Time For Cake!

I have been really into trying new cake recipes these days. You may remember me saying in the past that I'm not much of a cake person, well, my friends, that has changed. 

Lately, I've been baking tons of the cakes from the Fika cookbook. [sidenote: this is one of my most favorite Swedish cookbooks ever - so many make-again recipes] Most recently, this scrumptious fyriskaka, or apple cake. It has everything you'd want for a Swedish fall cake - apples, cardamom, cinnamon and it pairs wonderfully with a strong cup of coffee. 


First, you will need to gather your apples. It helps if you have a really cute assistant. 

Fyriskaka:

9 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 heaping teaspoon freshly ground cardamom

3-4 medium apples

3-4 tablespoons brown sugar

1.5 teaspoons cinnamon

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter and add the cardamom, set aside. Peel and slice the apples thinly and toss in 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar and the cinnamon. 

Combine the cooled butter, sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder. Spread batter into the pan and place the apple slices in the batter in a circular formation. Top with remaining brown sugar and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes up clean.

I highly recommend making this vanilla sauce to pour over top, or serve with vanilla ice cream. 

Before baking:

 

Fresh from the oven:

Happy baking!

*this post may contain affiliate links but all opinions remain my own

Cardamom Cake

I posted about this scrumptious cake just a few weeks ago and have had a few people request the recipe - so here it is in all its glory!

What I love about this cake is that it's a heartier, not overly sweet cake. I highly recommend tracking down some pearl sugar for the topping (IKEA carries it, as do specialty food stores). I'm sure normal sugar would work in a pinch, but then you miss out on the amazing texture and crunchiness the pearl sugar offers.

Swedish Cardamom Cake
1 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 +1/4 cups sugar
3 + 1/3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 + 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 + 1/4 cups milk
Garnish: Pearl Sugar or coarsely chopped almonds (I prefer pearl sugar)

Grease a 10" round cake pan and preheat the oven to 350. Melt the butter and let it cool. Beat the eggs and sugar together until light yellow and very thick. Add all additional ingredients until combined. Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle with pearl sugar and/or almonds. Bake for approximately 1 hour - test to make sure it's fully baked. Let cool completely before serving.

Be sure to use freshly ground cardamom if you can - it really makes a difference!

I like to enjoy a slice of this cake with a nice cup of coffee and a friend or two.

Enjoy!

*Update: My sisters made this for my baby shower in a bundt pan and it worked out wonderfully! Just omit the pearl sugar on top, as it will stick to the pan and not release without leaving chunks of the cake behind (learned the hard way...). This way, you can also refer to it as more of a bread instead of cake and eat it for breakfast. :)

Baked goods

Here are a few things I've been baking over the past month or so that have been worthy of baking again. 

First up on the list are Semlor (Swedish Lenten buns) for fat Tuesday, of course. IKEA used to sell premade marzipan for a good deal, but they've stopped stocking it for some reason, so I made my own from scratch this year for the filling. That was a first for me, but I'm glad I did because it was so tasty! These turned out really great and we ate them almost everyday that week. No regrets.

Often when I get home from work, I'll watch a little PBS. Typically, Martha Bakes is on when I get home and the other month I saw her make this delicious looking French Breton butter cake. I made it later that week and was not disappointed. It was extra delicious with some Swedish vanilla sauce on top. Next time I make it, I think I'll make a berry compote to go alongside. Yum.

And last, but certainly not least, was this Swedish cardamom cake. Love, love, love this! I love the crunchy pearl sugar topping and the flavor of cardamom in this not overly sweet cake. I'm going to try to bake it in a loaf pan next time, just to try it out. Somehow when I'm slicing a piece of "bread" it seems healthier than dishing yourself up a piece of cake for breakfast.

Scandinavian Baking Essentials

If you love Scandinavian baking as much as I do, here is a list of popular Scandinavian pans/specialized baking equipment that you may need to add to your collection!

