Happy Cinnamon Bun Day!

Today, 4 October, is Cinnamon Bun day in Sweden and cafes and shops will stock up with freshly baked wonderful cinnamon buns.

Cinnamon buns are easy to make at home. They taste best on the day of baking but can also be frozen and enjoyed later after a few minutes in the oven.

Below is one of my favourite recipes. You can also buy these lovely buns in places across the UK, here is list of a few cafes we know of. Where to Fika in the UK

Swedish cinnamon bunJakob Fridholm/imagebank.sweden.se

Swedish Cinnamon buns

Time: about 2 hours

Makes 25 cinnamon buns

Dough

• 25 grams yeast, fresh yeast seems to work best but if you can't find it I normally use one or two packets of dried yeast instead
• 75 grams butter
• 2 ½ deciliters milk
• ½ deciliters sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tea spoon of grounded cardamom
• around 7 deciliters flour

Filling:

• 50 grams butter
• ½ deciliter sugar
• 2 table spoons cinnamon

Glazing:

• one egg
• pearl sugar

With fresh yeast break it up in a bowl. Then melt the butter in a saucepan, pour in the milk and heat it up to 37C, you can test this by putting your finger in the saucepan, if it’s the same temperature as your finger it’s about 37C. With dry yeast follow the instructions on the package.

Stir in a tiny bit of the milk and butter mix in with the yeast. Then add the rest of the milk and butter. Add salt, sugar and cardamom while stirring.

Add the flour and work the dough into a smooth and elastic dough. You should work the dough for a least 7 or 8 minutes if you are doing it by hand.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Set the oven to 225C.

Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough to a rectangular flat cake, about 20 cm x 50 cm and 1cm thick.

Once rolled out you can use a cheese slicer and slice the butter (make sure the butter is cold if using a slicer) all over the dough. The sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on top. If you would like more filling just add more of the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Make sure you cover the dough evenly with the filling.

Roll up the dough and cut it in slices that are around 1 ½ centimeters thick.

Put some grease proof paper on a baking tray. To get that lovely sticky bottom of the bun, put bits of butter and some sugar on top of the greaseproof paper. Then put the buns on the paper with enough space in between each bun so they can rise. Cover with a tea towel again and let the buns rise again for about 30 minutes

Whisk the egg and glaze each bun with a little of the egg mix. Sprinkle some pearl sugar on top.

Cook in the middle of the oven for 8 – 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Art of Being British: Afternoon tea samples from Fortnum and Mason

Just saw that Fortnum and Mason will be serving samples of afternoon tea at The Art of Being British: St James's At Your Service event this weekend in London. A good enough reason to venture into central London on Saturday I say! 

The event takes place on Saturday 10 September from 12noon until 5pm along the full length of Jermyn Street, near Piccadilly.

I'm excited to read that the event will be packed with eccentric Britishness along with some of the finest British fashion and lifestyle brands, brilliant!

And while you are there why not also pop across the road to Burlington arcade and try the latest green apple macaroons at Laduree.

Swedish Fika takes over Soho Square in London!

Swedish Fika pops up in Soho Square this week, 24 - 26 August. I'll be blogging via VisitSweden's UK blog from all three days.

Follow all the action here

VisitSweden UK

Spettekaka from Skåne

I have a very fond memories of going to my grandparents for family dinners when I was little. They lived in Helsingborg on the north western coast of Skåne (Scania) in a grand old fashioned apartment. My mum would dress me up in my red velvet dress with itchy white stockings and black little patent shoes and off we went. If there had been a particular occasion the dinner and coffee and cakes would then be followed by my grandmother bringing out a huge meringue looking cake decorated with pink and white icing sugar. For my five year old eyes this was the prettiest thing in the world!

The cake was a Spettekaka, a typcially Skåne cake and the crowning glory of any old fashioned birthday party or wedding celebration.

