Simple Soufle

Soufflé. Just the word sounds fancy and complicated. I can remember watching many chef's fail on cooking shows when they are given the soufflé challenge and I myself was always intimidated by the thought of making them. But when you really break it down, a soufflé is really quite simple.

I came across this recipe from Chef Tony, the head chef at the Orlando Airport Marriott, a few years back and it has become my stand by "fancy" desert. It takes just 15 minutes to prepare and bake and the finished look is what you would expect from a high end French restaurant. With only four ingredients, the challenge (in my opinion) is in carefully handling the whipped egg whites.

Directions:

1. Butter (or Pam) and sugar the bottom and sides of six 4oz ramekins.
2. Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces. I prefer Scharffenberger chocolate, but any high quality dark chocolate will work.
3. Melt 5 oz of the chopped dark chocolate over a double boiler and stir in 2 tsp. flour. Once everything is melted, take the chocolate mixture off the stove and let cool slightly.
4. Whisk 7 egg whites and 6 1/2 tbsp. sugar to semi-firm peaks.
5. Mix 1/3 into the cool chocolate mixture until the color is uniform.
6. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites and the remaining 2 oz of chocolate pieces. The color will not remain uniform at this time.
7. Using a large spoon, transfer the mixture to the prepared ramekins and gently tap the ramekin to level the mix.
8. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and place in 400 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes
9. Serve immediately.

Once you are comfortable with the above recipe, try modifying it to make it unique. One of my favorites is to add a fresh raspberry jam in the center of the mixture just before it is baked.

Fall is here!

As the weather starts to cool down and there is a smell of crisp leaves in the air so comes the desire to cook fall comfort foods and deserts with pumpkin.

To celebrate the season finale of Top Chef Season 7 and the season premier of Top Chef Just Deserts I hosted dinner and a viewing party at my place and this was the perfect opportunity to start the fall cooking. The menu for the evening included my fall favorites of cranberry, fig and pumpkin:

• Fig and Brie "Bruschetta"
• Carrots, Green and Wax beans in a brown sugar butter sauce
• Yukon Gold smashed potatoes with Gruyere cheese
• Individual Cranberry Meatloaf

For desert I made a Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake, I started with a recipe from Good Housekeeping with a few modifications so the desert was more diabetic friendly. Instead of topping with candied ginger I made a fresh whip cream with nutmeg.

Crumb Crust:

• 1 cup cinnamon graham-cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons Splenda Spoonful sugar

Pumpkin Filling:

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups Splenda Spoonful Sugar
• 1 cans (15-ounce) pure pumpkin (not pumpkin-pie mix)
• 3/4 cups sour cream
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs

Sour-Cream Topping:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons Splenda Spoonful sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Baking directions can be found here.

Cake Supplies

When I first got serious about cake baking I decided it was time to get serious about the supplies that I used. One trip to JoAnn Fabrics and at least $100 later I had everything I needed to get started. Over the years I have expanded my collection and I must admit, having the right tools makes the baking process so much easier.

Here are your "must" items (in my opinion) if you are going to become a serious cake baker. All of these are from Wilton and can be purchased at www.wilton.com.





Bake Easy - this was the best discovery of my baking "career". I never bake with out it now. Spray it inside your cake pan and every cake will litterally fall out of the pan when you take it out of the oven.

Cake pans - in all appropriate sizes. These professional pans from Wilton are wonderful, the bake evenly and are non-stick.







Cake slicer - once the cake layers have cooled you use this to cut off the bumpy top so that you have a perfectly even layer. The wire is adjustable so you can control the size of each layer.








Frosting spatula - when you are ready to stack your cakes, this spatula is a great way to evenly apply the frosting.










Decorating bags and tips - a must if you are going to decorate any cake. Wilton sells a great box of tips in quantities of 25 or 50, quickly completing your collection.

Slight Change in the Game Plan

We are just under five months away from the wedding and everything is coming into place. The caterer is booked, dresses ordered, photographer confirmed and with all the planning came a slight change in our plans for the cakes. Originally the plan was for me to make all of the cakes, one for each table. During my sisters research she discovered that Target has a bakery and she could order an 8 inch cake for $5.99. It was decided that we would order the cakes for all of the guests tables from Target and that I would only make the "head cake".

What does this mean for this blog? Well, my initial plan was to continue along with this blog long after the wedding was complete. So it seems I may start that shift earlier than originally planned. I will still be blogging about baking, since its still my passion. And I will still be baking cakes to practice for the wedding. My focus will be less on the cake itself and more on perfecting my decorating skills.

