Smáterta í afmælisgjöf

Small cake as a birthday present

Last week it was a special friend's birthday and we celebrated here at the Island House. The birthday child took over all of the culinary care, but as a little surprise I baked this little cake.

I had already baked this birthday cake (afmæliskaka) "in large" for my husband's birthday in 2023. Now I spontaneously baked it again “in small size”. I had previously bought a mini springform pan with a diameter of 5 inches (12 cm). The result...? Small, tasty and really makes a nice visual impression!

And if you don't have a birthday coming up in the near future - next Sunday on February 23rd this year is konudagurinn, Icelandic Women's Day. Maybe that would be a nice opportunity...?

Ingredients

Ingredients for the floors

110 g soft butter

120 g sugar

2 eggs

180 g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of ground vanilla

80 ml milk

2 Tbsp chopped almonds

Ingredients for the buttercream

130 g soft butter

250 g powdered sugar

1 Tbsp whipping cream

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of ground vanilla

Ingredients for the brittle

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp chopped almonds

Preparation

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

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy. Add flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla and milk and stir. Fold the chopped almonds into the dough and stir in.

Then pour the dough evenly into three small springform pans (diameter 12 cm) lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for approx. 20 - 25 minutes (toothpick test!).

While the layers are in the oven, prepare the buttercream:

In a bowl, mix butter, powdered sugar, whipping cream, salt and ground vanilla until you have a nice, uniform cream. If necessary, let the cream firm up a little in the refrigerator if the butter was very soft while the baked cake bases cool down.

Prepare the brittle:

Melt butter and sugar in a pan and toast the chopped almonds in it. Then remove the pan from the heat and let the brittle cool completely.

Place the first base on a flat plate, spread some buttercream in the middle and cover with approx. 1/4 of the brittle. Pour more buttercream into a piping nozzle and pipe small "mounds" of the cream all around the cake base. (Simply spreading it with cream works too, of course, but the sprayed heaps look much more impressive!)

Place the second cake layer on top and do the same as with the first.

Place the third cake layer on top, spread it with some buttercream and spread the remaining brittle on top. Then pipe the remaining buttercream all over with a cake piping as decoratively as possible.

Let the cake firm up a bit in the fridge and serve from the fridge.

The little cake was really well received here as a birthday surprise and we were able to celebrate a wonderful birthday, even with the northern lights in the evening!

[Translated from here.]

Salat með jarðarberjum og fræjum

Salad with strawberries and seeds

Friday is Valentine's Day (February 14th). And for many, strawberries are very romantic fruits. The intense color red alone makes you want more. Strawberries are also considered “natural aphrodisiacs” because of their high vitamin C and zinc content.

I don't know whether this can be measurably proven, but strawberries are definitely healthy, support the immune system and protect against cardiovascular diseases with their secondary plant substances and have an anti-inflammatory effect. Although they taste so sweet, strawberries are very low in fructose and calories (around 33 kcal per 100 g) and contain more vitamin C than oranges or lemons. Just around 200 g of strawberries cover an adult's average daily vitamin C requirement.

Plus, strawberries taste and smell so good!

Ingredients

200 g fresh spinach

150 g fresh strawberries

2 - 3 Tbsp lettuce seeds

1 organic lemon

1 cm fresh ginger

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

Preparation

Wash, dry and tear the spinach.

Wash, clean and cut the strawberries into pieces.

Place the spinach and strawberries in a large bowl.

To make the dressing, place the olive oil and honey in a small bowl.

Grate some lemon peel, then halve the lemon, squeeze it and add the juice of half a lemon to the small bowl.

Peel the ginger and grate it into the small bowl for the dressing.

Mix the dressing thoroughly and pour over the salad.

Roast the lettuce seeds in a pan.

Arrange the salad on the plates and garnish with the freshly roasted lettuce seeds.

