Christmas market 2012

Christmas cakes I made for a Christmas market helt yesterday in Valetta. They were all rich, traditional fruitcakes, soaked and fed in brandy.

 

Christmas wreath cake

Traditional christmas fruit cake, covered with marzipan and sugarpaste.

Lemon and poppyseed cake with garden flowers

I love cakes with citrusfruit and poppyseeds. This is a lovely moist cake which has been drizzled with icing and topped with garden flowers, bumblebees and ladybirds. This one was for my daughter's teacher, and she really loved it :-).

Individual pink rosebud cakes

These little ones are sweet to have as individual portions for wedding guests. They can be presented on a cakestand on their own or be combined with a small matching cake for the wedding couple to cut. They are also suitable for a christening.

Healthy rye bread wth linseed, nuts and fruit.

 

This recipe comes from my mum who makes it often. It contains rye and oatbran and it's packed with fruit, seeds and nuts. I love it, any time of the day.

 

 

Pandesal

I really love these. Filipino breakfast bread, and there is not much that beats these, fresly out of the oven on a Sunday morning, with butter on top.

 

 

Lemon madeleines

The madeleines are lovely and soft on the inside, but still with a slight crisp on the surface. Small and sweet and full of flavour were these, which were made with my own lemons. They are just enough for a nice pick-me-up in the afternoon when fatigue hits!

 

 

Linseed and wholemeal bread

This bread is a tradition where I come from. I have altered it to make it contain more 'good stuff', so my version has linseed, oatbran and wholemeal, along with regular flour. My son loves it and has it every day for school. Great way to get some Omega3 into him :-). I prefer it freshly out of the oven, plain or with butter, or toasted with honey. Either way, it's a treat.

Sweet cinnamon buns

I love these. Nothing beats them, for me, and my son feels exactly the same way. This is old-fashioned comfort food and the scent of cinnamon in the kitchen gets to me every time.

Baby Princess

Classic Swedish cake, the Princess cake. Vanilla sponge with custard and raspberry or strawberry filling, covered in green marzipan and topped with a pink rose. So sweet :-)

Macarons

Made lots of macarons this week, with wonderfully fragrant vanilla pods, strawberries, peppermint oil and dark chocolate ganache. Yum. Leave them overnight in the fridge and they become perfectly soft on the inside, while still retaining their crunchy shells.

Almond and chocolate bites with espresso buttercream

These were deliciously moist little after-dinner treats with a smooth buttercream flavoured with expresso. I don't like to drink coffee, but I loved this cream, and it went beautifully with the cake.

Semla

My favourite thing to make and eat. Traditionally only to be eaten on the Tuesday before Easter, but now they are usually in bakeries throughout Sweden already after Christmas. After Easter, however, they are no longer sold and we have to wait until next year to enjoy them again. It is funny how we all love them, but still we restrict ourselves (well, most of us) to making them at this point only during the year. That's probably what makes them so special :-).