Hnallþóra - Súkkulaðikaka með marengs og berjum

Hnallþóra: Chocolate cake with meringue and berries

On celebratory occasions in Iceland you can often find particularly tall, opulent, richly decorated multi-tiered cakes on the cake buffet, with lots of meringue, cream, syrup, fruit...

Such a cake is called "Hnallþóra" in Icelandic, after a character in the novel by Halldór Laxness.

These cakes come in many different versions,

e.g. with bananas, chocolate cream, berries and coconut flakes, chocolate meringue with cream and chocolate icing, or with fluffy dough with lots of cream, rose water and fruit liqueur... Definitely with lots of cream, lots of sugar, if in doubt also with lots of syrup and lots Fruit. More is more!

For the 80th birthday of the Icelandic Republic on June 17, 2024, I also baked such a "Hnallþóra" in a version as a chocolate cake with meringue, cream and berries.

Ingredients

120 g soft butter

260 g white sugar

4 eggs (to separate)

120 g flour

20 g baking cocoa

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of ground vanilla

75 ml milk

100 g chopped dark chocolate

Ingredients for the filling:

500 ml whipping cream

30 g powdered sugar

500 g berries

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Separate the eggs.

In a tall mixing bowl (clean and fat-free), beat the egg whites with 160 g of sugar until the mixture is really stiff. Then set the egg whites aside.

In a bowl, mix the 120 g soft butter with 100 g sugar with the mixer until a creamy mixture is formed.

Then add four egg yolks one after the other and mix everything well.

Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa and grated vanilla and mix everything thoroughly.

Finally add the milk and chopped chocolate and stir in.

Then divide the cocoa dough into 2 springform pans (20 cm in diameter) lined with baking paper.

Then put the egg whites on the two cake bases and bake in the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove the baked bases from the oven and let them cool completely.

Beat the cream with the powdered sugar until stiff.

Set aside 200 g of the berries for decoration.

Chop the remaining berries and mix with the whipping cream.

Place the first layer on a cake plate, spread with half of the cream and berry mixture...

.... and carefully place the second floor on top.

Spread the remaining cream and berry mixture on top and decorate with the berries that were initially set aside.

Then decorate to your heart's content and serve well chilled in small pieces.

Happy 80th birthday, Iceland!

[Translated from here.]

Íspinni úr skyri og jarðarberjum

Skyr and strawberry popsicles

In my summer mood, I have a recipe for popsicles for you today, namely a skyr ice cream with fresh strawberries.

In addition to apple juice, some lemon juice is also added to the ice cream mixture.

To emphasize the fresh lemon aroma a little more, I added a few lemon verbena leaves. Of course the plant is not in any way typically Icelandic, I simply met it at the nursery that day and spontaneously fell in love with the smell. It actually hardly smells at all, but if you rub a leaf a little... it really packs a punch! I love the smell! So a little bit of it was allowed into the ice cream. But of course it works without it!

Ingredients

400 ml vanilla skyr

2 Tbsp lemon juice

120 ml apple juice

250 g fresh strawberries

Ice cream molds and wooden sticks

Preparation

Wash and clean the strawberries and cut them into pieces.

Process half of the strawberries with the vanilla Skyr, lemon juice and apple juice using a hand blender to form a uniform mass.

Add the remaining strawberry pieces and stir in carefully by hand.

Then pour the ice cream mixture into the molds and let it freeze in the freezer overnight.

Carefully remove the ice cream from the mold, let a little water run over the outside of the mold if necessary, and then enjoy it slightly thawed.

[Translated from here.]

Skyrkökur með jarðarberjum

Skyr dessert with strawberries

Villijarðarber, or wild strawberries, grow in Iceland. In Iceland, wild strawberries are found throughout the country, but especially in the lowlands. The wild strawberries that grow in the wild are much smaller and much less sweet than the strawberry varieties grown for sale.

Strawberries for sale in Iceland grow in geothermally heated greenhouses .

Strawberries of the “ Sonata ” variety are often grown here - these berries have very evenly shaped, relatively large fruits with a sweet, fruity taste. Thanks to their firmness, the strawberries can be stored well and are wonderful for preserving or for jam or jelly - or, as here, as strawberry puree for dessert.