PS:

Here in Iceland, these sweet fruits grow in geothermal greenhouses, so you can enjoy fresh, locally grown strawberries practically all year round and don't have to wait for the strawberry season from May to July.

[Translated from here.]

Visiting Iceland in winter

Iceland in winter

In Iceland there used to be only two seasons: half the year was winter (from the end of October to the end of March) and the other half of the year was summer (from the end of March to the end of October).

Today meteorologists refer to the 4 months of December to March as winter in Iceland, then 2 months of spring (April and May), 4 months of summer (June to September) and 2 months of autumn (October and November).

And winter in Iceland can be pretty much anything - from bright sunshine and northern lights in the dark to less than 10 meters of visibility, from a lot of snow to a lot of snow to a little snow and no snow at all, from temperatures above zero to temperatures down to -20° for days, from cloudburst to dry and from a little wind and a lot of wind to extreme storms and weather warnings with road closures for days, during which you should not even leave the house. (And hope the storm and precipitation don't do too much damage.)

So it's not possible to have fixed plans in winter, you always have to check at short notice what the weather is like (vedur.is) and the road conditions (umferdin.is) and then decide spontaneously.

When we meet up with friends in winter, we always add: "...we still have to make it dependent on the weather. We'll get in touch!"

Visiting Iceland in winter

When we have lovely visitors here in our Iceland house in the winter, they have always been people who had already visited us in the summer. So you already had a certain impression and wanted to experience “Iceland in winter” again.

But that also means that we were able to take it easy, didn't show as much as possible, but rather went on short excursions and rested comfortably at home. And of course swimming in the hot

This year we had child no. 2 and his girlfriend visiting after New Year's Eve.

Their vacation wishes were to experience lots of snow and the Northern Lights, and even though they knew neither was guaranteed, even in winter in Iceland, they were lucky. On the drive home from the airport the northern lights danced over Hveragerði and here we were able to trudge through the deep snow to the house; We left the car at the front of the path, at the beginning of our driveway - there was just too much snow to be able to drive to the house. So your holiday wishes were fulfilled in the first few hours!

Well, maybe it wasn't exactly one of their vacation wishes that our water pipe was frozen when we got home - it was -19° that day and somehow our water connection took a toll on that. But we already have a bit of a routine and we have several large water bottles with bottled tap water here as a precaution, so that at least the toilet and hand washing are guaranteed for some time. And by the next morning we had thawed the water pipe again.

I found it particularly nice that child no. 2 and his girlfriend were here over January 6th and we were able to enjoy Þrettándi celebrations together in Selfoss, the farewell to Christmas with the celebratory torchlight procession of the Yule Lads through the town, the big Brenna and the fireworks display next to the sports field.

Otherwise we only went on a few smaller trips in the area:

Golden Circle - Geyser and Gullfoss

The first day we went to Geysir , Gullfoss and petted the horses .

I always find the Strokkur geyser a worthwhile visit anyway; I could stand in front of it for hours every time and wait for the big blue bubble and the next eruption. I won't get bored of this!

And the large waterfall Gullfoss is also worth seeing, and when frozen over in winter it looks completely different than in summer.

We also made a short stop on road 35 from Geysir to Gullfoss - there is a farm called Brú on the left side. There is a parking lot and a fenced-in pasture right next to the road, and there are some Icelandic horses here especially for visitors. They are particularly friendly and patient and can be petted (if they want to and come to the fence). You can also get “horse candy” from the vending machine and feed it to the animals. This means visitors can experience the Icelandic horses up close without endangering themselves, other road users or the horses themselves.

From Brúarfoss to Laugarvatn

Another day we were at Brúarfoss, in Laugarvatn and had ice cream on a dairy farm along the way.

The Brúarfoss waterfall, the "bridge waterfall", with its bright turquoise-blue color is for me simply one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland. And since summer 2023, you no longer have to park on road 37 (Laugarvatnsvegur) and hike the 3.5 km long and sometimes difficult/muddy route to the waterfall, but can easily drive almost to the waterfall by car. Both the new road to the parking lot and the footpath from the parking lot to the waterfall were very well cleared when we were there. You get really good value for your parking fees!

