Fastelavn cakes...mmmmmm

You will need:

250 grams butter (150 for the first bit and 100 for the second phase)

2 dl milk
50 gram yeast
1 pinch salt
½ teaspoon cardamom spice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
roughly 359-400 grams flour with lots of gluten

custard and whipped cream (enough to fill about 11 cakes)

Icing sugar

WARNING: They take 45 minutes to rise the first time + 30 mins to rise the second time. Start well before bedtime!

Ready???

Melt the 159 g butter in the milk on low. Then let it cool to luke warm before ...

Tipping it in a bowl big enough for the other ingredients, then
adding the yeast, cardamom, salt and ... 

...sugar. (Heaped. Ours were not sweet enough).

Beat and add the eggs. (That was what our yeast looked
 like before we added it).

Don't use too much flour or the dough wll
be too dry..

Add it a bit at a time until the dough is still very sticky.

This was where we realised we had
made a mistake and put in only
100 g of butterand added the
other 100 g (not a good idea).
Now LET IT RISE for 45 minutes until
it doubles in size with aCLEAN tea towel
on top to stop it crawling out of the bowl.

Flour the work surface and your hands...

Blob the dough onto the surface...

Roll it out 30 cm x 50 cm, spread the soft 100 g of butter you have left on
half the rectangle and flap one side over the other and fold it up small.
Don't worry - the small black dots are the cardamom not a
reflection on your cleaning skills.

Roll it out thin and... 

...cut it into about ten squares.

We seemed to have oodles of dough and made about 13 cakes.

Then we realised the recipe were using had missed out the
 ingredients for  homemade custard...and had forgotten to
mention cream. So I dug out some Bird's custard powder
and milk and we heated the milk and whisked in the custard powder.

Splot some custard in the middle of each square.

Pull the four corners into the middle, pinch the
seams tightly
shut and flop the cakes upside dow

Like this...

Here are some of them. Then let them rise for
half an hour.

Pop them in the oven for 16 minutes or so at 200 degrees and they'll look like this.

Fill some custard mixed with whipped cream (half cream, half custard) in
a piping bag or plastic bag with a hole cut in the corner .

And fill each cake.

Ha ha!
DON'T: This was when we discovered we din't have any icing sugar at all though we were sure we had. We spent five minutes rooting through cupboards, another five minutes wondering whether to ask the neighbours if they have any, then found some 'fondant' in a tub left over from a wedding cake! We tried to water it down. We threw away the disgusting slimy gunk that produced and rolled out some more fondant thinly and glued it onto the cakes with the milk and cream mixture we tried and failed to whip because we hadn't been wearned we would need cream.

DO: As our recipe warns you that you will need both custard, cream and icing sugar, you can add a drop or two of water at a time to some icing sugar and make your cakes look MUCH better. And you can add a touch of food colouring to cheer them up even more.

We just closed our eyes and ate ours. MMmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Faste Lavn... a barrel of fun if you play it safe

Handy tips

Costumes:

1. Make or buy a costume that is at least two sizes too big so nappies/diapers and skisuits fit underneath. That way, your child won't freeze to death and the costume will fit them for at least the next year and a half when it's nicer weather for dressing up.
2. Tails WILL get pulled off. Have a safety pin handy.
3. Mind capes are sewn onto clothing not tied around necks. No one wants Superman sliding into unconsciousness. Seriously.
3. Perhaps keep a spare superhero/princess dress in your bag just in case your kid is the only Barbapapa and has an amoebic meltdown. 

Barrels:

1. Don't stand too close to little kids holding a baseball bat or you might lose your front teeth, kneecaps or ability to reproduce as well as your cool.
2. Pace yourself. Don't whack the barrel with all your might on the first try. This is a war of attrition.
3. Stand behind a person who looks like they hit hard but hold onto the bat. 
4. That way, when the bottom falls out of the barrel, the chances are you'll be near enough to the front of the queue to get at the goodies faster than they can because they're still holding the bat.
5. Hit the bottom out of the barrel and you will be crowned Cat Queen - whether or not you are wearing a dress.
6. Make the last slat (piece of wood that makes up the side of the barrel) fall off the rope and you'll be crowned Cat King. But this can take hours.
7. Don't worry. Though there is a cat painted on the outside of the barrel, the only things inside it these days are sweets or oranges, depending on how politically correct the kindergarten is. Oranges bounce nicely but when eaten make a disgusting sticky mess down the front of everything in sight. Two seconds and there'll be no trace of the sweets except the wrappers. 

HAVE FUN!

Photo: Familiejournal.dk

Watson gets geared up....

Super sleuth Dr Watson is ready for the Faste Lavn festivities coming up soon in Denmark

Jake made Watson a super cape with armholes and everything.

He's wagging his tail...

Ready to fly into action at the slightest sound of....

..the postman :) Oops there he is now...

The fairytale world of H.C.Andersen, Rådhuspladsen 57, DK-1550 Copenhagen

The man himself.

He lived with his family  in just one room where his dad had his shoemaker's bench.
They must have been down on theit heels!

And was a hull of a traveller.

It's funny being in a building kitted out inside to look like Copenhagen really does on the outside.

Here is H.C. in his study.

Here's the little match girl - a story that never fails to make me cry.

This is the Steadfast Tin Soldier, with interactive buttons to press.

A cheeky photo and more buttons though they're conspicuously lacking on the Emperor's new clothes :o). A funny story that still hits home today in a time when labels mean more than the clothes themselves to some people! 

And the Thumbelina stage set shows it must be lovely being little with dainty little feet
and tiny shoes... not kipper boxes like my dad used to call my shoes :o).  

Awesome concert...

I'm one proud mamma!!!! And Jake filmed his big brothers and Claus so watch this space...(my technician has gone to bed now because it's school tomorrow but we'll upload it soon :o))

In our world anyone can hold hands ...soldiers and ballerinas, girls and boys

Cut out your own soldiers and ballerinas like the ones in H.C. Andersen's stories. 

Take a sheet of A4 paper and fold it in half.

Cut along the fold and place the two 
pieces of paper like this.

Tape them together.

And cut off the extra tape.

Fold the paper inwards on each side like this up to the fold in the middle.

Draw on the top of the folded paper. One soldier and one ballerina holding hands
(Don't worry, you can see the outline better if you scroll two photos further down)

Cut carefully around them.

There, that's better.

And when you unfold them, they'll look like this.

Smiley.

Fuld Effekt at Rust nightclub 19.30 - 20.00 tonight...

Come and see Jake's brothers in a Battle of the Bands tonight

Here's a taster...can't quite remember if there are any swear words so have a beep ready :o)

https://soundcloud.com/fuldeffekt/michael-j-fox

Be there or be a Sponge Bob!