A Spettekaka (sometimes called Spettkaka or Spiddekaga in the local Skåne dialect) is made of eggs, sugar, potato flour and normal flour. It is slowly piped onto a rotating cone, attached to skewers (hence the name, 'spett' means skewer in Swedish) over an open fire and then left to dry before the next layer is added. As you can imagine this is a very time consuming way of baking.

After all the layers have been added and the cake has completely dried (this can take up to a day!) it is decorated with the icing. Usually it has pink and white icing but local varieties in colour exists and different areas will use different colour combinations.

Cutting a Spettekaka is quite tricky and requires a special tool. A knife with a very thin serrated blade is recommended and it takes a lot of practise to get the Spettekaka pieces to come out whole rather than just as a crumbly mess. You normally eat it plain with a cup of coffee but you can add anything, ice cream, clotted cream, berries etc etc.

I looked up the history of the Spettkaka and found that it is originally from Germany but became popular in Swedish court circles as early as in the 17th century. By the early 19th century the cake had become established as a celebration and wedding cake in Skåne. There are many theories of how the Spettekaka came to be so much associated with Skåne. One is that Skåne has always been a rich a fertile farming area, with eggs, sugar beets and potatoes in abundance, the perfect place to find the ingredients for a Spettekaka in other words!

The Spettkaka has been classed by the EU as a regional speciality and therefore a genuine spettkaka can now only be baked in Scania. There are 10 - 15 places in Skåne where Spettekaka is still made and generally these bakeries only use organic ingredients and traditional methods of baking.

Swedish Fika - the search for the perfect coffee and cake: Pop Up Fika Parlor and walk in Fika Picnic in Lond...

Swedish Fika - the search for the perfect coffee and cake: Pop Up Fika Parlor and walk in Fika Picnic in Lond...: "Come by to VisitSweden's free Pop Up Fika Parlor and walk in Fika Picnic! Where: Soho Square in London When: 24-26 August Time: 12.30..."

Pop Up Fika Parlor and walk in Fika Picnic in London!

Come by to VisitSweden's free Pop Up Fika Parlor and walk in Fika Picnic!

Where: Soho Square in London
When: 24-26 August
Time: 12.30pm-2.30pm  

A team from Skåne, led by world famous pastry chef Jan Hedh will be serving traditional Fika, the Swedish equivalent of high tea and sharing stories about the region.

Reserve a table by emailing reservations@fikasquare.co.uk or come by on the day.

Traditionally, 7 cookies are served as part of the Fika ritual, made from the finest natural ingredients, married with a fresh cup of coffee, it’s the perfect time to indulge and revitalizing. In the 19th century the ingredients for cookies were expensive and it was a sign of wealth be able to offer your guest several varieties of cookies. A competitiveness between hostesses developed and the custom for serving 7 varieties derived.

Find out more about Swedish Fika 

Is this the prettiest dessert in the world?

I recently flicked through the huge brick that is the Noma book, Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine (Phaidon, October 2010). The best restaurant in the world for the second year running has put together a beautiful photo and recipe book, celebrating Nordic food and all things natural and local in Scandinavia. As I flicked through page after page of artistically arranged dishes I suddenly saw it - the pretties dessert in the world!
And though I will most likely never try it or even attempt to make it at home, I still think this may be the best pudding I have ever seen:

Dessert of Flowers from Noma

Swedish Cinnamon buns recipe

Tried Nordic Bakery's cinnamon buns and want to make your own?
Cinnamon buns or Kanelbullar as we call them in Sweden are easy to make at home. They taste best on the day of baking but can also be frozen and enjoyed later after a few minutes in the oven.
Here is one of my favourite recipes.