Types of Frosting

No cake is complete with out a healthy coating of frosting. We have come a long way from the standard royal icing, these days you can get a cake with just about any flavor or color icing you want. What exactly are all of these types of frosting and why do we have so many, you ask? Well they each serve a different purpose. Lets look at an overview of the most common types of frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

Buttercream frosting in my opinion is the easiest frosting to make and it has many uses. It not only allows you to make beautiful designs but also holds layers together really well. Buttercream is made up of butter, powdered sugar, flavorings, and liquid (usually milk). My favorite recipe for buttercream is from Wilton.

Fondant

Many wedding cakes are finished with a layer of fondant to give a silky smooth finish. Fondant can be made many ways, but my favorite (which I think is also the easiest and cheapest) is made with marshmallows, water, powdered sugar and shortening. The end result is an easy to work with ball that will roll out easily. The frosting will be much stiffer than buttercream and not as sweet. My favorite recipe for marshmallow fondant is here.

Royal Icing

This smooth, hard-drying icing is perfect for making decorations that last. I believe it is more common for use on cookies than cake except for using it is as a "cement" to fasten decorations together. It is made by mixing powdered sugar with milk or water. A good recipe for royal icing can be found here.

Meet the Venue

After searching, tours and deliberation - Matt and Lara have chosen to hold their wedding at the Grant Humpreys Mansion in Denver, CO. I had the opportunity to visit the location when I was visiting the couple in January and I was blown away. From the outdoor terrace over looking a park to the grand staircase entering the main dining room this location is perfect for a classic fairytale wedding. There is more to this mansion than meets the eye, it has a rich history matched with rumors of being haunted.

The Masion

The mansion is a 3 floor, 30-room home, created in the Beaux-Arts style, an architectural art form which is inspired by the ancient world and Renaissance Europe. James Grant, one of Colorado's most wealthiest men, hired talented architects Theodore Davis Boal and F.I. Harnois, to build his show piece home for the total cost of $35,000. The mansion has a glorious brick facade with terra cotta balustrades, projecting balconies and 20 foot columns.

The History

James Benton Grant was born in 1848 on his family's plantation in Alabama. In 1882 he relocated his company, the Grant Smelting Company, and his wife to the state's capital, Denver and was elected third governor of the state, from 1883 - 1885. James Benton Grant died in 1911, and Mary sold this grand home to wealthy southern-born entrepreneur Albert E. Humphreys in 1917.

Haunted Mansion

From HauntedHouses.com

Albert E. Humphreys, who was a keen-eyed, crack shot, died in a suspicious shooting accident on the third floor.

In nearby Cheesman Park, near the Grant Humphreys Mansion, the remains of 2000 people are still buried there, as the park was built on top of the Mount Prospect Graveyard or Boot Hill, founded in 1858. In 1873, the elected officials renamed the cemetery, calling it City Cemetery, a place where epidemic victims, transients and criminals were to be buried. In 1893, like many cities, Denver officials decided to use the land for something else, and gave 90 days for the bodies to be moved. The Catholic and Jewish sections were all removed by church and temple members, but many graves were left unmoved. The city hired an incompetent undertaker who made a huge mess of things, creating a large scandal.

Graves were looted in the process, bodies were broken in order to fit them into little mini-boxes, causing body parts to litter the ground, getting all mixed up. No respect was given the unearthed dead, despite being warned by psychics to say a little prayer over each. (Uh oh! Not a good idea!)

Well, all hell broke loose, and the spirits were disturbed, and began wandering around and through the buildings and homes near the cemetery, showing themselves in mirrors. Finally, the whole mess was plowed under, and a park was made on top of the havoc created, called Cheesman Park.

At least 5 ghosts make the mansion their home.

The entity of Albert E. Humphreys is still enjoying his home, restless because of his untimely death due to either a stupid accident, a possible suicide or a deliberate murder.

4 other separate entities keep him company. Perhaps some are from the disrupted and desecrated graveyard, who still haunt the park area. They perhaps wandered in and liked the mansion, and decided to stay. Perhaps other family members or other people with a connection to this mansion have also decided to move in and make themselves at home.

Cake Break

I admit I have been bad at blogging for the past week - my excuse... I have been quilting. I know, could I be any more domestic?

This past weekend I delivered two quilts to the babies of my college roommates. It took a few weeks and many hours of my time, but I was extremely happy with the end result.

