Aebelskivers

My husband’s birthday was on Tuesday — we began the day’s celebration with aebelskivers for breakfast for him!  I make aebelskivers for special breakfasts — but sometimes, when it seems it’s been ‘awhile’ since I made them, someone will ask for them for breakfast (or dinner!).  We serve them with powdered sugar (as you see here) and raspberry or blackberry jam or maple syrup.  I’ve been making these for many years — and though at first they are a bit tricky to make, after some practice, they’re a very, very easy and fun breakfast tradition.    I have some more photos and the recipe here! My favourite pan is the  SCI cast-iron aebelskiver pan — you can purchase from the Solvang restaurant here.  They’re often out of stock, though. 🙁  You can also purchase aebelskiver pans from Williams SonomaAnd I wouldn’t bother with two ‘hand tools’ for turning the aebelskivers.  Just get a #4 knitting needle and use it for turning the aebelskivers.  Medium heat to medium-low heat seems best (but you’ll get the hang of it and what temp works best on your stove).  And use 1/2 butter-1/2 oil for the ‘cups’ of the pan.  Too much butter makes them brown too easily and too much oil is… too much oil. :o)

As the years go by, I’m sure thankful for family traditions — I think everyone ought to have special traditions they look forward to and fondly remember from days gone by.  I love hearing my children’s “we always ______ “ (but those comments are sometimes followed by an older child saying: “O, yes, we always did that.  One time.” 😉

Well, for us, Aebelskivers are a many-many time thing.  And, when we go to Spokane we always have at least one breakfast at The Olde European restaurant and always have at least one order of ‘skivers.

Wes's Birthday breakfast: Aebleskivers!
Wes's Birthday breakfast: Aebleskivers!

MM Fondant

I’m learning to make some pretty smooth fondant for wedding cakes — well, any cake, actually! This is so easy to make and tastes so nice, I can’t figure out why I ever bought “ready-made” fondant! Not to mention the price. Okay, I will. The cost to make fondant is *significantly* less than the retail price of packaged fondant. Another thing I love about making fondant is the ease of colouring and flavouring the fondant!

I don’t have my A Bella Cake site ready yet, but I’ll be adding photos of cakes there. I’ll link to it when it’s up and running. I have a cake I’m dreaming up right now — a wedding cake for an October wedding. It’s not an autumn themed wedding… so, no need to try and come up with the majestic hues of autumn, but maybe more difficult for me will be to make this cake look as beautiful as the one I’ve dreamed of making. I’ll show you some photos when it’s made. The bride is a precious friend and I want her cake to be a blessing to her. I so wish I had had more skill and more experience when I made her sister’s wedding cake a few years ago — it was very, very important to me to make that one special, too — but I’m not so pleased with the outcome. Maybe I can make another cake for her someday. An elaborate anniversary or birthday cake or something.

Anyway… have a look at Marshmallow Fondant — It’s really fun!

—pamela