprigs chervil
Method
Start with the horseradish dressing: mix everything together well in a bowl and season
with salt and pepper.
Finely chop the gherkins and slice the onion into thin rings.
Spread the butter evenly on the bread, then place two slices of roast beef on each
piece. Add a big spoon of horseradish cream, some gherkins and red onion and finish with
the grated horseradish and chervil.
Christmas
I love Christmas because of the traditions, but also because of a strong connection to my
family, and to the idea of family itself. My grandfather, morfar, loved Christmas and he was
a very generous man both when it came to sharing his hard-earned money and with his
compassion. He started Christmas planning in late November by buying cardboard and
paper for his decorations. He would then create some wonderful mechanical objects that
would mesmerise all children, either something with a light inside, or something that could
turn around. One year it was an elf (nisse) that could travel up and down in a hot air
balloon!
One Sunday in December, morfar would take my mother and her sister to see the
Christmas decorations at a particular shop where they displayed a whole town of elves
(nisser) going about their business. My aunt Birgit remembers this as one of the highlights
of the family’s year.
My grandmother, mormor, would do all the baking. I still use some of her recipes, such as
that for the Finnish sugar cookies you’ll find here which were morfar’s favourite. My
grandparents had a saying: ‘Nobody is allowed to go without at Christmas time (gå julen
ud)!’, meaning that everyone had to feel the spirit of Christmas. As a consequence,
everybody who came by in December was invited in for a glass of sherry and some Danish
butter cookies (småkage), and morfar would also give cigars to the milkman, postman,
fishmonger and the guy who delivered the coal.
I believe that this joy of celebration is in my genes in some wondrous way. I have continued
my grandparents’ traditions in a manner that fits the times in which I live. Every year, I
invite the children of friends and family to come to my house and spend a whole day
baking. It’s all about giving in to the spirit of Christmas. Then the children’s parents come
by later and join us for vegetable soup and doughnuts.
Honey bombs
Baking with honey and spices goes back centuries in Scandinavia. These are full of flavour
and become even better as the days go by; they can last for two or three weeks! Black tea
and honey bombs, served toasted with butter, are a match made in heaven.
Makes 16–18
Ingredients
150g honey
150g butter
4 eggs
400g plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
3 teaspoons ground cloves
200g candied mixed peel
Method

