January 2013: Swedish Cake exchange! Cinnamon buns and Semla

First of all I would just like to say LOOK AT WHAT MY FRIEND GOT ME! Is this not the best xmas present ever?

Cinnamon Buns

Anyway my leaving gift from my friend who went to live in Sweden was this Swedish Fika book from the Swedish embassy (ahem otherwise known as Ikea).


Its AMAZING.
I already had a recipe for Cinnamon buns but these are just a tad superior - they contain Marzipan! I seriously recommend this book it it's just so pretty, and the recipes are brilliant. The only problem is that the recipes appear to be for industrial scale - I halved the recipe in the book and still came out with 20 cinnamon buns!

As something fun my friend would buy some kind of Swedish cake/food and I would try to make one here and then we'd both get to eat it and talk about it with each other. It was a good idea apart from all the calories.




So here was out first cake exchange - Cinnamon swirls as adapted by me for my bread maker makes approx 20 buns. (I take no credit for the recipe - go buy the book!).

1 packet dried yeast, 250ml milk, 420g Flour, 100g butter, 100g caster sugar, 1 egg, 1/2tsp salt, 1/2tblsp crushed cardamom.

Place all ingredients in a bread maker on the dough setting.

In the mean time make the Cinnamon Marzipan filling, put 50g of grated marzipan, 50g cubed butter, 60g Caster sugar and 1tblsp Cinnamon in a bowl and mix using an electric hand whisk until combined. You should end up with a thick paste. Put to one side until the bread machine is finished.

When the machine has finished you should end up with a lovely silky dough - turn out onto a floured surface and roll into a large rectangle shape. Spread the paste all over (it will look quite thin don't worry a little bit goes a long way!). Roll it into a long log shape and slice into swirls (about 1" thick).  Put on a baking tray leaving a bit of space between - these will expand - and leave to rest under a towel for 30mins. Brush egg wash over the top (1egg + pinch of salt + tblsp of water beaten together) and bake for 8-10mins on 200°.

Semla

Our Second cake exchange involved Semla - these little cakes are eaten around Easter and are quite traditional in Sweden. Its a sweet cardamom bun with a marzipan and cream filling - they are very sickly and while nice to try I don't think I'd make them again.