Baking with Merry

Aparna chose the Black Forest Buns for the February month's We Knead to Bake #25, as a Valentine's day special. Whereas, the Black Forest cake is made with chocolate cake, cherry compote and kirsch and lots of cream; these Black Forest Buns are filled with chocolate sponge cake and cherry compote or jam. These buns were new to me, since I haven't heard of them nor seen it sold in any bakeries.... And so was eager to bake and taste them and viola! it tasted yummy... It's a perfect snack for kids, you could use their favorite jam instead of the cherry compote.  Now, on to Aparna's recipe: Black Forest Buns Ingredients: For the Dough: 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup milk 50 gm butter 1/4 cup sugar 1 egg (at room temperature, optional) 3/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast 3 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour For the Filling: 3/4 cup cherry/ strawberry jam or compote 2 1/2 to 3 cups crumbled...

We Knead To Bake!  is a bread baking group on FB, hosted by  Aparna Balasubramanian  of My Diverse Kitchen . Though I had joined this group couple of months back, I haven't baked anything to date except for pizzas. Now, baking bread is not a child's play. So, I waited until I get to bake something easy. And this month's recipe proved to be the right one to bake for an amateur like me!! Julekake (or Julekaka/ Julekaga) is a rich holiday bread flavoured with cardamom which is traditionally served at Christmas in many Scandinavian countries. It is particularly popular in Norway and Denmark. Incidentally, Julekake means “Yule Bread” in Norwegian.  This bread is more cake-like in texture and sometimes it is dusted with powdered sugar or glazed with a white sugar icing. If it is not glazed or left plain, then it is usually served warm at breakfast with butter or a goat milk cheese called geitost/ brunost.  In Norway, Julekake traditionally only a...