Personally, I like to decorate strawberry desserts with chopped pistachios - on the one hand because of the color effect, which is reminiscent of fresh strawberries with green on them, and on the other hand because of the feel. I love the difference between the sweet, soft strawberry cream and the crunchy pistachios!

Ingredients

350 g strawberries

3 Tbsp sugar

1 pinch of grated lemon peel

1 pinch of ground vanilla

70 g cookies

2 Tbsp melted butter

1 pinch of grated lemon peel

300 g vanilla skyr

200 ml whipping cream

1 pinch of grated lemon peel

Preparation

Wash, clean and chop the strawberries and put them in a pot together with the sugar, the grated lemon peel and the ground vanilla.

Bring to the boil and then simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. Mash the strawberries. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool.

Crumble the cookies...

... mix with the melted butter and some grated lemon peel and let cool.

Whip the whipping cream until stiff and mix with the vanilla skyr.

Then add about 3 tablespoons of cookie crumbs to each glass, ...

... put the Skyr mixture on top...

... and finish with the strawberry sauce.

Decorate to taste with fresh strawberries, chopped pistachios or similar.

The dessert is easy to prepare and then serve straight from the fridge.

[Translated from here.]

Furstakaka

Prince cake

"Furstakaka" (= "prince's cake") is an old name for a cake that is very popular all over Iceland under the name "Hjónabandssæla" (= "married happiness").

The cake is quick and easy to bake, tastes good and stays fresh for a long time.

This version was very well received by the whole family, even child 4, who doesn't really like eating cake...

Ingredients

250 g flour

125 g sugar

180 g margarine

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of ground vanilla

1 egg

120 g jam for spreading

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) upper/lower heat.

Place all the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl and slowly knead by hand until a uniform dough is formed.

Separate about 1/3 of the dough and set aside.

Place the remaining dough in a springform pan (approx. 24 cm) lined with baking paper and press it flat, pulling up the edge a little.

Spread the base with jam.

Roll out the remaining dough, cut it into strips with a dough wheel or similar and place the strips over the cake.

Finally, place a strip of dough around the cake.

Then bake the cake in the oven at 400 °F (200 °C) upper and lower heat for about 25 minutes.

Let the cake cool slightly and then serve with whipped cream.

[Translated from here.]

Skyrdrykkur Pina Colada

Skyr drink á la Pina Colada

Sorry, there's not much going on here on the blog at the moment - we're currently renovating, it feels like we're using it in every free moment, and I also have a lot to do at work. So there isn't much time left for cooking and baking - so this week there's just a quick recipe for a Skyr drink.

With vanilla skyr, honey, canned pineapple and canned coconut milk - quick, easy and uncomplicated. But really tasty!

Now another shot of rum, my husband sighs...

Ingredients for 2 large glasses

350 ml vanilla skyr

400 g pineapple pieces with canned juice

120 ml coconut milk

1 Tbsp honey

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a blender, puree thoroughly...

...and enjoy it nice and cold.

Add ice cubes to the glasses to taste, if available!

[Translated from here.]

Bananaís

Banana ice cream

Icelanders love to eat ice cream all year round. The ice cream shops in Iceland are open permanently, and the Icelanders do their ísbíltúr , whatever the weather, and drive to eat ice cream.

You can also find many ice cream recipes in Iceland - such as this one with milk, sour cream and whipping cream and pureed bananas.

In the original recipe, 150 ml of cognac is added to the ice cream mixture and in my old cookbook from the second-hand shop there is a handwritten note "children love summer". Much to my husband's dismay, I skipped the cognac, even though the alcohol is probably good for the creaminess of the ice cream.

I had the ice cream without cognac - I recommend not letting it freeze for longer than 3 hours or else serving it slightly thawed.

Ingredients

1 liter of milk

6 egg yolks

250 g brown sugar

250 g sour cream

6 ripe bananas

150 ml whipping cream

Preparation

In a large pot over low heat, bring the milk to the boil.

In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar until foamy.

Pour the egg-sugar mixture into the boiling milk, let it simmer briefly and then remove the pot from the heat.

Stir in the sour cream and then let the mixture cool.

Puree the ripe bananas with the whipping cream...

... and mix everything together.

Season to taste with ground vanilla, coffee spice or similar.

Pour the mixture into a suitable mold and let it solidify in the freezer for about 3 hours.

Before serving, decorate the banana ice cream with chocolate sauce, cream, colorful sprinkles or similar as desired.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]