Krumkake Iron

These tasty treats are one my favorites, and not only because of the nostalgia factor. My mom sometimes makes these at Christmas and they are so good. If you only get one thing from this list, make it this one.

Almond Cake Pan

You may recall me saying that I'm not a huge cake person [the horror!] - that is, with exception of Swedish almond cake. It is mouth-wateringly delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I have been known to eat it for breakfast.

Norwegian Heart Waffle Iron

These are just plain cute. Who doesn't like heart-shaped waffles?!

Swedish Pancake pan

An essential pan for any people out there who consider themselves true Swedes. Even if you're not even a little bit Swedish, I bet you'll love Swedish pancakes. I mean, what's not to love about crepe-like pancakes covered in lingonberry jam? [answer: nothing]

Norwegian Pancake pan

While I didn't grow up eating these, that doesn't meant they're any less delicious. Try eating them without syrup and just lingonberry jam. 

Sandbakkel tins

Cuteness factor strikes again! Sandbakkel are adorable little cookies that can be eaten plain, or filled like a tart with yummy jam and whipped cream.

Rossettes 

I inherited my Mom's old rossette set a while back and it's been great fun trying to make these little suckers (again, the cute factor) without burning myself. Practice makes perfect?

cast iron Christmas set

Kransekake forms

I don't own these [yet...hint hint, Ryan], but they make one heck of a fun cake! Traditionally only made for special occasions like weddings, Christmas, or New Years Eve.

Aebleskiver pan

Aebleskivers can be a bit tricky to master, but once you get the hang of 'em, there's no turning back! Traditionally they are filled with bits of apple or applesauce. Nowadays, they are more often are found served with jam, with a dusting of powdered sugar too.

Heart Tins (for Vaniljhjärtan)

These are one of my all-time favorite fika treats. They are filled with a delicious vanilla-custard and baked in a sugar cookie, of sorts. So. Good. 

photo source

Knäckebröd rolling pin

If you're ready to really commit to the whole "I'm a Swede," thing, this is the item for you. Impress your family by making some homemade knäckbröd, or crispbread. Perfect addition to any smorgasbord.

Lefse rolling pin, turning stick and griddle

I've never made lefse myself, but I certainly love eating it! Lefse is a thin potato pancake that is spread with butter and brown sugar. As you can imagine, it's both delicious and addicting.

So there you have it! A collection of Scandinavian baking pans and the like! Can you think of anything I missed? What's your favorite Scandinavian treat?

*photo source for all images used (unless otherwise noted below picture): Amazon.com

**I've added this post to the tabs up above on the blog header, for an easy + quick reference for the future

Swedish vanilla buns

So almost immediately after I posted about the top three fika treats I was excited to eat in Sweden, I started flipping through some Swedish cookbooks so I could make some fika treats of my own. I used IKEA's Fika cookbook again, and decided on these delicious little guys - vanilla buns.

Sidenote: I love kneading dough. Seriously one of my all-time favorite things. And look! I actually have counter space to knead at our new apartment!

These buns are really simple. A basic sweet dough with a vanilla filling that you put in right before the second rise. There's not so much filling that it squirts out like a jelly donut, but just enough so there is another level of flavor. When they come out of the oven I did a quick brush with melted butter and a dip in sugar.

They were pretty darn good. I ate them for breakfast 3 days in a row, and I don't regret it.

Hope you're having a grand weekend!

Swedish Almond Cake

I am not a cake person [the horror!]. Sure, I'll eat it, but it's definitely not my go-to dessert. In fact, unless it's carrot cake, cake is probably near the very bottom of my dessert list. But this cake, on the other hand, I find absolutely scrumptious.

[oops, I snuck a piece before I took the photo!]

I don't own a traditional Swedish almond cake pan, so I used a bundt pan instead. It seemed to work just fine. I baked it on the shorter side since it's not as thick as when it's baked in the traditional pan. This cake is dense and moist, and when sprinkled with powdered sugar it is sooo good. Next time, I'm going to drizzle some almond icing over the top. Yum.

