To me this pie is the epitome of Swedish baking. Okay, there is no cinnamon or cardamom, but the forest berries and the layered topping just screams Scandi baking. This pie was a classic growing up, and my mum always made it to perfection, like only mums can. Ice cream and pie are always a winning combination, but for the truly Swedish experience, I suggest the custard listed below. Make this pie for friends, family or yourself. Just bring a cup of tea a spoon.
Ingredients
Pie crust
150g of softened butter
200g flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp sugar
50ml cream
Filling
approx. 300g of frozen blueberries
approx. 200g of frozen raspberries
200ml sugar
2 tsp potato flour (or cornflour but add another tsp)
Custard (not pictured)
2 egg yolks
200ml cream
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp potato flour (or cornflour, same amount)
2-3 tsp vanilla sugar (or essence)
Baking Time!
- Preheat the oven to 225C.
- For the pie crust, mix the butter, flour, baking powder and sugar.
- Remove about a fist full of the pastry and set aside.
- With the remaining pastry, add the cream and combine it.
- At the pastry to a medium sized pie dish and press it out with your fingers. You want the crust to be about 2mm.
- Blind bake the crust for about 10 minutes. Use either baking beans or poke holes throughout the crust to prevent rising. It should be very lightly golden when done.
- For the filling, combine all the ingredients. Add the potato flour last.
- Add the filling into the crust. Crumble on the remaining pie crust that you set aside earlier.
- Bake in the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until the filling feels set.
Custard
- Combine all the ingredients except for the vanilla.
- Bring to a simmer on a low heat or until you feel it is beginning to thicken.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool.
- Once cool, add the vanilla to taste.
I am not going to claim this 'nice' cream is better than full-fat, rich vanilla ice-cream. It is however delicious, chocolate-y, rich and sweet. It is great for after the gym, as a dessert or even breakfast. Plus it dulls the chocolate craving. Yes, you can now have a guilt-free ice-cream for breakfast. It is incredible how the frozen banana makes such a perfect soft-serve consistency. This 'nice' cream is also dairy free meaning you can serve it to all your vegan and lactose intolerant friends! This treat is so customisable, but this flavour combination is my favourite. Feel free to top with fresh fruit, toasted nuts, chocolate sauce (dairy free or not). Make it your own! You will, however, need a blender or preferably a food processor.
Ingredients
2 frozen bananas, cut into 2 cm pieces
1 tbsp of raisins or 2 dried dates
1 tbsp of peanut butter, I prefer chunky rather than smooth
1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
Preparation
- For best results freeze your bananas overnight. At the very least for 4 hours. If you do not wait long enough you will have more of a chocolate mousse than a soft-serve consistency. Either way is delicious, but not properly frozen is better.
- Pulse the raisins in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add the bananas and pulse or blend until almost completely smooth. You want a few lumps remaining. If you are bananas are not blending evenly, scrape down the sides and make sure everything is getting equal opportunity to hit the blade.
- Add the cocoa powder and peanut butter. Blend until fully smooth. Make sure to stop as soon as the mixture is lump-less otherwise it will get too loose. Alternatively you can add the peanut butter at the end for a streak of peanut butter running through.
- Enjoy!
- For extra texture, sprinkle on some dried fruit and nuts.
Serves 12-16 / Total time: approx. 3 hours
Princesstårta is probably the most classic Swedish dessert you are ever going to get. I was so surprised and pleased to see it on this years Great British Bake-Off. Despite eating it at a fair few birthdays I had never actually made it myself. The end result is definitely worth the effort, but I would not recommend making this in a hurry. Leave yourself plenty of time by tackling this cake the day before any party or big celebration.
Ingredients
Vanilla Custard
4 egg yolks
400 ml cream
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp potato or cornflour
4-6 tsp vanilla sugar or 2-3 tsp vanilla essence
Sponge
4 eggs
225g caster sugar
62g flour
62g potato or cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
Marzipan (you can just buy some from the store just make sure to colour it!)
400g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
250g icing sugar, sifted
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp almond extract (optional if you do not like a strong almond flavour)
green paste food colouring
To decorate and for assembly
a pink fondant rose
150ml double cream
50g dark chocolate, melted
any flavour of jam (traditionally raspberry)
Preparation
The Cake
- Preheat your oven to 175C (350F). Butter a 23 cm (9" x 2" or 2L) round baking pan. Line the bottom of the baking pan with a piece of baking paper.
- Place the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix on high until light and fluffy; it should be very pale and thick. When you take the whisk(s) out they should leave a ribbon-like trial on the surface. This should take about 5 minutes.
- Carefully sift in the flours and baking powder. Carefully fold in whilst keeping as much air in as possible.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for about 40 minutes on the lower portion of the oven. The cake is finished when slightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Start checking the cake around the 25-30 minute mark. Let the cake cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool completely. It must cool completely or it will be very difficult to cut!
The Custard
- Place the cream, egg yolks, potato flour and sugar in a small sauce pan.
- Whisk the ingredients together. Cook over a low heat, constantly stirring until the custard thickens. Make sure to keep an eye on it. It can seem like nothing is happening and all of a sudden it will become very thick!
- Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla.
- Apply clingfilm to prevent a skin forming on the top of the custard. Allow to cool completely and then chill in the fridge.
The Marzipan
- Mix the ground almonds and sugars in a large free-standing mixer using the dough hook.
- Add the eggs and almond extract (if using). Once it has combined well, dust your work surface well with icing sugar and then place on the surface.