Gently melt the honey, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Leave the mixture to cool a
little, then beat in the eggs one by one. In a separate large bowl, sift the flour, bicarbonate
of soda and spices, then stir this into the honey mixture and add the mixed peel.
Divide the batter between mini tart tins, each 8–9cm in diameter, so that it lies about
1cm deep. (You will probably have to cook these in batches). Bake for 20–25 minutes, then
leave to cool on a wire rack while you cook the rest.
Finnish sugar cookies
This was my grandfather’s – morfar’s – favourite cookie. He did not really eat any others.
He loved Christmas, just as I do now. He made sure that all the traditions were kept, but it
was his presence and love for his family that made Christmas so magical for us.
Makes 35
Ingredients
250g plain flour
75g granulated sugar, plus more for the top
2 tablespoons finely grated unwaxed lemon zest
Method
Sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the sugar, butter and lemon zest, first by rubbing
with your fingers and then by mixing with a wooden spoon, until the dough is smooth and
firm. Wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
Now place the dough between two sheets of baking parchment and roll it out to a
rectangle about 1.5cm thick. Remove the top layer of baking parchment.
Brush the dough with egg and dredge sugar densely on top. Carefully roll over it with a
rolling pin, so the sugar is pressed slightly into the dough to make the crisp topping to
these cookies. Cut into 3 x 2cm pieces, place them on baking trays lined with fresh sheets
of baking parchment and bake for 15–18 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
When they are completely cold, store them in an airtight container. They should keep
for two to three weeks.
Vanilla cookies
Vaniliekranse
It would not be Christmas without these. I use a star-shaped extruder fitted to the mincer
attachment of my food mixer to give them a ridged surface. However, it’s easy to roll them
by hand and I’m not sure you could taste any difference!
Makes 70
Ingredients
2 vanilla pods
125g caster sugar
pinch salt
100g ground almonds
1 egg yolk
Method
Split the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife. Sift the
flour, sugar and salt into a bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture
resembles crumbs. Add the ground almonds and vanilla seeds. Now add the egg yolk,
working the mixture with your fingers until the dough forms a ball. Knead on a lightly floured
work surface for one or two minutes, then wrap in cling film and chill overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll the dough into 70 sausages,
each 5–6 x 1cm long. Curl each into a ring and press the ends together. Or use a food
processor and star-shaped dough extruder (see recipe introduction). Place on baking trays
lined with baking parchment and bake for about seven minutes. (You will probably need to
bake these in batches.) Cool on a wire rack, then store in an airtight container for three to
four weeks. Though there’s no way they will last that long.
Christmas stars
These are traditional in Finland. In Scandinavia, we have always used prunes at
Christmas. In the old days you could not find fresh fruit in the winter, only dried and
preserved.
Makes 24
Ingredients
200g prunes, pitted
50g caster sugar
plain flour, to dust
Method
Chop the prunes and put them in a saucepan. Pour in 100ml of water, then add the
sugar and lemon juice. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the
heat and simmer for five minutes. Stir every now and then, until you have a smooth-ish
compote. Leave to cool.
Roll out the pastry dough on a floured work surface to a 60 x 40cm rectangle. Cut it
into 10cm squares.
Place 1–2 tsp of prune filling in the middle of each dough square. Slit each corner,
towards the middle, with a 3cm long cut. Fold alternate tips of the slit corners towards the
centre, pressing them together firmly so they create a star shape. Place on baking trays
lined with baking parchment, cover with tea towels and leave to rise at room temperature
for 30 minutes.
Brush the pastries all over with the egg. Bake for five minutes, then reduce the oven
temperature to 200°C and bake for 10–15 minutes more, or until golden brown.
Rye and orange cookies
This super-easy dough needs no resting or kneading, so even novice bakers will make
these successfully on their first attempt. I always bake them for Christmas.
Makes 35
Ingredients
50g butter
125g rye flakes
250g caster sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons finely grated organic orange zest
pinch salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Melt the butter and mix it with the rye flakes in a bowl. Stir
in the sugar and eggs. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, orange zest and salt.
Stir this into the rye mixture.
Use two teaspoons to drop small mounds of the mixture on to a baking tray lined with
baking parchment, spacing them out well.
Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, then leave to cool a little before using a palette
knife to transfer them to a wire rack. (You may have to bake these in batches.) When cold,
store in an airtight tin for up to three weeks.
Spice cookies
Pepperkaker
This is one of the best doughs for children to work with, and it’s great if you have lots of
different-shaped cookie cutters. I have collected them for years, so I have about 100
shapes which makes baking these more fun. But it is also a bit crazy, I admit… The
cookies in this photo were baked by children, so I’m sure you will forgive their very slight
touch of what we’ll call “caramelization”.
Makes 30–50, depending on what size cookie cutters are used
Ingredients
150ml golden syrup
250ml soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
150ml double cream
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Method
Day 1
Beat the syrup, brown sugar, spices and butter in a big bowl until soft and smooth. Add
the cream and beat again. Sift together the bicarbonate of soda and flour, then mix into the
butter mixture. Flour a work surface and knead the dough well, then wrap in cling film and
leave in the refrigerator overnight. At this stage, you can leave it in there for weeks.
Day 2, or when ready to bake
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the dough really thinly on a floured work surface
and cut out with differently shaped and sized cookie cutters. Place on baking trays lined
with baking parchment. Bake for about eight minutes, then leave to cool on the baking
parchment on a wire rack.
Almond cookies
Another dough that is great when baking with children, as the cookies can be cut into all
kinds of shapes. Here, I have made angels, trees and stars.
Makes 40
Ingredients
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour, sifted, plus more to dust
75g ground almonds
Method
Mix the sugar, flour and almonds in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingers until the
mixture resembles crumbs. Work in the egg, again with your fingers, until you get an even
dough, then wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the refrigerator for one hour.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured
work surface and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. At this stage you can make a little
hole in the top of each, so they can be hung up later. Place them on a baking tray lined
with baking parchment.
Bake for five minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack, re-piercing the holes for
hanging if necessary while the cookies are still warm (they may have closed up as they
baked).
Little spiced apple pies
Mince pies are not part of the Scandinavian Christmas tradition. When I moved to the UK
for the first time, I had difficulty understanding what mince pies were, because I thought it
had something to do with meat. You cannot buy mincemeat in Scandinavia, so back home
in Denmark I started making small apple pies inspired by the spicing in a British mince pie.
Makes 20 pies
Ingredients
For the pastry
110g icing sugar, plus more to dust (optional)
Pinch of salt
225g butter, chopped and chilled
1 egg, lightly beaten, plus more to glaze
For the filling

