New Year’s Eve 2009

Okay, so I’ve had this amazing New Year’s post planned for quite some time now where I finally give you the recipe for the traditional Danish New Year’s kage “Kransekage” (above left and partly on the right too) that I’ve shown you only in the shape of a picture for the last two years. But then January happened and I’ve done nothing about it so far. That’s why I’m giving you, my supposed readers, the chance to interact and change the course of history. I will post the pictures of my New Year’s cake below and the recipe will follow, but ONLY ON DEMAND!!! How about that for a tempting offer? Anyway, looking forward to seeing if you’re still out there and as curious as ever. Ready? Here we go (I won’t be waiting by the computer, no I won’t. But maybe I’ll finally sort out my desktop while I’m here, you know? Delete my unnecessities and all of those “Linx_ 2_ kool_ stuff.doc” things crowding my workplace. While I’m at it, maybe it’s time to exchange the picture of Matt Damon on a bear skin for something more 2010, say that pale guy from “Twilight”, no wait, that Malibu Ken dude from “New Moon” getting out of the water. Yes! That’s what I’ll do. But don’t mind me. Just post a comment if you want me to fill in the blanks between these pictures.)

UPDATE: It seems there’s a genuine demand for the kransekage-recipe in New York (thanks for a great evening with your really nice friends and your dad’s turtles Sarah!), so here it goes:

Kransekage (12 people)

Recipe adapted from this original

Cake

• 500 grams of marzipan
• 200 grams of icing sugar
• 1 egg white
• 25 grams of chopped almonds (optional – I like the bit of bite it adds)
• 1 tbsp freshly ground espresso beans OR 1-2 tsp lemon zest

Icing

• 250 grams of icing sugar
• 1 pasteurized egg white

Mix all of the ingredients for the cake well - with your hands, yes, get them in there and down and dirty. If you just found a rock where you thought your soft marzipan was, try grating it first. That usually does the trick. The espressoed version makes for a grainy texture and rustic look as you might be able to tell from these pictures – as well as gives a good kick to an otherwise very sweet experience. The lemon zest version on the other hand is much more perfumed and delicate. Anyhoolahoop, after you’ve kneaded the marzipan, sugar, egg white, almonds and espresso/lemon zest put it in a plastic bag and leave it in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Turn on the oven to 225 degrees Celcius. Take out the mixture from the fridge, sift a bit of flour onto a clean table and roll it into long, 1,5 cm thick “sticks”. Then cut them into separate sticks with alternating lenghts, 8 cm, 12, 16, 20, 24 etc. Depending on how small you want the top layer of the cake to be, you can also start at 6 cm. And now comes the fun part – it’s play dough time. Connect each stick with its own end to create circles. You might need to smooth out the joint with a tiny bit of water. When all of the circles are done, put two fingers on the inside and a couple on the outside of each ring and gently press them down and up so it gets a flat bottom and a narrow top. That way when you layer the rings, the transition between them will be nice and gradual as it should be – but hey, I don’t expect all of you to be that anal. And finally – always stack the rings to match the size before you place them on two baking trays with plenty, and I mean PLENTY of space in between. Bake them for 8-10 mins and leave them to cool completely before you make the icing.

The above measures make a lot of icing, so if you’re not into a laced-over cake, you can also make half and there’ll be enough to go around. Put the icing in a piping bag or a plastic bag with a tiny hole. Then decorate the rings as you like and make sure to finish off with a circle of icing as glue between the layers. Then stack the layers before the icing sets and leave them to dry completely. And – you’re done (literally).