Beautiful glass

When we where in Denmark this summer, we went to se my Mothers cousin Mette and her family. They live in Funen (Fyn) close to Svendborg. I haven't seen Mette for 9 years, so it was about time. Mettes sister Hanne came down from Aarhus to be a part of the reunion. Between them they have 6 boys, Mette's lot count 4 and that is not including her husband! Anton, Vitus, Vilas & Ture. Hanne's 2 boys are called Karl Bertram og Louis. Mette is a very talented glassblower and has her own amazing glass lab where she create beautiful glass, here is a few pictures from the day.

Back to school

Ophelia went back to school last Monday, she is now in year 2 ( 2 klasse) In UK kids start school when they are 4 years old. So my big (little) girl is now a 'Fox' and is attending the last year at St Peters Infant school, next year she will move to a new Junior School. Felix is back in Meadow preschool (Børnehave) he is now attending 3 full days a week.

Mini cupcakes

We do bake a lot and very often we do these little bite size cupcakes, they are so cute and the kids love decorating them. The recipe is from this page http://uktv.co.uk/goodfood/homepage/sid/566 


They are super easy to make and only takes 10 min to mix up. 


Today we stuck to the original vanilla flavour, but sometimes we flavour them with cocoa powder or colour them with food colouring.
The batter either makes 12 large cupcakes or a whole tray of mini ones.

The non stick tray and the mini batter scoop are from 'Pampered Chef'

Today we had Sunday 'Home Cinema' with toffee popcorn, juicy grapes and the mini cupcakes!

Tomato/Apple soup

When we got back from our holiday in Denmark our tiny tomato plant was covered with these little red darlings.... So what better to do than make tomato soup!

 

 I experimented a bit with some different flavours and came up with this:

Tomatoes (about a kilo) cut in to halves

2 x apples, cored and diced

1 celery stick, chopped

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

700ml stock

salt, pepper and ground ginger to taste

1. soften the onion and garlic in some oil
2. add the tomatoes, apples and celery
3. let it all cook for a few minutes, then add the stock
4. Cover and let it all cook for about 30 minutes and taste with salt, pepper and ground ginger
5. Blend and serve hot with crusty rye bread sticks

Bon appetite

So many shoes so little time....

Sticky Chocolate cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 125 g dark chocolate
• 3 tbsp milk
• 150 g butter, at room temperature
• 150 g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 200 g plain flour
• 1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• cocoa powder or icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

For the chocolate butter icing

• 75 g butter, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175 g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180/gas 4. Butter and flour the sides of two 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper. 

2. For the cake: place the chocolate and the milk in a bowl sitting over a saucepan of gently simmering water and heat until the chocolate has melted. (Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water.) Set aside to cool slightly. 

3. Beat the butter until very soft then add the caster sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then fold in the melted chocolate. 

4. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda, and fold in gently to mix. Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. 

5. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to sit for five minutes before turning them out of their tins and placing them on a wire rack to cool. 

6. For the chocolate butter icing: beat the butter, cream and the vanilla extract until very soft. Then gradually sift in the icing sugar and the cocoa powder, beating all the time, until it is all added. Continue to beat until very soft, then whisk the mixture until it is light and fluffy. 

7. Once the cakes are cool, sandwich them together with the chocolate butter icing. Place the cake on a plate or a cake stand and either dust with cocoa powder, or make double quantities of the chocolate butter icing and spread over the cake.

Cooks Tips...

Add the finely grated rind of one orange to give the cake a chocolate orange flavour or replace the vanilla extract with one tablespoon of instant coffee powder for a mocha flavour. This can also be turned into chocolate cupcakes if you wish – the recipe will fill 12 paper cases in a cupcake or muffin tray, and will take about 18–20 minutes to cook. 

Mormors' Garden