Livat Hammersmith invites you to a Jordsgubbstårta-competition on Midsummer’s Day!
Ready, Set, Midsommar Bake!
Join Livat Hammersmith’s Midsommar celebrations on 25th and 26th June. Great British Bake Off star Holly Bell invited to judge bake-off at Livat Hammersmith as part of wider Midsommar Celebrations across the 25th and 26th June.
Image VisitSweden/ Liselott Vander Meijs
Local bakers in Hammersmith and Fulham are invited to take part in a bake-off competition at Livat Hammersmith to celebrate Midsommar. It will be held on the 25th of June and is set to be judged by Great British Bake Off star Holly Bell, who was runner-up in the second series, and a member of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
Contestants will be challenged to create their best strawberry cake, a staple for Midsommar celebrations in Sweden, to be in with a chance to win £100 worth of vouchers to spend at Livat Hammersmith as well as £100 worth of IKEA baking products! Contestants are invited to recreate Holly’s classic Midsommar strawberry cake recipe (included below) – and present the version with a personal twist to catch the eye of the judges. The judging panel will sample each bake on the day, deciding on the best and crowning an overall winner.
The competition is part of Livat Hammersmith’s Midsommar celebrations on 25th and 26th June where, alongside the bake-off, there will be a range of events within the meeting place including a traditional Swedish maypole, craft stations, face painters and live music. Marking the summer solstice (the longest day of the year), Midsommar is one of the most celebrated holidays in Sweden and Livat Hammermith looks forward to sharing this important aspect of Swedish culture with the community in Hammersmith.
Natalia Petalina, Meeting Place Manager at Livat Hammersmith commented: “It is so exciting to see such important aspects of Swedish culture shared with the local community in Hammersmith. Strawberry cake is a personal favourite of mine and I really hope that everyone in the area will enjoy the celebrations as much as I know I will!”
Livat Hammersmith first opened at the beginning of this year, bringing a little taste of Sweden to Hammersmith. Now, having been open for over three months, the new meeting place has found its place in the local community and the wider retail space. Recent openings include Atelier 100 – a collaboration between Ingka Group and H&M of a unique retail incubator programme for hyper-local designs and products from within 100km of the meeting place – and the Library of Things – a community-powered social enterprise that helps people save money and reduce waste by affordably renting out useful items like drills, sound systems and sewing machines.
To enter, visitors simply need to bring their creations to the Livat Hammersmith atrium for 9.45 am on 25th June. Full details of the event and T&Cs can be found here.
To learn more about Livat Hammersmith’s Midsommar Event, visit https://www.livat.com/en/hammersmith/events/midsommar-fest.
RECIPE
Classic strawberry and cream cake aka JORDGUBBSTÅRTA
Recipe:
6 pieces
Ingredients:
Sponge cake:
- 4 eggs
- 140g of caster sugar
- 200g self raising flour
- 25g melted butter
Vanilla cream:
- 6 egg yolks
- 600ml double cream (1 pint)
- 600ml pint milk (1 pint)
- 1 vanilla pod
- 3 tbsp of caster sugar
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 500ml double cream
- 750g – 1kg of strawberries (alternatively half can be frozen strawberries)
- 300g roasted chopped nuts and almonds (mix them)
- 15-20 small meringues
- Icing sugar
Method:
Start making the sponge cake for the Swedish Jordgubbstårta. Grease and flour(or line) a round tin with removable edges (about 24 cm in diameter). Add egg and caster sugar to a bowl that fits in a saucepan with water. Bring the water to bowl meanwhile whisking the eggs and sugar. Whisk and heat the batter until it is about 60°C / 140°F. Measure with a kitchen thermometer. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and continue whisking (or mix it in a stand mixer) at low speed until the mixture is cooled down and you have a white and fluffy egg batter. It takes about 10 minutes. Sift and fold down the flour, 1/3 at a time, in the batter. (use a spatula) Finally, fold in butter into the egg batter. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven at 180°C / 355°F for about 30 minutes or until the cake is set. Allow the cake to cool completely, loosen the tin sides and cover the cake with plastic or a kitchen towel. Don´t be afraid that the cake will be dry, It’s even better if you bake this the day before.
Now make the vanilla cream. Mix everything in a saucepan (add both seeds and the scraped bean from the vanilla pod) and boil on medium heat while stirring. Boil until the mixture begins to thicken, and then pass it through a fine sieve. Pour the sauce into a clean bowl and place it in a cold water bath. Whisk the sauce until it has cooled down and is nice and thick. You might have to change water in the water bath to cool it quicker. Vanilla cream can be prepared 1-2 days before making the actual cake.
Divide the sponge cake in three parts. (use a long sharp knife, such as a fillet knife). Take the first bottom of the sponge cake and put it on the cake stand (cut wide strips of parchment paper and lay them around, they can then be removed when the cake is completely finished.) Spread a layer of vanilla cream over the bottom cake, divide strawberries cut into pieces on top. Add another part of the cake (the middle on) Add whipped cream on this layer and some more strawberries cut into pieces. Lay the top layer of cake on top of this but turn it upside down so that you have the cut side up. Add a big dollop of whipped cream and spread it over the whole cake, both top and sides. Put the meringues in a ring around the cake’s top. Spread out strawberries (either whole or divided in 2 or 4 pieces depending on their size) in the middle and top with toasted, chopped nuts. If possible, also put some nuts on the cake’s sides as well. Sift some icing sugar on top before serving.
The Strawberry cake is lovely to serve after 1-2 hours, but it is also really nice the day after when it gets a bit juicy. Although it looks better the same day.