Fredrik Broman, Cinnamon buns

Swedish Cinnamon buns

Time: about 2 hours

Makes 25 cinnamon buns

Dough

• 25 grams yeast, fresh yeast seems to work best but if you can't find it two packets of dried yeast works as well
• 75 grams butter
• 2 ½ deciliters milk
• ½ deciliters sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tea spoon of grounded cardamom
• around 7 deciliters flour

Filling:

• 50 grams butter
• ½ deciliter sugar
• 2 table spoons cinnamon

Glazing:

• one egg

With fresh yeast break it up in a bowl. Then melt the butter in a saucepan,  pour in the milk and heat it up to 37C, you can test this by putting your finger in the saucepan, if it’s the same temperature as your finger it’s about 37C. With dry yeast follow the instructions on the package.

Stir in a tiny bit of the milk and butter mix in with the yeast. Then add the rest of the milk and butter. Add salt, sugar and cardamom while stirring.

Add the flour and work the dough into a smooth and elastic dough. You should work the dough for a  least 7 or 8 minutes if you are doing it by hand.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Set the oven to 225C.

Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough to a rectangular flat cake, about 20 cm x 50 cm and 1cm thick.

Once rolled out you can use a cheese slicer and slice the butter (make sure the butter is cold if using a slicer) all over the dough. The sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on top. If you would like more filling just add more of the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Make sure you cover the dough evenly with the filling.

Roll up the dough and cut it in slices that are around 1 ½ centimeters thick.

Put some grease proof paper on a baking tray. To get that lovely sticky bottom of the bun, put bits of butter and some sugar on top of the greaseproof paper. Then put the buns on the paper with enough space in between each bun so they can rise. Cover with a tea towel again and let the buns rise again for about 30 minutes

Whisk the egg and glaze each bun with a little of the egg mix.

Cook in the middle of the oven for 8 – 10 minutes.

Enjoy! 

Fake baking at home...

I love cinnamon buns or kanelbullar as we call them in Sweden. I must have tried hundreds of different kanelbullar in various cafes but the ones you make at home yourself are still the best. Here in Dubai I came across a place called Cinnabon, no doubt very American and despite the ridiculous packaging and horrible fast food chain look of the shop these cinnamon rolls are actually really good.
The other day I found a package of make your own Cinnabon in Waitrose and decided that while it is too hot to bake properly out here I might try a pre made version for a laugh. It is the easiest thing, just peel off the wrapping and out pops eight perfectly formed cinnamon roll dough balls, shaped and ready for the oven.

Well, here's how I got on:

The 'tantalising' Cinnabon packaging, though not 100% sure about icing my cinnamon roll it looked sort of pretty.

Well I am not sure what to say... Hopefully they'll look a lot better once cooked!

Looking a little better but perhaps not very cinnamon roll like yet. Better cover them up in some of that icing!

A cinnabon cinnamon roll, with icing. Not too bad looking though somewhere underneath that icing is a dry looking kanelbulle hiding.

Final verdict. These cinnamon rolls have a funny bitter taste,  hidden well by the sweetness of the icing. I am very surprised to find that the icing is essential as otherwise the bun isn't sweet enough. I missed the gooiness of the cinnamon filling that you get in your normal homemade cinnamon buns and also in the Cinnabon shop. These pre-made buns have specks of dry cinnamon inside the dough, which tastes ok but makes it a bit dry.

All in all, best to get that yeast and flower out again to make my own. I will post my favourite recipe shortly including some tips of how to get that lovely chewy bottom of the bun right.

Let them eat cake!

How exciting! It's the day of the royal wedding and all the expat bars in Dubai have brought out the flags, the real Ales and started to prepare fish and chips in preparation for a big party this afternoon.

To not miss a thing I am celebrating at home, in front of BBC World News, with my very own afternoon tea consisting of  pot of Earl Grey tea, Waitrose finger sandwiches, two liquorice and one rose with ginger macaroon from Laduree, and even two Madeleines for Tim so he can sit through at least a few minutes of the ceremony. It is three hours to go now though so will have to try very hard not to eat it all before the actual wedding vows!

