Changing it up a bit.
-And not just the fact that I am posting at all ;-)...
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Leaves changing color in Swedish autumn,
one of the many lovely things about moving home. |
My
blogg has up to this point not been one for recipes and such, as my
initial idea was for it to be a source of inspiration rather than
anything else. However, I plan on sharing more of the recipes I
use. As ALL of them I have tried and tested many times to find the
perfect one.
A little Explanation.
I
moved (back) to Sweden just over a year ago now, and there has been
some adjustments as to how I make my cakes. In the UK it was the norm
to fill and "plaster" the cakes with buttercream and
buttercream only. The fact that it was sweet was fine, it's a
dessert, they are supposed to be sweet ;-)! However coming to Sweden
I had to change the basic structure of my cakes. Often when people
ask for a filling they will want a mousse, or a custard based one.
They will sometimes even want plain whipped cream. In many ways this
has opened up doors to new ideas for me, but it was also a
huge stress factor in my cake making...
....Why
you ask? Ok so I have something to admit. There are things I like
better than constructing a cake... don't get me wrong I love to
bake and put flavors together... but it's the decorating I
LOOOOVE. And when the constructing goes wrong as it often can with
the swedish way of making the cake; I get MAJORLY stressed. Like, bang
my head against a wall repeatedly kind of stressed ;-)! GAAAAaaaaah.
Things
that can go wrong (when you don't have a clue what you are doing as I
didn't in the beginning) include: a mousse that won't set, the
fragile sponge breaking and tearing, the same sponge falling apart
and crumbling as you try to carve into it, a mousse that you thought
was set not being set and only finding out when the cake has already
been filled and you see the sides bulging from the weight,
covering a cake with marsipan and finding out after that if you
plaster a cake with cream and cover it with marsipan the marsipan
never stood a chance.. it will melt.. it's just a matter of time...
and finding that out after you have decorated a cake is never fun.
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| My birthday cake and I. |
....Lets
just say there are many cakes I have made this last year that have
not made it out on instagram of Facebook...
BUT
as clueless (and sometimes hopeless) as I felt as I trial and error'd
my way through many a' cakes this year, I have also learned a lot, and
would love to share my knowledge.
Those
of my readers who are from the UK I recommend trying to make a
cake the "swedish" way... because they are so good.. once
you get it right ;-). I hope that I will be able to describe things
as well as I can so that you won't have to make the same
mistakes as I have.
The
other thing I have done is take the best of all my influences. One of
the things that I have struggled the most with is the sponge itself.
I have tried EVERY swedish recipe that people have recommended to me,
and to my tastebuds they have just not been right(not saying they
aren't right for other people). I like my sponges a little denser,
based on more fat.. who doesn't love a little fat ;-)... the swedish
sponges rarely have any fat at all. They are often eggwhite based to
bring air into them and the higher they rise the better you have
accomplished your task :-)! In will share my favorite swedish
sponge recipe as well just incase you want to try it, but just so you
know that I prefer the american styled ones.
So yes. That is the change. I will be more engaged in passing my hard earned knowledge on to you. Knowledge that I wish I had when I started. My hope is that because I am writing in english, readers all over the world can try how cakes are made in sweden, because it's different, but so tasty.
ENJOY (the new blog)
J.