Jett, 2 months old, and his rain boots quilt.

Cameron's "party time" quilt.

I also spent some time with Miles and took a picture of him playing with his Gone Fishing quilt.

Cake 5: S'mores Cake

This week I took on a request from a co-worker for a S'mores cake. Instead of searching for recipes, I decided to make this one up as I went along. For the cake, I made a simple butter cake and mixed in graham cracker crumbs.

When the cake cooled, I sliced each cake so that I would have six total layers (two per cake). In between each layer of graham cracker butter cake I alternated marshmallow fluff and chocolate frosting. The cake started as a five layer cake, as six seemed to be just too much.

For the exterior frosting I wanted to do a marshmallow frosting. In retrospect this was not a great decision. The frosting I made was tasty and fluffy, but it was not stiff enough to stay on the side of the cake. As a result it kept falling off the cake and pooling at the bottom. After a few times in and out of the fridge and still no good looking cake, I decided to remove the fifth layer.

The shorter cake made it easier to manage the frosting, but it was not keeping the frosting on the cake. So my final solution was to push graham crackers on to the side of the cake to hold the frosting in place. To finish the cake I placed marshmallow's on the top and used a torch to brown them slightly.

Poll Results: Favorite Desert

The poll results are in and we have a tie between Cake/Cupcakes and Brownies.

This makes me wonder what a brownie cake would taste like, or if anyone would even want to eat that. My co-worker just suggested a brownie layer, which lead me to brownie filling. All interesting ideas, worth trying.

Meet the Couple

Meet my sister, Lara Halverson, and her wonderful fiance, Matt Shepard.

All this time talking about cakes and I started to think, it may be nice to spend a little time talking about the bride and groom. After all, with out them this blog would not even exist.

I asked the happy couple a few questions so you (and I) could get to know them both a little better.

What is your favorite color?
Matt: Green
Lara: Pink

What is your favorite food?
Matt: Mexican
Lara: Eggs

What is your favorite desert?
Matt: Blondie Bar
Lara: Cookies

What you love most about your fiance?
Matt: I love Lara's attitude/outlook most
Lara: Matt is such a caring person, he is so full of life and can make anyone laugh. He makes me happy everyday and is so full of love. He has changed me for the better.

What are you looking forward to most about the wedding?
Matt: Gifts.....and seeing her in her dress. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I hope she doesn't wake up from the spell I have on her....
Lara: I am so excited to able to spend the rest of my life with him. I am looking forward to being able to spend the day with all of our family and people that have made us the people we are today. We have both been blessed to have grown up surrounded by wonderful people who love us and who we love.

I must admit when I read Matt's responses I got a little choked up. They truly are so in love with each other.

Cake 4: Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

What is better than Peanut Butter and Chocolate together? For me, very little. So this week I decided to make one of my favorite cakes, Chocolate cake with Peanut Butter frosting. This is one I have made many times before - but only ever in cupcake form.

For the cake I tried a new recipe that called for a cup of strong coffee. The cake came out very moist with just a hint of coffee in the flavor. I will post the link once I can find it again :)

Peanut Butter frosting has become something I no longer need a recipe for. Just mix 1 cup butter with 1 cup creamy peanut butter until smooth. Then blend in powdered sugar until it is very thick, almost crumbly. Add milk until you get to the desired consistency. It turns out so creamy, goes on smooth and is not overly sweet.

I made one batch of cupcakes and one, two layer cake. The cupcakes made their way into my client's office and to project runway viewing on Thursday and the cake came with me to work today. Sadly, for the first time ever in 4 years of bringing cakes on the bus, I dropped the cake. Have no fear, I was able to save the cake (I only lost minimal frosting to the bus bench) and judging by my co-workers feedback, this one turned out quite well.

"Re: CakeIt tastes wonderful!! Chocolatey, but not overpowering. And the peanut butter frosting – not too sweet, but really complements the chocolate." -Janet

"Re: CakeThumbs up! I had a little taste. Nice job!" -John

"Re: CakeFreakin delicious – mmm frosting..." -Sarah

"That cake was awesome!! Now...if it only had jelly filling.... :)" -Tom
Re: Cake ( Maybe I should try a PB&J cake!)

Cake 3: White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling

To continue the Denver baking adventure, after we finished the Vanilla cake with Lemon filling we moved on to our second cake of the weekend. Sadly, this cake proved to be even more challenging.