Afternoon tea and cinema at Soho Hotel, London, UK

Afternoon tea is one of the things that brought me to Britain in the first place. It conjures up images of old fashioned cafes in Midsummer Murders looking villages where Agatha Christie lookalikes nibble on their cucumber sandwiches, sipping Earl Grey from flowery tea cups while discussing the latest stitching patterns in Sewing World Magazine. I spent a fortune during my three years at university in Exeter in the old ladies favourite cafe 'Tea on the Green' overlooking the Exeter Cathedral, not very rock n roll for a student I know!

I am very pleased to report my findings that apparently another girl called Anna came up with the brilliant tradition of afternoon tea! During the early nineteenth century Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford is said to have complained of "having that sinking feeling" during the late afternoon. Her solution was to have a pot of tea made for her along with some cakes. Her friends were invited to join her and this afternoon tea drinking proved so popular that other social hostesses copied her idea and before long all of fashionable society stopped to have tea and sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon.

I have tried numerous afternoon teas in the classic locations in London and the latest on the list is Soho Hotel's afternoon tea and cinema offering. After no breakfast (my trick to getting through an entire afternoon tea tray of cakes and sandwiches) I arrive at the cool and trendy Soho Hotel in Richmond Mews right in the centre of Soho.

Soho Hotel afternoon tea. Photo by Dave Lorch

At first all four of us are oddly placed in a long row along a table in the drawing room but we quickly swap to a round table in the main restaurant which is much buzzier. The tea list is impressive but I stick to my favourite Earl Grey today and let the others try weird and wonderful flowering Jasmine teas.

The traditional tea menu offers the following:

Cakes:
Banana and walnut cake
Fruit tartlet
Macaroon
Chocolate éclair
Fruit and plain scones
Clotted cream and preserves

Sandwiches:
Cheddar cheese and chutney
Smoked salmon
Cucumber
Coronation chicken

The sandwiches were all very nice although the bread was a little dry. The scones came with a choice of strawberry or raspberry jam and were just delicious. My favourites were the fruit tartlets and although the macaroons were a little bit too big and had a lot of marzipan in between the meringue they were still absolutely fine.

Far too many cups of tea later it was time to go downstairs to the cinema screening room. With a free carton of popcorn in one hand  it was a great experience to watch a film (The Fighter) in a proper cinema with a great screen.

A peaceful fika in the middle of nowhere - Lilla Ro, Vejbystrand - Sweden

We cross fields with disused farming machinery, patiently wait behind slow moving tractors on the winding country lane, park the car next to a pink plastic flamingo (!) and cross the small gravel car park to get to the lovely Cafe Lillaro, a wonderfully quaint cafe in the middle of the countryside just outside the seaside village of Vejbystrand in Skåne, Sweden.

'In the middle of nowhere, almost at least, you find Lillaro, the perfect place if you fancy a fika in peace and quiet'. This is how Lillaro (or Little peace as it translates from Swedish) describes itself on its website.

My dad loves this place and comes here regularly to chat with the Eva and Palle, the owners of the cafe. Eva is a clothes designer by trade and runs the retro chic clothes brand Peleka from the studio upstairs so fashion concious girls flock here from nearby holiday villages Båstad and Torekov in the summer months.
Lillaro is very much a Swedish take on shabby chic with 1940s inspired knick knacks, miss-matched tables and chairs, freshly picked flowers in tiny different coloured glass vases, a mannequin leaning against the wall, old children's books about great flying machine heroes, bric-a-brac for sale in the middle of the cafe, and in the centreof the room a spiral staircase that leads up to Eva's studio. Eva and Palle have collected and created most things in the cafe themselves and Palle who is a mechanic by trade has even welded some of the furniture!

The cakes are all homemade and most of the ingredients in the pies, jam and cakes come from Eva and Palle's own garden. I tried a classic cinnamon bun and a juice while dad had scones with homemade jam and butter with a cup of coffee, delicious! There's a great selection of sandwiches, pies, juices and different kinds of tea and coffee. I couldn't resist taking a quick look in the Peleka shop upstairs and am now proudly showing off my one of a kind summery top made by Eva.

