Wednesday 1 December 2010

Norwegian Almond Cake - Suksess Terte

Long time no blogging. And as always I really don't have a good excuse as to why I have not been blogging lately. I do have a theory though: I work with food all day, at the deli at the local supermarket, so when I get home from work the last thing on my mind is more food. So, not only has the work at the deli killed my joy for blogging about food, it has also managed to kill most of the joy I get from actually cooking good food. Very sad!

Anyway, here I am, back in the saddle. Or so I hope. I have a few recipes to share with you, some that I have made during my absence.

I'd like to start you off with a delicious Norwegian almond cake. I baked it for church a couple of weeks ago, and lo and behold, I sold out! That has not happened in I don't know how long.


Norwegian Almond Cake "Suksess terte"

Base

250 g almonds
250 g icing sugar

5 egg whites
1 tsp baking powder

Chocolate spread

100 g dark cooking chocolate
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp water

Custard

5 egg yolks
100 g icing sugar
1 dl (100 ml) heavy cream
4 tsp vanilla sugar
100 g butter

Heat the oven to 180 C.

1. Start off by grounding the almonds. Leave the skins on as this will make the base a lovely dark colour. Mix the icing sugar and the baking powder into the ground almonds and set aside. Whisk the egg whites until fluffy and fold in the almonds. Stir to combine.

2. Line a 9 inch/23 cm cake pan and pour in the base mixture. Bake on the bottom rack for 30-35 minutes. Allow the cake to cool off still in the pan.

3. Chocolate spread: Melt the chocolate using a bain marie (water bath). Pour the water into a small glass and stir in the instant coffee powder. Add the coffee to the melted chocolate, and spread the chocolate/coffee spread onto the cake. Allow the chocolate to set a little before applying the custard.

4. Custard: Add egg yolks, icing sugar, heavy cream and vanilla sugar to a sauce pan. Stir to combine and keep stirring and heat on a low heat until the mixture thickens. Do not up the heat as the custard will go from not thick to THICK in a matter of seconds. Allow the custard to cool off a little before adding the butter. Keep stirring while the butter is melting. Spread the custard on top of the chocolate spread.

Sprinkle some sliced almonds on top and serve.