We celebrated Sillas’ birthday this past weekend with a big party in our apartment. We had hoped that the weather would be on our side so we could all just have a party in a park, but the Danish summer has a split personality this year (like so many other years) and day was a mix of rain, wind and yes a bit of sun too. So we went with plan B – have the party in our apartment. I was a bit nervous ( ok, a lot) that we would be too many people and it would feel cramped. But it all worked out. We opened up every room – all 4 of them- and set up a few chairs on the balconies, and it all went so well. The only problem we ran into before the party was where to store all the things we usually just put in the bedroom or balcony when we have a party?? It was actually a blessing in disguise, because it forced us to tidy up and throw out a few things we had happily ‘stored’ away. It was a great day with lots of food, a bathtub full of beer and cider and many many rounds of beer pong – yes, we are in our thirties now!
It was Sillas Birthday a few days before the big party and we on that day we had 4 friends over for a small Birthday dinner with a roast, potatoes, two sauces (who can decide between béarnaise and red wine??) veggies and of course a birthday cake.
The birthday boy decided the evening’s menu and for dessert he wanted me to bake my version of a traditional Danish strawberry pie. It has a Mazarin base with a sweet and creamy filling and topped with lots of fresh berries.
Ingredients:
500 g of marzipan
250 g butter – room temperature
5 eggs
1 dl. Wheat flour
Seeds from one vanilla bean
80 g dark chocolate
Cream topping:
250 g mascarpone cream
4 dl of double cream
3 tbsp. of icing sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
Also:
500 g fresh strawberries
White chocolate
Method:
Heat the oven to 175 degrees.
Grate the marzipan on the coarse side of the grater and pour into a bowl.
Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the marzipan along with the vanilla seeds.
Whisk marzipan, butter and vanilla together with a spoon or electric whisk
Mix in one egg in at a time.
Finally add the wheat flour, and stir the dough gently together.
Grease your pie dish and pour the batter in, smooth it out evenly.
Bake for 25 minutes. Then leave to cool.
Once the cake is completely cool, melt the chocolate and spread on top of the cake.
Set aside and let the chocolate harden.
Whip the cream until you have soft peaks- be careful not to over whip otherwise it will split when you add the mascarpone. Mix the mascarpone with the whipped cream, icing sugar and lemon zest. The easiest way to do this is to use a spatula and folding the mixture until the mixture is smooth.
Spread a generous amount on top of the cake.
Prepare the strawberries. Remove the stem and cut the strawberries into halves and quarters. Scatter the berries on top of the cake. Shave a bit of white chocolate on top before serving.