We again had trouble removing our baked cakes from their pans. With the vanilla cake we were able to salvage each layer - unfortunately this time one layer made it out in noting more than crumbs. So our three layer cake quickly became a two layer cake.

The frosting, although delicious, never thickened to the consistency that is needed to nicely frost a cake. We attempted to add a few cups of powdered sugar (although this was not called for in the recipe) but it did little to improve the consistency. So, we decided to put the frosting in the fridge overnight and hoped for the best.

Making the filling was easily the best part of this cake! As my sister did not have a cloth to strain the seeds out of the boiled raspberries we used a nylon instead. This worked wonderfully and gave us more than enough raspberry liquid to use for our filling. Not to mention it was fun to do and made some great pictures.


Getting to the final product was a slight challenge, and I must admit it did not quite meet my standards in terms of look. But the taste was exceptional! The combination of white chocolate, cream cheese and raspberries melted in my mouth. I would highly recommend this cake recipe - but warn, it may not look like you envision.

Cake 2: Vanilla Cake with Lemon Filling

The cake baking, wedding planning and flower shopping weekend is over. We had many successful ventures and some provided us a few challenges (namely the cakes). It is a good thing we decided to make two cakes - as the altitude put up a little fight.

Our first challenge was an unexpected one. After mixing the batter, baking and cooling the cakes, we found removing the cakes from the pans to be quite a task. Normally I swear by my Wilton cake pans and Wilton Bake Easy spray - at home my cakes literally fall out of the pans. However we had to work to get these cakes out of the pans and ended up with quite the plate of "crumbs" in the process.

Once the cakes were cooled we applied the filling (which turned out great) and stacked the layers. We began frosting the cake and about half way through we realized we were not going to have enough frosting...and that the frosting was melting. The melting was 100% my fault for frosting the cake on the counter right on top of the running dishwasher. We rushed the melting cake outside to cool it and decided to let it cool overnight.


The finished cake turned out great. It took more effort than normal to get here - but we were very happy with the resulting look and taste of the cake. To decorate the cake we purchase an orchid that we may use in the floral arrangements.




We cut into the cake at the groom's parents house, and the happy couple practiced cutting the cake as well.

Denver Cakes Game Plan

I arrived in Denver, CO last night and am thrilled to let the weekend of wedding fun begin. The bride, groom and myself made a cake game plan last night. We will be baking two different cakes this weekend - so I thought I would share the recipes with you, just in case anyone wants to bake along with us.

Vanilla Cake with Lemon Filling and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Grooms Request

Vanilla Cake (from Magnolia Bakery)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350, grease you baking pan of choice (I use Wilton Bake Easy ). In a large bowl cream the butter until smooth, add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add each egg and beat well.
Combine the flours in a separate bowl. In a measuring cup combine the milk and the vanilla extract. Alternate adding the flour and milk to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Bake for 20-25 min and let cool in pans for 10 min before taking the cake out.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (From McCormick)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
  
• 1 package (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Beat the butter and vanilla until creamy. Pour in four cups of sugar and the milk, beat until smooth. Add additional sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Lemon Filling (From Wilton)

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• Juice of medium lemon
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add water and whisk until well blended. Whisk in egg yolks, lemon peel and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly; until thick and bubbly. Boil one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature, without stirring.

White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling and White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

White Chocolate Cake (from Wilton)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 4 ounces (2/3 package) white chocolate , chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter , softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In small microwave-safe bowl, heat milk until hot, but not boiling. Add white chocolate; stir until chocolate melts. Add vanilla; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Add flour mixture alternately with melted chocolate mixture, mixing until just combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Raspberry Filling (From Emeril)

• 2 12 ounce packages of frozen raspberries (not packed in syrup)
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 1/2-2 cups granulated sugar (or to taste. 2 cups will be pretty sweet)
• 2 T of lemon juice (optional)
• 5-6 T of cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

In a saucepan combine the raspberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the raspberries have broken down. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain with a fine mesh sieve. Return the stained mixture to the heat. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/2 cup of water. Whisk the slurry into the raspberry mixture. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool completely.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (From Wilton)

• 14 oz white baking chocolate
  
• 2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Melt candy melts according to package directions. Allow coating to cool slightly, stirring occasionally (don't let it set up). In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese (preferably with a flat beater) until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the cooled coating until blended and smooth. Beat in the butter and lemon juice.

Birthday Cakes

In honor of my birthday yesterday, I spend a little time looking into the history of the birthday cake.

