At bage på dansk

I read somewhere that one of the best ways to practise a new language is to do something you love 'in' that language. For example, if you like football, watch the game with the appropriate foreign language commentary. For me, I decided that it was time to tackle some Danish baking and a BageLiv recipe booklet (it came free with BoligLiv) promising fantastiske kager seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Besides trying out my language skills, I hoped that it would prove easier to cook a recipe where the ingredients are those available locally. No self-raising flour or caster sugar required!! There were two occasions calling for some homemade treats this weekend: yesterday was my husband and my wedding anniversary - he bought me a beautiful bunch of cream long stem roses and so I felt the least I could do was acknowledge the day with something chocolatey and chose a fransk chokoladekage.

The second call for homebaking was today's coffee date with my Danish neighbour. Maybe its the Brit in me that heard 'hot beverage in the afternoon' and thought 'cake'!! For this and because it is autumn and a recent visit to a garden in Frederiksberg where the branches of the fruit trees hung heavy with ripe apples and pears, reminding me how much I like apple cake, I chose æblekage med vaniljesirup

I think it is safe to say that I can now understand 'kitchen Danish'. I managed the recipes and all transpired without a hitch although there was a nervous moment when I saw the word mel next to a measurement of 1½ dl. Thinking fluid and my brain being in foreign language mode, I very nearly added 150 ml of honey to the mixture. Just in time I realised it was flour that the cake needed...