Lillaro is a unique cafe that I thoroughly recommend especially if you're on a foodie tour around the Bjäre peninsula in Southern Sweden.

http://www.lillaro.nu/

My winning article in The Telegraph!

I entered a travel writing competition in The Telegraph and to my great surprise I won!

Read my tea inspired article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-writing-competition/8406054/Just-Back-tea-time-in-the-desert.html

It is Semlor time!

Today (8th March) is Shrove Tuesday and in Sweden we celebrate this by eating Semlor. A semla has many names in Sweden, semla, hetvägg, fastlagsbulle and fetistasbulle. There might be many more. 

Semlor are immensly popular this time of the year with cafes starting to sell them sometimes as early as just after New Years. Swedish newspapers run features of best semla of the year in the local towns.

A semla can best be described as a bun flavoured with cardamon, filled with a marzipan, topped with whipped cream and then dusted with icing sugar. It's eaten on "ShroveTuesday" (or rather appropriatly "Fat Tuesday") which falls on 8th March this year. 

A traditional way to eat this bun is to put the 'semla' in a bowl with hot milk, also known as ‘hetvägg’ translated as ‘hot wall’, rather discusting if you ask me. My grandfather used to do this and it's not for me, the bun disolves into a soggy mess with warm melted cream floating like lava streams into steaming milk.

Swedish semla

If you're in London you can find Semlor in the wonderful Scandinavian food store, Scandinavia Kitchen on 61 Great Titchfield Street near Baker Street and Marylebone. Rather dangerously this place is just around the corner of the VisitSweden office so it is hard to resist buying a semla or two on your way to work every morning!

Vivel Patisserie and prinsesstårta! - Dubai

I once used to work for the London Underground. Most of the time I tend not to mention this as it's usually met by a barrage of abuse about anything from the closure at High Barnet station yesterday morning, the audacity of a penalty charge on the Oyster card for that uncompleted journey last weekend, to the train drivers threat to strike on Kate and Wills big day. However, I wasn't let anywhere near the trains nor the war mongering strikers. Instead I was contracting in the buzzy communications department as part of a brave and fearless team of intranet specialists who desperately tried to restore the LU intranet to its former glory. I don't really know how well we succeeded as the contract ran out before the project finished and the poor LU employees were left with a skeleton of an intranet and a lot of dull content no one ever read to re-write into something exciting.

One of my colleagues at LU was a slightly scatty but lovely girl from Iran. As a patisserie fanatic I frequently told her in detail of my cafe visits, baking disasters at home and how unique the Swedish 'konditori' and cakes are. I showed her a photo of my latest baking effort, a Swedish 'prinsesstårta' or princess cake that I made for my friend Dave's birthday.

Princess cake is one of the most famous Swedish cakes.  Originally it had the rather dull name 'Grön tårta' - Green cake, doesn't sound that tempting really. It featured in a classic cook book from the 1930s called 'Prinsessornas kokbook' - The Princesses' Cookbook by a home economics teatcher called Jenny Åkerström. Ms. Åkerström taught the royal Swedish princesses Märtha, Astrid and Margaretha and it was thought that the girls were particularly fond of her Green Cake and it was from then on raised from obscurity and given a royal stamp of approval now as Princess Cake.

My colleague took one look at the cake and exclaimed,
- That's not a Swedish cake, that cake is from Iran! Well, needless to say I argued that it couldn't possibly be from Iran, as far as I know Sweden didn't have any links with Iran in the 30s, well we might have done but I didn't have a clue and I was not going to let this scatty girl claim OUR national cake! Besides I very much doubt our cake recipe writing home economics teacher Jenny from Stockholm had ever visited good old Persia.

We went through the ingredients one by one, sponge base - tick, whipped cream - tick, vanilla cream -tick and green marzipan tick. It's worth noting here that a proper Princess Cake doesn't include jam, despite a lot of patisseries insisting on adding this. Eventually we had to come to the conclusion that there are Princess Cakes being eaten in the patisseries of Tehran as well as in Stockholm. I was still not convinced. Maybe they had a similar cake, I guess green cakes tend to sort of look the same after a while.