The origin of the birthday cake is very similar to that of the wedding cake, so I will skip past the European origins as most of it is listed in my post Wedding Cakes: A History.

The birthday cake (as we know it) has been an essential element of Western cultural birthday celebrations since the 19th century. Originally birthday cakes were a sign of wealth and status, over time they have become common to most celebrations regardless of wealth.

It appears that most traditional birthday cakes contained birthday candles, but not quite as we know them today. The tradition of candles seems to have a religious background in all cultures. The first cake with a candle is said to have come from the Greeks - who would place candles on cake and then offered then to Artemis, God of the Moon. Because lighting a candle on a cake made it glow like the moon. The Germans would place the candle in the center of the cake to represent the "light of life." Originally when people blew out the candles on their cake it was believed that their wish was carried to god and their prayers would be answered.

Today the number of candles on a cake will correspond with the age of the birthday person. According to tokenz.com - there is an additional tradition of adding an extra candle for good luck. This one I was unaware of - but I like!

I also learned in my reading that if a cake fell while it was baking it was considered to be a bad omen/bad luck for the birthday person in the coming year.

Altitude Alterations

This week I travel to Denver, Colorado to visit my sister. Instead of baking a cake prior to leaving and then another while with her. We decided it would be better if I baked two while I was in Denver because: 1) it is probably best if the bride and groom taste as many cakes as possible and 2) the altitude will require some alterations in the ingredients/baking time, so the more experience I can gain on the home turf the better.

In preparation for this two cake weekend, I decided it was best to do my research on the challenges that we will face with the altitude.

According to epicurious.com when you reach 2,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level, altitude starts to affect baking, in three significant ways:

• The higher the elevation, the lower the boiling point of water. My main concern here is that dense batter and dough will take longer to completely bake in the center.

• The higher the elevation, the faster moisture evaporates. Epicurious lists a few things here that I will have to adjust for: The ratio of liquid to solid changes, potentially weakening the overall structure of whatever you're baking. Flavors tend to be less pronounced and baked goods dry out and go stale at an accelerated rate. This last point will take some planning, as we will make the cakes a day or two in advance.
  

• The higher the elevation, the faster leavening gases expand. Meaning my cakes may rise too far too fast and as a result it will sink in the center or collapse when cooling.

To my luck I was able to find some great troubleshooting tips online:

• Strengthen your batter by reducing sugar (take out 2T for each cup), or adding eggs, egg yolks, or slightly more flour or increase liquid (2-4T for each cup).
  
• Increase the oven 15 - 25°F and decrease the baking time by up to 20%.
• Fill cake pans only half full, not the usual two-thirds, as high-altitude cakes may overflow.
• Solid shortening gives better results at this altitude because it holds more liquid.

This will be my only cake practice in the high altitude so it is most important that I take good notes about any minor adjustments, so I will remember to make them in August. If you have experience baking in high altitude, any and all tips are more than welcome!

Poll Results: Favorite Cake Flavor

The poll results are in and our winner is Chocolate Cake with 45% of the votes.



As you can see Vanilla Cake came in a close second, with 36% of the votes. The four cake flavors in this first poll are considered to be the most common flavors, later we will poll more of the unique cake flavors like Red Velvet, Carrot Cake and German Chocolate.

Cake 1: From Start to Finish

I received a great comment on the cake from a co-worker:

"Cake was great! Moist and flavorful. But, it did seem like the chocolate
overpowered the lingon a bit - would have liked to taste more of these."

The feedback is wonderful and I agree, I need to spend some time working on making good filling. The lingonberry filling was too runny and therefore I could not make it as thick as it should have been. So on the next cake, my goal is to make a thicker filling.

Cake 1: Chocolate Cake with Lingonberry Filling

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting and Lingonberry Filling

My first cake is done, and I must say I am quite pleased with the way it came out. We will see what my "focus group" aka my coworkers think.

For the cake, I chose a new recipe from Hershey's for "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake. I was very impressed with how moist the final cake came out, wondering if this is a result of the 1 cup of boiling water that the recipe called for. This recipe does have a frosting recommendation but I decided to do use a buttercream frosting instead and for the filling I mixed lingonberries, left over from my Norwegian feast with the buttercream.

For the buttercream frosting I used one of my favorite recipes (below), from the Magnolia Bakery in New York City. The result is a smooth and creamy frosting that spreads and pipes well.

My opinion on the final product: cake is moist and extra chocolaty, filling was good, frosting tasted good - but I need to work on applying it so that it is smooth and seamless.