400g tart eating apples
100g caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp freshly ground
black pepper
50ml calvados
Method
For the pastry, sift the icing sugar, flour and salt together, then mix in the butter, either
in a food processor or by rubbing it in with your fingers, until it has the consistency of
crumbs. Add the egg and mix the dough until it is firm and smooth. Wrap in cling film and
let it rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or overnight if that’s more convenient.
Peel the apples, core them and cut into small cubes, then tip into a saucepan with the
sugar and spices and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the calvados and let it simmer for five
minutes more, then leave to cool.
Doughnuts and spiced white gløgg
You cannot go through December in Denmark without these doughnuts (æbleskiver). Most
people buy them ready-made, which is a real shame because those are really boring! This
is my family recipe, and they are the best. Adding prunes is an old tradition, but they can
be left out if you prefer, or replaced by a piece of apple pushed into each doughnut instead.
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the doughnuts
40g fresh yeast
600g plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 vanilla pods
4 eggs, separated
150g butter
200g prunes, pitted, (optional)
icing sugar, to serve
Scandinavian jams, to serve
Method
Crumble the yeast into the milk in a large bowl and stir to dissolve. In another large
bowl, sift together the flour, salt and cardamom. Slit the vanilla pods lengthways, scrape
out the seeds with the tip of a sharp knife and add to the dry ingredients with the sugar.
Whisk the eggs yolks into the milk mixture. Add the dry ingredients and beat to make a
dough. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the dough.
Leave to rest for 40 minutes.
Heat an æbleskiver pan (see photo) over a medium heat. Put a little butter in each
indentation and, when it has melted, pour in some of the batter. Place half a prune (if
using) in each and cook for three to five minutes or until golden underneath, then turn the
doughnuts over. Continue frying for about four to five minutes or until golden, then remove.
Repeat with the remaining batter. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with
raspberry jam.
GlØgg
Ingredients
Day 1
300ml elderflower cordial
10 cardamom pods
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Day 2
2 bottles dry white wine
1 quantity spiced syrup
200g sultanas
100g flaked almonds
cognac, (optional)
Method
Day 1
For the syrup, place the elderflower cordial and the spices in a saucepan. Pour in
200ml of water. Gently bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Cover and leave overnight. Strain the syrup to remove the spices.
Day 2
The next day, heat the wine, syrup and sugar in a big pot until almost boiling, then
reduce the heat to low, add the sultanas and almonds and simmer for five minutes. If using
cognac, splosh in a generous measure just before serving. Serve in glasses, giving each
guest a teaspoon to catch the raisins and almonds.
Vegetable soup and spelt baguettes
After all the sweet things and hard work in the kitchen on a Christmas baking day, you
need something savoury. Since it’s winter time, soup and bread is perfect.
Serves 4-6
Makes 6
For the baguettes
Ingredients
25g fresh yeast
25g fresh yeast
8g salt
Method
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water and stir to dissolve, then add both the flours
and the salt. Mix really well, either in a food processor fitted with a dough hook or with a
wooden spoon. The dough will be sticky. Cover and leave to rest at room temperature for
30 minutes. Now place in the refrigerator overnight, or for at least eight hours.
Preheat the oven to 240°C, or as hot as it will go.
Tip the dough on to a floured work surface and, kneading as little as possible, fold into
six baguettes. Space the baguettes out between baking trays lined with baking parchment.
With a razor blade or a sharp knife, slash the surface of the breads diagonally, then brush
with water. The baguettes need to be baked right away, or you risk losing their shape.
Spray cold water in the oven to create steam and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the
oven temperature to 200°C and bake for 15–20 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack
before eating.
For the soup
Ingredients
500g potatoes
300g celeriac
2 leeks, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
5 sprigs thyme
2 litres vegetable stock
1kg spinach
sea salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Method
Peel and cut both the potatoes and celeriac into 1.5cm squares. Heat the olive oil in a
big saucepan and sauté the leeks with the onion and garlic for three or four minutes. Add
the bay leaves, thyme, potatoes and celeriac and stir well.
Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for
20 minutes. Rinse the spinach and chop it roughly. Season the soup with salt and pepper,
then add the spinach and nutmeg. Let the soup simmer again for a few minutes, until the
spinach has collapsed, then serve right away with the spelt baguettes.
Scandinavian jams
Jam in Denmark means a runny, fresh confection, made in the summer on the same day
the berries are picked. They are just ripe-picked berries boiled with sugar in a very short
time. I always store them in the refrigerator; because they have less sugar they otherwise
tend to go mouldy easily. Make these at least the day before you need them! For a visual
reference to the kind of texture you are aiming for, see the photos.
Raspberry and vanilla “jam”
Ingredients
1 vanilla pod
1kg raspberries
500g caster sugar
Method
Halve the vanilla pod lengthways and place in a pan with the raspberries and sugar.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Pour the hot jam into hot, sterilised jars and seal tightly. When cool, store in the
refrigerator or a very cold, dark room.
Gooseberry and vanilla ‘jam’
Ingredients
2 vanilla pods
2kg green gooseberries, topped and tailed
800g caster sugar
Method
Halve the vanilla pods lengthways and place in a pan with the gooseberries and sugar.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour the hot jam into hot, sterilised jars and seal tightly. When cool, store in the
refrigerator or a very cold, dark room.
Blackcurrant “jam”
Ingredients
1kg fresh or frozen blackcurrants
600-700g caster sugar
Method
Tip the berries into a large saucepan with 600g of the sugar. Bring to the boil, then
reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. Now taste it to see if you need
to add the remaining sugar.
Boil for another five minutes; the jam is done when the fruit’s natural pectin makes the
jam thicken. Be careful to pay attention to the pan and don’t leave the room as, if you
overcook the jam, the thickening effect will disappear and it will become runny. Pour into
hot, sterilised jars and store in the refrigerator or a very cold, dark room.
Sterilising jars and bottles
I sterilise glass jars and bottles by pouring boiling water into each, closing them tightly
and shaking them well. Pour out the water and they are ready to use.

