A (Maybe?) New Invention
As we have worked on this blog, many of our recipes, while they are our own way of doing things, are not anything new. We base our blog on many baked goods and desserts that already exist and then share our way of making it. Until now, there has not been much room for our own ideas and creativity within this. But as we have shared so many classic Scandinavian recipes, we have started branching out! And today’s recipe is an example of taking classic Danish flavors that we love and creating a new pastry. We hope you enjoy and try it out – these are so delicious!
What are Lagkagesnegle?
We have called these lagkagesnegle, or lagkage snails, because they are inspired by our favorite cake, the lagkage. Sometimes known as a fødselsdagslagkage (birthday layer cake), it is made up of layers of vanilla sponge, vanilla pastry cream, and fruit. Our favorite is when it is made with raspberries, as they are just so nice and tart to balance out the sweetness of the cake. We have a recipe that you can check out here. Since we love these flavors so much, we decided to combine them in a pastry! The vanilla pastry cream on top was an idea we developed from blåbärsbullar (Swedish blueberry buns) – find our recipe here. And finally, we called them snails because that is what pastry swirls are called in Denmark!
How to Make Them
The process is very similar to any other type of swirled pastry you may have made. These are, however, very messy, so be warned! First, you need to make your dough, knead it, and allow this to rise for about an hour. In the meantime, you should make your filling so that it has some time to cool before you fill the pastries. Roll out your dough, top with the raspberry filling, and roll up into a log. Carefully cut into swirls with a knife (you can also use unflavored floss to make it a bit easier) and place on baking sheets to rise again. Top with pastry cream, which you can pre-make so that it has cooled down, and add a few raspberries on top. Bake, cool, and then we like to add a bit of whipped cream so that these pastries really resemble a lagkage! Try it out and let us know in the comments below how it goes.
Lagkagesnegle (Raspberry Swirls with Vanilla Pastry Cream)
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 150 ml (2/3 cup) milk
- 2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active dry yeast, 17.5g fresh yeast)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or vaniljesukker, if you happen to have it!)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 375 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 57 grams (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg for egg wash
FILLING
- 150 grams (1 1/4 cup) fresh or frozen raspberries
- 75 grams (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
- Lemon zest (optional)
- Pinch of salt
- 57 grams (4 tbsp) unsalted butter
TOPPING
- 36 raspberries (3 per pastry)
- 1 portion kagecreme (our recipe will make a little bit too much, so you can cut it in half to make just enough for this recipe!)
- 118 ml (1/2 cup) heavy whipping cream (optional)
Instructions
- Make kagecreme ahead of time and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
- Heat up the milk, either in the microwave or in a saucepan, until it is “fingervarm” (finger warm), meaning it should feel warm to the touch but not hot. You don’t want to kill the yeast! Add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Let it rest 5-10 minutes until it begins to froth and bubble a little bit. (If your yeast doesn’t do anything, it may be expired. Check the expiration date on the package and start over with new yeast!)
- Combine the egg, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
- Slowly add the flour and softened butter, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the dough starts to come together, you can start kneading.
- Knead until smooth and elastic, probably around 10-12 minutes. Add a bit of flour if the dough sticks to your hands or the surface. If you prefer not to get your hands messy, feel free to use a stand mixer for this step. The texture of your dough before its first rise should be soft and smooth, not sticky and not too dry.
- Cover and let your dough rise for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the raspberry filling. Add your raspberries, sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt to a small pot on the stove.
- Cook over medium low heat, until the raspberries have reduced and released the majority of their liquid. Set this mixture aside to cool (you can also put this in the fridge to cool it down faster!)
- Once your dough has doubled in size, turn out the dough onto a well floured surface and shape into a rough rectangle shape.
- Roll it out into a rectangle that is about a quarter of an inch (0.5cm) thick.
- Spread your filling evenly on top.
- Grate lemon zest over the filling layer (optional step!).
- Roll it up into a log. You’ll want to roll from the shorter edge of the rectangle, so that your buns have more swirls.
- Cut the log into 1-1.5 inch (3cm) thick pieces (12 pieces).
- Place on two baking sheets and cover the buns loosely with cling film or a clean dishtowel and let them rise another 45 minutes or until they . It may be messy while you cut the buns, but don't worry too much about the shape – when the buns rise, they will look more like swirls! In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- When the buns are done rising, egg wash them.
- Gently press down the center to create a space for the pastry cream. This helps prevent it from sliding off!
- Add about a tablespoon of pastry cream to each bun.
- Top with three raspberries each.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown – you can check the bottom as well, which should be evenly browned.