- Knead the marzipan to soften it up. Then add the green food colouring sparingly until your reach the right green colour.
- To easily roll out the marzipan, place it between two large pieces of parchment paper. Roll into a thin, even circle about 40cm in diametre.
Assembly
- Using a serrated knife, slice the cake into three layers. Keep the top layer slightly thinner than the bottom two layers.
- Spread a thin layer of jam on the bottom slice. Add a generous layer of vanilla custard on top. Use a knife or piping bag. You should be generous with the custard, enough to cover the layer at least.
- Add the next sponge cake. If you really like jam you can add a thin layer here too like I did. Traditionally no jam at this stage though. Add another generous layer of custard.
- Whip up the cream until stiff peaks. Fold the cream into the remaining custard.
- Add the creamy custard onto the final piece of sponge. Gently form the custard cream into a dome shape. Make sure to keep a small amount of spread around the sponge layers as well.
- Gently lay the marzipan over the cake. Carefully define the shape of the dome using your hands.
- Trim the excess marzipan. Pipe some extra whipped cream around the edge of cake if you want a neater finish.
- Dust the top with icing sugar, pipe on some melted chocolate and add the fondant rose.
- Refrigerate before serving. About an hour minimum is what I would recommend; overnight is probably best.
Reference recipes:
http://semiswede.com/2011/09/21/princess-cake-demystified-prinsesstarta/
Great British Bake Off: Big Book of Baking - Mary's Princesstårta
Serves 2-3 / Cooking time 10 min
This recipe was a bit of an experiment. I had a lot of left over filo from my
salmon brik recipe and I thought these beauties would be an excellent way to use it up. They are very moreish and a quick and easy desert.
Ingredients
5 sheets of filo pastry
4 tbsp of blueberry jam (can use any you like!)
1.5 tbsp of ricotta cheese
1 tsp of lemon zest
Serve with: honey, greek yogurt and some sea salt
Preparation
- Combine your blueberry jam, ricotta and lemon zest.
- Cut each filo sheet in half.
- Place a heaped tsp of filling into the corner of your filo.
- Fold into a triangle. Repeat the triangle folds until you run out of pastry. Like this!
- Make sure to seal the pastry well with your fingers.
- Heat one 1 tbsp of olive oil in a non-stick pan on medium heat. Add the parcels and cook on both sides until golden and crisp. You may need to do this twice depending on the size of your pan.
- Serve with honey, yoghurt and a sprinkle of sea salt.
- Enjoy!
This cupcakes are one thing: vanilla! A light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes filled with a vanilla pastry creme and topped with vanilla frosting.
| Prep Time |
Cook Time |
Makes |
| 20 min |
15-25 min |
12 |
Ingredients
Cupcakes
175g of unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
175g of sugar
175g of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pastry Creme (You will not use all of it! Having would be okay)
300ml of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
60g of sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
Frosting
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g of butter
125g of icing sugar
1-2 tbsp of milk or creme
Preparation
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the egg yolks and sugar.
- Sift in the flour and cornflour and combine into the egg and sugar. It should form a paste. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. It is perfect when the milk starts to foam.
- Remove the milk from the heat whisk in the paste. Whisk constantly to prevent curdling. You might want an extra hand here!
- Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan and cook over medium heat until boiling. Make sure to whisk constantly.
- Once it reaches boiling, whisk constantly for another 30-60 seconds or until thick.
- Remove from head and add the vanilla extract.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 170C and line a cupcake tin.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. They should be well incorporated into a pale yellow mixture.
- Whisk or beat in one egg at a time. Then add the vanilla.
- Finally, sieve in the flour and baking powder. Combine in or whisk for 5 minutes.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 14 minutes. Use a fork to check for readiness. The top of the cakes should not be brown but have a spongy texture when touched.
- Set aside to cool.
- For the frosting, mix together the icing sugar and the butter.
- Mix on low until well blended and then on medium/high for 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and milk/creme and continue to beat for another 1 minute. Add the liquid slowly until you reach desired texture.
- The right amount should produce a frosting that can hold a peak.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, fill them with the pastry cream and then frost.
I made these cupcakes for my sister's coming home party and they were a big hit. I knew I wanted a caramel frosting as that is my sister's favourite topping, but I could not think of what to pair it with. Then I thought of bananas foster and came up this combination. I think it's a real winner! Hope you give it a try.
| Prep Time |
Cook Time |
Serves |
| 20 min |
18-25 min |
12 |
Ingredients
Banana Cupcakes
100g of unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
175g of sugar
225g of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
3 tbsp of greek yoghurt
3 medium-sized, very ripe bananas
Caramel Frosting
200g of softened, light brown sugar
60ml of milk
225g of butter
250g of icing sugar
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180C and line a cupcake tin.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. They should be well incorporated into a pale yellow mixture.
- Whisk or beat in one egg at a time.
- Mash the bananas, whisk or beat them in as well.
- Spoon in the greek yoghurt, combine well.
- Finally, sieve in the flour and baking powder. Combine in or whisk.
- Bake in the oven for 18-25 minutes. Use a fork to check for readiness. The top of the cakes should not be brown but have a spongy texture when touched.
- Set aside to cool.
- For the frosting, melt the butter on a medium/low heat. Add the brown sugar.
- Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 2 minutes, stir constantly.
- Then, let the caramel cool to lukewarm before adding the icing sugar. Set aside about 2 tbsp of the caramel for drizzling.
- Mix the icing sugar in increments. The right amount should produce a frosting that can hold a peak.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them with the frosting.
- Drizzle the remaining caramel on top.
