All you foodie lovers – I have a treat fo you! After discovering Louise from Nordic Kitchen Stories a while back on Instagram and feeling so inspired by her posts I am happy that she wanted to share a few of her Scandinavian recipes with you here on my blog. Louise is also offering different food-related classes if you are living around the London area, so keep reading to discover more about her and take a little Nordic culinary trip.
Hej, My name is Louise, born and raised in the UK. Yet my childhood memories are of holidays in Sweden with my family, gathered together to enjoy my Swedish mother’s marvellous, home-cooked food. My mum cooked from the basics, she adjusted what we ate with the seasons. My passion for food started then and has influenced the way I cook today. I’m still a frequent visitor to Sweden as I am fortunate enough to have a base in Stockholm, with the archipelago on the doorstep, it really is hard to stay away.
I bring That Scandinavian Feeling to England by living an uncomplicated life which feels so natural to me: I love to walk and forage; eat seasonally and be at one with nature.
Luckily, my passion for food has also been my profession; a food creator. I have worked in the food industry as a caterer and a rent-a-chef for private parties for many years. On my blog, you’ll find a collection of family recipes along with my own, made with a touch of love and a pinch of nostalgia. I am happiest in my kitchen, baking, cooking and devising new recipes for my family and friends’. I will be sharing a few of my recipes so you can get a little taste yourself, first up a traditional Swedish cake:
Prinsesstårta
Quite simply the loveliest and most popular celebration cake in Sweden.
Prep Time: 1 hr 50 mins >> Cook Time: 45 mins >> Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins
Let me explain, this is Prinsesstårta or Princess cake, so-called because Princesses Margaretha, Märtha, and Astrid, daughters of Prince Carl, brother of King Gustaf V loved it so. And they weren’t alone. It promptly became popular in Sweden and Finland. Every year around 500,000 prinsesstårtor is sold in Sweden. Jenny Åkerström, a home economist at the beginning of the 20th century created the cake. Originally named Grön Tårta (green cake) it certainly has a more appealing name now.
Consisting of a super light sponge layered firstly with jam, then creme patisserie and masked in whipped cream and then encased in marzipan. Those of you who know me on are aware that I’m not a fan of marzipan but my family are so I just personally leave it. You can make it with a thin layer of fondant icing as an alternative if you like.
Equipment: 20cm deep cake tin
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
130 g golden castor sugar
70 g plain flour
70 g cornflour
30 g butter melted
Creme patisserie
330 g whole milk
40 g castor sugar
20 g cornflour
4 large egg yolks
20 g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To Assemble with:
400 g marzipan white
Green, red and yellow food colouring
400 ml double cream
150 g good-quality raspberry jam
50 g raspberries fresh or frozen
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 160° (fan). Line a 20 cm deep cake tin with parchment paper and grease the sides.
- Sift the flour and cornflour and to set one side.
- In a freestanding mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on a high speed until you reach the ribbon stage. This will take a good 5 minutes, set a timer as this is crucial because there is no raising agent in this cake.
- Once you have reached the ribbon stage carefully sprinkle the flour onto the egg mixture along with the melted butter and fold very carefully to incorporate fully with the egg. (Don’t be too heavy-handed at this stage otherwise you’ll knock out all the air that you have whisked into the eggs).
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Now for the creme patisserie, in a large bowl whisk the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract and cornflour together until pale and creamy. Pour the milk into a pan and place over a low heat until just simmering. Whisk the warm milk into the egg mixture. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over low heat for 5 -7 minutes, whisking until the mixture thickens.
- Remove from the heat and beat the butter into a mixture and then transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with a disc of parchment to stop a skin forming on the custard. Chill in the fridge until needed.
- Combine the jam with the fresh or frozen raspberries and set to one side.
- For the roses, take a small quantity of marzipan or fondant (approx 40-50g) and add a drop or 2 of red food colouring, I like to not quite knead the colouring in fully as this gives a little colour variance. Roll it out and cut out four discs about the size of a 10 pence piece. Place in between two pieces of parchment paper and flatten one side, you can use a rolling pin or your fingers. Now roll one of the discs up with the thin side at the top. Place the other three in a row, thin side uppermost and roll around the first petal. Cut the bottom off so that you have a flat bed. Splay out the petals.
- To assemble the cake using a serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into three layers (I cut the top layer a little thinner as this will firm the dome shape).
- Spoon the jam mixture onto the bottom layer of the cake now place the middle layer of the sponge on top. Remove the creme patisserie from the fridge and whisk vigorously until smooth. Spoon this onto the middle layer of the cake. Whip the cream until it forms fairly stiff peaks. Spoon a third of the cream on top of the creme patisserie shaping it into a dome. Now place the final thin layer of sponge on top of the cream, cut side uppermost. Mask the whole cake with the remaining cream and then place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Now to colour the Marzipan, I have used a natural food colouring. Just add a little, to begin with, you may need to add a little yellow to get the colour right. Roll out until it’s at least a third bigger than the cake. Save a little to make a leaf or two.
- Place the rolled marzipan on the cake and cupping your hands tease the marzipan into shape around the sides. Cut around the bottom leaving enough to tuck under the cake.
- To decorate, making a small indent for the rose to sit in and arrange a leaf or two alongside it. Dust lightly with icing sugar. Pipe chocolate on the top if you wish.
On 30th November you can join Louise and her friend Marta Wasielewska to learn about food styling and photography. Together they will focus on creating a minimalistic scene – from prop selection to composition to plating the food, and to capture with your camera or mobile phone. (Find all the details here.) And great news – more dates will be added soon for the new year due to popular demand (a great christmas present idea if you ask me…)
Thank you Louise for sharing this delicious recipe with us. I hope it will inspire you, and I recommend having a read of her website for even more recipes. You can also follow Nordic Kitchen Diaries on Instagram and Facebook.
// Photo credit: Nordic Kitchen Stories