Cake for breakfast, anyone?

Here's the recipe!

(via my sister's recipe card that came with her almond cake pan)

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract (I use 2 tsp)

2/3 cup milk

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 stick melted margarine

Mix first 4 ingredients. Stir in flour and baking powder, then add the melted margarine. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes (40 minutes was plenty of time when cooked in the bundt pan). Cool in pan before removing. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. EAT!

Toffee Cookies

This is how I started my Saturday morning: 

It was wonderful. I got to sip coffee all morning long while having a ball browsing my cookbook stash. I decided to try these toffee cookies from IKEA's Fika cookbook (which is awesome, for the record). I've only made a few recipes from it so far, but each one has been a winner. 

They turned out wonderfully! My favorite kind of cookies - chewy, not overly sweet, and perfect dunked in a cup of coffee. We brought them to a party and Ryan has already asked me to make some more for just us...and I think I just might.

Here is the book itself - really fun pictures for each recipe. I really like how they have most of the classic Swedish fika treats in it - reminds me of the motherland. I really want to try the vanilla hearts, they were one of my absolute favorite treats when I studied there. They will definitely be one of my next baking projects!

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Fika Friday

Behold: the Lingonberry muffin. What's better than lingonberries and Fridays?! Fridays with lingonberry muffins!

I'll be honest, these muffins are actually from two weeks ago. But they are too Swedish not to share, even though I technically didn't eat them for fika this week. I used Betty Crocker's recipe for "Make it Mine Muffins" and used half a jar of lingon for my "add-in". I also added an extra lingon dollop on each muffin once they were in the tin, then gave them a little swirl. Pretty tasty little suckers.

My Fika Rundown:

What: Lingonberry muffins with black coffee (as usual)

Where: at home

Who: With Ryan

Favorite part: Making the muffins and waiting to see if they would work...and they did - success!

Life has been pretty nutty lately but it's all about to slow down soon! Next week Ryan and I have a VACATION! I can't wait! We are going to Hawaii with Ryan's family and I am so excited! Stay tuned for pictures when we get back. :)

Fika Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

It's a glorious day. Friday. One of the best days of the week. I hope you all had a splendid week! This weekend really snuck up on me! The beginning of the week was crawling by, then all of a sudden, boom! Friday. I'm quite excited about this weekend. Tonight, I get to go see a Prairie Home Companion at the Greek Theater here in LA (compliments of my super sweet and awesome friend, Hannah - thank you!!). Then tomorrow is a friend's wedding! I love weddings. Needless to say, it's going to be a great weekend!

In case you didn't know, I adore rhubarb. I just love the tartness of it. And the infamous strawberry-rhubarb combo never disappoints. I stayed up until 11:00 PM on Wednesday to make this pie. But it was so worth it. I love me some pie. It made for some great fika snacks yesterday and today.

My fika rundown:

Where: Home

What: Black coffee with strawberry-rhubarb pie

With: Ryan + me

Best part: the rhubarb, and Ryan's company, of course.

What did you do for fika this week?

Fika Friday

This has been a week of winding down, relaxing, and unpacking the pile of crafts from the fair.  It's been a good week. I'm also gearing up to visit my sister/brother-in-law/niece this  weekend in Seattle. So. Excited. I've never been to the Pacific Northwest before, and quite frankly, I know I'm going to absolutely love it. I can't wait to see my family and check out a new place!

I made these butterscotch brownies today and oh my goodness are they delicious. They are quite the opposite of those espresso brownies I posted about earlier, in the best of ways. They are a fudgey consistency with the right amount of sweetness. I had two....in the last 2 hours. I will share the recipe at the end, it's taken from one of my favorite of favorite cookbooks, Betty Crocker's 1963 edition of the "Cooky Book".  I snagged it at an antique store a couple months ago and haven't looked back. 

Just the way I like my brownies - dense, chewy, and extra gooey.