Scandinavian Baking (Trine Hahnemann)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Scandinavian Baking (Trine Hahnemann)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann

Published by Quadrille Publishing

Notes on Scandinavian baking

In the UK I use www.bacheldremill.co.uk; www.sharphampark.com. In Scandinavia I use

Rye sourdough starter

Rising, resting and proving

Cream cakes and layer cakes

Danish pastries and other sweet yeasted cakes

Loving cake baking

For the cakes

For the coffee cream

For the glaze

For the puff pastry

For the crème pâtissière

For the filling and icing

For the choux pastry

For the crème pâtissière

For the topping

For the cake

For the macaroon layer

For the cream

For the topping

500g blanched almonds

Jens Jørgen Thorsen meringue

For the topping

For the choux pastry

For the cream filling

For the icing

For the pastry

For the apple compote

For the cream and topping

For the cake

For the filling

For the topping

For the cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

For the plum compote and cream filling

For the choux pastry

For the buns

For the filling

For the filling and topping

For the raspberry jam

For the base

For the icing

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

For the pastry

For the custard

For the pastry

For the filling

For the decoration

For the cakes

For the filling

Makes 40 small florentines

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

For the filling

Makes 16–18 pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Lightly butter a 24cm diameter

For the buttercream

For the icing (optional)

For the raspberry jam

For the glaze

For the icing

For the topping