Hot on the heels of a Bake Off first - Vegan Week - comes another Bake Off first - Danish Week! Of course, it was Sandi Toksvig’s heritage that was the inspiration behind this one, and Paul and Prue even admit to asking for her help when setting the challenges. And they were pretty dastardly challenges too…
First up, the bakers had to tackle a bread-based Signature challenge of traditional Danish smørrebrød, or open-faced sandwiches. Next, there was a Danish pancake technical that no-one had ever heard of (apart from Sandi, of course). Finally, the showstopper was an extravagant Danish pastry, that made the bakers scream when they were cut into! This is Danish pastry unlike you’ve ever seen before… rather them than us!
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If you want to try your hand at your very own Danish bakes, have a read of our favourite recipes in this post:
The first challenge was a bit of a disaster for most of the bakers who struggled to make their own rye bread. That’s why we’ve chosen smørrebrød recipes that make use of shop-bought bread!
For a traditional open sandwich, try this Smørrebrød from Caroline’s Kitchen. On top of shop-bought rye bread, you can add remoulade (a Danish type of tartare sauce) and a choice of salmon or beef. We love the presentation of these sandwiches, and we’re sure that Sandi would be proud if we arrived with a big plate of these for lunch!
Technically, any sandwich can be open. You just need to forget the top piece of bread! That’s why we love this open-faced breakfast sandwich, which contains all the best bits of a Full English breakfast, plus some delicious avocado too.
Aebleskiver are mini Danish pancake balls, most often eaten during the festive period, but there’s no reason you couldn’t eat them all year round, especially if you have to invest in a special pancake pan to make them! The traditional filling is sliced apple, as the word ‘aebleskiver’ in Danish actually means apple slices! These Danes are original… Head over to the Spruce Eats blog for our favourite aebleskiver recipe filled with apple.
Now, the showstopper was a bit strange during Danish Week. The bakers had to create a traditional birthday celebratory cake that looked like someone close to them, entirely out of Danish pastry and three different confections! The best part of this rather personal challenge? Tradition states that everyone has to scream when the head of their cake is removed, which must have been quite a fair reflection of how the bakers were feeling as Paul and Prue tucked in!
Many of the bakers used cinnamon rolls as the hair or feet of their kagemand/kagekone, so of course we wanted to find out how to recreate them! Our favourite Danish pastry cinnamon rolls recipe comes from the Apply to Face blog as the pastry is actually quite simple to make thanks to its ‘rough puff’ style method.
However, if even that seems too much like hard work, why not pick up one of our Iced Cinnamon Buns baking kits to make at home? This kit makes a bread-like dough in place of the Danish pastry, to make it slightly easier ;)
[Visit the Bake Shop to pick up your Iced Cinnamon Bun kit]
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What are your favourite Danish recipes from the Great British Bake Off? We’d love for you to share them in the comments!
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