I'm going back for a third after I finish this post. I have no self control.

Fika Rundown:

Where: Home

Who: Myself

What: Butterscotch brownies and a cup of Swedish Zoega brand coffee (so. good.)

Butterscotch Brownies

slightly adapted from the Cooky Book by Betty Crocker, 1963

1/4 cup butter or margarine (I used butter)

1 cup dark brown sugar (recipe called for light brown, but I love dark...)

1 egg

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup shopped walnuts (or whatever add-in you'd like...)

Melt butter, mix in sugar. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Blend then add to butter/sugar mixture. Add vanilla and walnuts. Spread in a well-greased square pan (8x8 or 9x9). Bake 25 minutes at 350. Do not overbake!!

Eat and enjoy.

Fika Friday

Oh fika. I love you.

For those of you who don't know, fika is a Swedish word that translates more or less to "coffee break". When I studied in Sweden, my afternoon class would halt mid-way through and we would all go to the cafeteria to partake in a cup of coffee and special baked treat for about 15-30 minutes. Then, we would go back to class. Best tradition ever.

There's just something about making an active effort to take 15 minutes in your day just to relax, regroup, and enjoy life. The Swedes know whats up.

My favorite fika of the week is shown above. Toffee cookie bars (from Betty Crocker's 1963 Cooky Book) accompanied by some French pressed coffee. Mmmmmm. 

Chocolate chips sprinkled when the bars come out of the oven...then they start to melt and you spread them over the bars. Add a few sprinklings of chopped nuts (I used pecans). And there you have it, happiness in a 9 x 13 pan.

I would love to hear how you all enjoyed fika this week! At home? Out at a cafe? Alone? With friends?

My fika rundown:

What: French pressed coffee with homemade toffee bars

Where: My kitchen table

With: Me, myself, and I

Best part: Sunshine on the patio and folk music playing in the background

New Installment: Fika Friday

As some of you may know, I have a little obsession with coffee. In Sweden, it's common to take a fika break everyday (pronounced fee-ka). When I studied in Sweden, it was by far the best part of the day. Nothing compares to a dark cup of Swedish coffee alongside a home-baked treat. My mouth is watering just writing about it. 

 

source - milas-deli

 

So in honor of this Swedish tradition I love so much, I am going to start Fika Fridays here at the Pickled Herring.  I will post a picture of my favorite fika of the week and take a minute to enjoy the peace that 15 minutes of coffee adds to my day.

 

Back in college, my roommates and I started this very tradition of Fika Friday [at four]. We would bake tons of little treats and brew copious amounts of coffee (I actually had a 40-cup coffee urn...many times we had to even brew more!) for our fellow friends and students and invite everyone over to partake in a little friendly fika. By our senior year, we had over 80 people at our ending "Fika Finale" day. I have many fond memories of these fika Friday days.

 

Long live fika!!!

 

[you can follow my fika board on Pinterest here]

Friday update!

Confession: I have been horribly horrible about regularly blogging these days. But I suppose you already figured that one out on your own.  I haven't been doing much crafting lately, but I've been doing a lot of list-making for projects and just plain ol' relaxing.

Our life these days have been great. Ryan and I are getting settled into our daily routines and, slowly but surely, I feel like our life is slowing down for a minute so we can play catch up. It's been wonderful to relax and just be. I've been watching a lot of TV lately, and quite frankly, I don't even care.  Maybe it's that Spring is upon us, but I feel like I am coming into a new season of life. And I like it.

Back to crafting. Thanks to Rachel's post during her craftbook review series, I found this little gem of a book:

source



I strongly encourage you to check out Rachel's review of this book, it's what made me buy it! I am so excited about some of the projects in here - especially the Dala horse garland and crayfish hotpad. I've already started the crayfish hotpad...pics to come!