The buttercream recipe is: 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 6-8 cups icing sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Norwegian Feast

Note - this post is not about wedding cakes.

Last night my cousins and I successfully pulled off an incredible dinner party. For six hours we cooked and baked a feast of Norwegian favorites. There were a lot of requests for recipes, so I have included them below**.

Buying Lutefisk at Erickson's Delicatessen.

First Course

• VALNØTTER OG OST
  
• LUTEFISK
  
• Brie with Lingonberries and Flatbread

Top down: Valnotter Og Ost, Sandbakkles, Mandler Kake, Rommegrot, Lefse

Second Course

• RØMMEGRØT
• LEFSE

Jesse putting out the third course.

Third Course

• JARLSBERGFYLT PAPRIKA
• AGURKSALAT
• KÅLROT

Jesse preparing the potatoes for Kokte Melne Poteter.

Fourth Course

• KJOTTKAKER
• KOKTE MELNE POTETER (this is a "family secret")

Friends enjoying the food.

Fifth Course

• SANDBAKKLES served with Lingonberries
• MANDLER KAKE

** Some of the above recipes are not exactly what we prepared, but the closest that I could find documented online.

The Plan

Some of you may had read my first post and thought "You really think you can make a wedding cake, complete with fondant, multiple tiers, layers and filling. And you think you can make it look good?" Well I would be compelled to answer yes to your question, the answer more correctly would be - that's not the plan.


After paging through 28 bridal magazines (shown above), countless photos on theknot.com and many planning discussions we have decided against the traditional wedding cake. We will instead have a small single tier cake at every table and then a more unique, possibly two tier, cake for the bride and groom to cut. Some tables may even luck out and get cupcakes.

With this approach my focus needs to be less on creating a breathtaking masterpiece and more about perfecting multiple delicious flavors. Consistency will also be a must, as each cake will need to be of the same caliber. To achieve this I will need to determine the following:

1. What cake flavors will we be serving
2. What frosting/filling combo will be used on each cake (butter cream is a solid option, but a chocolate ganache is incredibly tasty)
3. How many cakes will we need (this one will have to wait until we have the RSVP's)
4. How will we decorate each cake, will they all be the same or should they all be different
5. Will the altitude screw up my plans??? (The wedding is in Denver, CO)
   

I will begin by tackling 1 and 2, as I feel they must be addressed as a unit. So the search begins for cake, frosting and filling recipes. Please send along any you have or post them below in the comments.

Wedding Cake: Norwegian Style

You may or may not be aware that us Halverson sisters are close to 100% Norwegian. We were raised enjoying Norwegian favorites at holidays and have grown to love our heritage. It seems only fitting that we should then explore what us Norse do for a wedding cake.


Kransekake, which means ring cake, is a traditional Norwegian desert that is eaten on special occasions. Made from almond, sugar and egg whites, the cake is hard to the touch and chewy when you bite into it.

My sister plans on having a Kransekake at her wedding, however I am off the hook as my Grandmother will be making it.

Wedding Cakes: A History

To begin this adventure I decided to take a look back at where the Wedding Cake tradition started.

It all began in the Roman empire... according to Smithsonian.com's post "The Strange History of the Wedding Cake", marriages were sealed when the groom smashed a barley cake over the bride’s head for good fortune. Not quite where you expect a beautiful tradition to begin, however maybe this explains our modern tradition of shoving cake in your spouses face when you "feed it" to them.

The earliest wedding cake recipe is from 1685 and is for Bride's Pie. Unlike the tasty desert pies we have today, Bride's Pie was filled with oysters, pine kernels, cockscombs, lambstones (testicles), sweetbreads and spices. The pie was considered the most important dish at the wedding and as a guest it was rude not to eat a bite of the pie (happy we have moved on from this tradition).

A traditional bride's cake, complete with white icing, first appeared in the 17th century. Similar to having a white dress, white icing on a wedding cake symbolized purity. White icing was also seen as a status symbol because pure white sugar was very expensive. The term "Royal Icing" comes from the use of white icing on Queen Victoria's wedding cake in 1840.

A few historic royal cakes:

Queen Elizabeth II cake weighed 500 pounds and stood 9 feet tall.

Princess Diana's 5 foot tall cake took 14 weeks to complete.


King Abdullah and Queen Rania, and this is only one of two cakes.

For a more complete history read "Wedding Cake: A Slick of History" by Carol Wilson here.