We then drove over Laugarvatn and made a short stop there and admired the hot springs next to the Fontana swimming pool and the small mounds of earth on the shore of the lake in which the delicious rye bread is baked here.

We also made a stop along the way and enjoyed homemade ice cream on a farm with a view of the cowshed.

Trip to Reykjavík

We spent one day in Reykjavík, just walking around, shopping and enjoying the city atmosphere.

Kerið crater

On the last day we only went on a trip to the Kerið crater and, wrapped up nice and warm, walked around the top of the crater rim.

All in all a nice quiet and cozy visit, with lots of snow and northern lights. And I think we enjoyed our visit too and had a lot to talk about afterwards - including the frozen water pipe and the burst tire on the way back to the airport. But everything went well and we had a very nice time here!

[Translated from here.]

Grænmetis skyrdrykkur

Vegetable skyr drink

My husband continues to try to live as healthily as possible - and I do my best to support him. Here I came across a recipe for a skyr drink with lots of vegetables - with cucumber, peppers, small tomatoes and nice hot chili flakes.

However, my husband's first comment about this vegetable skyr drink was: "Oh, that tastes healthy!"

But after a few sips he finally found the drink to be quite tasty, nice and fresh and nice and spicy, thanks to the chili flakes.

Ingredients for 2 glasses

100 g red pepper

100 g cucumber

100 g cocktail tomatoes

200 g pure Skyr

100 ml cold water

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 pinch of salt and pepper

1 pinch of chili flakes

Preparation

Wash and clean the vegetables and cut them into coarse pieces.

Then put the vegetables in the blender with the skyr, water and olive oil and puree thoroughly.

Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste, pour into the glasses and serve immediately.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Ostakaka í glasi

Cheesecake in a glass

I love cheesecake. And I love simple, quick recipes that are suitable for everyday use. This recipe for a “no-bake cheesecake in a glass” is just perfect for me.

It's also great to prepare when you're expecting guests and also makes a good visual impression.

Ingredients for 6 small dessert glasses

100 g cinnamon cookies

40g melted butter

100 g cream cheese

150 g creamy Biscoff spread

50 g powdered sugar

1 pinch of ground vanilla

400 ml whipped cream

Preparation

Place the cookies in a suitable plastic bag or similar and carefully grind them with a rolling pin until a sand-like consistency is achieved.

Mix about 3/4 of the crumbs with the melted butter...

.... and distribute it among the glasses, carefully pressing it onto the bottom of the glass with a teaspoon. Then place in the refrigerator to cool.

For the cheese cream, mix the cream cheese with the Biscoff spread, the powdered sugar and the ground vanilla.

Whip the cream until stiff and carefully fold it into the cream cheese mixture.

Then spread the cream onto the biscuit bases in the glasses and smooth it out.

For decoration, sprinkle with the last 1/4 of the cookie crumbs.

Let it cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours and then serve well chilled.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Hanastél með jarðarberjum

Strawberry cocktail

In Icelandic, a cocktail is usually a "kokkteil" or a "kokteil", but the term "hanastél" is also sometimes still used.

It is simply the literal translation. "Hani" is the Icelandic word for "cock" and "stél" means "tail. So "hanastél" means literally "a cock's tail".

Ingredients per jar

3 - 5 large strawberries

1 Tbsp honey

50 ml gin

150 ml tonic water

3 - 5 ice cubes

Preparation

Wash and clean the strawberries and puree them with the honey.

Then strain through a sieve into a tall glass.

Pour in gin and tonic and add ice cubes.

Decorate to taste with fresh strawberries, a lemon slice or similar.

PS: The cocktail also tastes good without alcohol, i.e. without gin and just with tonic water.

[Translated from here.]