Then I was purusing through Etsy and found these inspiring things that went into my mental idea bank:

source

I love the Scandinavian vintage look for the pillow.

source

My mom just sent me a set of these little tins and I am quite excited to try a batch of sandbakkel!

source

Ryan and I have been into vintage maps lately. Ryan has always had a place in his heart for geography, and during a recent antiqing venture we picked up an early 1800 map of the Virgin Islands for a few bucks. We went to the Virgin Islands for our honeymoon so it was fun to find an old map of a place we've been.  We framed it and hung it up and decided it would be fun to start collecting vintage maps of places we've been.  I love this old Stockholm map above - so cool!

That's all I have for now, folks!

From my Mother's kitchen, part II

Like I said before, whenever I am back home, I always rummage through my mother's cupboards and search for lost kitchen gadgets. Along with the fancy butter molds, I found this old school frosting decorator kit.

It came with 6 different tips.  Even though I already have a cake tip set, I thought it would be fun to compare the two. Plus it just looks pretty awesome.

So in went the frosting and I gave it a shot. Woah. I quickly learned that you need to have some major hand/finger muscles for this contraption. It was so hard to get the frosting out, let alone make it look pretty.

I totally should have taken a picture of the finished product.  But alas, I just ate them instead. Trying out this thing made me realize how lucky I have it to just use a pastry bag and tips. So much easier!

I ended up just hanging up the retro decorator thing-a-ma-bob up on our kitchen wall for some decor. It was fun to try out though!

Hope your week is treating you well.  It's halfway done!

Antique finds

I shared a little bit about my and Ryan's little trip last weekend, and promised another post with our antique finds.  Here is that promised post!

Ryan and I always try to go in at least 1 or 2 antique stores when we are visiting a new town.  It's something we started to do back when we first started dating. Ryan would always help me look for Shelley cups for my mom.  He quickly developed a keen eye for them and we always had fun finding interesting things.

So when we took our little trip last weekend, one of the first things we did was look up some nearby antique stores.  The first one we went to was called Window Box Antiques in Camarillo. One of the most exciting finds for me there was this:

I have seen this cookbook popping up all over the web, but it's so hard to find a reasonably-priced copy out there. Even on Amazon, a "new" version goes for $60! That's a little too rich for my blood. So that's why when Ryan and I went into the Window Box Antiques (one of the best organized antique stores I've ever been in!), I was astonished to see that little buddy for only $16...on sale!!! I may or may not have let out a high pitched yelp. Ok, I totally did.

Needless to say, I quickly snatched it up, took it home, and tried out the Brazilian Coffee Cookies. Yum. They were pretty darn tasty. Very crispy which I enjoyed for a change.  The perfect coffee-dunking cookie (or "cooky" as Betty Crocker refers to them) if you will. 

I thought it would be hard to top that purchase.  But we forged on and found this little beauty (also at Window Box):

Ryan and I are collecting different antique plates for our china.  I'm excited for the day when we have enough to have a fancy dinner party and can set our table with our hodgepodge of plates. I love the blue.  Even though it's from England, it looks Scandinavian to me.  Then again, I think a lot of things look Scandinavian, maybe because I just want everything to have some kind of Scandinavian flare. 

And last, but certainly not least, we found this awesome old suitcase. Brass hinges and everything. Sorry for the terrible, grainy photo of it below. It measures 35" by 20" and when I saw it I instantly thought that we could make it into a coffee table (maybe someone else had the same idea...see the ring on top? haha)! So we bought it with plans of building a wooden base to set it on.  

I told my mom all about our finds and mentioned our old suitcase we were going to make into a coffee table. Then yesterday, I got a text from my mom (so technology-savy, isn't she?!) saying she was in Pottery Barn and saw an old suitcase turned coffee table displayed there!  Pottery Barn's table is $699.  Needless to say, I'm glad we bought our suitcase for $15. 

pottery barn

All in all, we had great success antiquing this time around.  Sometimes we don't find anything.  It's always fun to score some sweet deals and relish in some nostalgia. 

Happy Friday people! WOOO!