Homemade Kanelbullar / Swedish cinnamon buns

Anna Blom's Kanelbullar 

Or: "The Most Delicious Import Of Sweden" 

Kanelbullar before they go into the oven

accompanied by Django Unchained's "Freedom" to make the dough real fluffy or Ekdahl's Playlist to improve your Swedish while baking 

The ingredients: 

400ml milk 

250g butter 

1 time ~47g yeast (found in the freezer in the supermarket) 

200g caster sugar 

750 - 800g plain flour 

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoon ground cardamom 

4 tablespoons of pearl sugar 

cinnamon 

pearl sugar (do not forget!)

if wanted chocolate drops

Melt the butter (110g) in a pot gently on a low heat and then add the milk (400ml). When the mix is lukewarm (very important, lukewarm, meaning that your finger can last in the milk/butter mixture more than 10 seconds...), remove from heat and add the yeast, that you crumbled before. Whisk to mix. 

Then you will mix the flour, sugar (110g), salt and cardamom in a big bowl. Now mix this with the milk/butter/yeast mix. Always use a wooden spoon for that. Only when the dough is not sticky anymore (you might have to add a bit flour), turn out onto a clean floured surface and knead for about 6 minutes (to make it fluffy...very important). 

After this exhausting work-out put the dough back into the bowl, cover it with a towel that no light "hits" its surface and let it rise for 45 minutes in a warm dark place (here I always suggest, very logically, next or on the heater...).

Preheat the oven to 200 celsius. 

When the dough has risen (if it has not risen the butter/milk mixture was too hot...), cut it in half and roll one of the halves into a rectangle about 3mm thick and then ... 

Carefully role the dough

Spread first the butter, then a sugar/cinnamon mixture (and if wanted chocolate drops...) and roll the dough so that you get a snail effect and slice into approximately 12-14 pieces. Lay them flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper face up, coat with beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar. 

Bake the buns in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Even though this is my Mom's kanelbullar recipe, however I got the inspiration to bake them here in Germany thanks to the lovely blog Alexandra cooks

Bake the Kanelbullar carefully in the oven

Smaklig måltid!

Delicious Kanelbullar

Chocolate Fudge Cake

The Devil's Best Companion

Or: "Probably The Best Chocolate Fudge Cake On Earth"

Choc Fudge Cake that is waiting to be eaten

accompanied by Chopin's Nocturne to let the Wild Child out

This too delicious cake is quite worth a sin. Or two! 

What you will need...

For the cake:

250g Self Raising Flour (if you don’t have self rising flour you can use 250g all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon baking powder + 3/4 teaspoon salt)

325g Caster Sugar

1/4 teaspoons Bicarbonate of Soda

3 heaped tablespoons Cocoa

250g Butter

250ml Coca Cola

125ml Milk

2 Medium Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Extract

For the - to die for - frosting:

200g Butter

4 tbsp Coca Cola

3 heaped tbsp Cocoa

400g Icing sugar

For decoration (if wanted): 

a bar white chocolate 

Grated White Chocolate

Start Chopin's Nocturne to set the mood for inspirational baking. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda. Melt the butter together with the coca cola and then add to the dry ingredients along with the milk, eggs and vanilla. Gently combine before putting in a lightly greased cake tin. Bake at 180 degrees for 40 mins or until a knife comes out clean. Now let it cooooool down! 

For the frosting melt the coca cola with the butter and pour into the icing sugar. Add the cocoa and beat until smooth and thick, let it cool slightly (max. 3 minutes) and then spread over the cake. If wanted, decorate with grated white chocolate. 

If you are not already pulled by your desire to taste, put the cake into the fridge to let the icing set firm. 

Very Fudgy Fudge