So imagine my slight annoyance when I stumbled across Vivel Patisserie on Jumeirah Beach Road, an Iranian chain of cafes, and there behind the counter was one lonely looking slice of Princess Cake!
Vivel itself was a hidden gem behind some boarded up shops. Jumeirah is the Chelsea of Dubai, and what they call Jumerirah Janes (wealthy expat women with very little to do) popping in and out of the cafes and art galleries that line this long stretch of road. After the financial problems a couple of years ago a lot of shops have closed though and you have to know where to look to find the great cafes.

The Iranian princess cake did look a little hot, dry and unloved so I have to confess that I gave it a miss. Instead I tried a collection of tiny, tiny little mini cakes that were just delicious. My favourite was the Chocolate Nocochi, a melt in the mouth sensation made of cocoa powder and ground chic peas with some cardamom, sounds odd but it was delicious. Other amazing mini cakes were the Vanilla Kipfriel, a vanilla flavoured hazelnut biscuit and the lovely little pistachio log.

Vivel Patisserie

Now I love macaroons and I am reluctant to report that the vanilla and lavender versions I tried at Vivel weren't as nice as I had hoped. The filling was far too buttery and tasted a bit like a slab of Lurpak had been spread between the fragile meringue. I think I have been very spoilt at Laduree around the corner though. Vivel, like Laduree, serves specialty teas and a good tip is to order tea rather than coffee here. I tried a Chai latte coffee which was watery but had a very nice chai flavour. I am sure they do an amazing Chai tea though. Vivel has very pretty gift baskets, artistically decorated with the cakes creating patterns and colours, so it's a brilliant place to pick up a last minute gift for someone special!

Gary Rhodes' Lemon meringue at 'Taste of Dubai' - Dubai

Last night was spent at the Taste of Dubai festival. This annual food festival gives you a great chance to sample dishes from some of the top restaurants here in Dubai and to try to grab a few of their discount vouchers at the same time. The festival was held in the park in Dubai Media City over looking the lake and the CNN and Thomson Reuter's buildings. With empty stomachs we hopped on the Metro to Nakheel to taste what Dubai has on offer and for me, of course, to sample some cakes and puddings.

Wafts of wonderful Eastern smells met us at the entrance and wherever we turned crispy duck meat crisped up in a hot oven, meat sizzled in its juices, and fragrant rice dishes steamed in pots. We had come to the Chinese and Thai food section. Reluctantly walking past, we were quickly immersed in the wonderful smells from the Italian stalls, followed by the heat from the grill at Rivington Grill and Ruth's Chris Steak House.
Further down was a separate area hosting the Grosvenor House's restaurants and without much hesitation we headed straight to the Indego stall and minutes later were enjoying a wonderfully smooth and aromatic chicken tikka masala by Vineet Vahatia of Indego. I was particularly impressed by finding strands of saffron in my dish, always a sign of a good curry in my view.

This was followed by a scotch egg from Rivington Grill, the brilliant English restaurant in Souk Al Bahar near Dubai Mall. Unfortunately, not as crispy as I would have liked it but a perfectly cooked egg and great seasoning of the sausage meat made this a very enjoyable snack.

I had my eyes on the macaroon stall all evening, but on closer inspection I found these macaroons far too colourful and artificial looking and instead headed for Gary Rhodes' Mezzanine and Twenty10 stalls for some pudding. The man himself was there this Thursday night and spent most of the evening happily chatting to and posing for photographs with slightly star struck expats who congregated around his stalls.Rhodes was on Dubai One, the local TV channel last week and was quoted saying that he thinks 'Dubai will become the culinary centre of the world eventually', sounds very promising.

After deliberating over whether to have sticky toffee pudding or iced lemon meringue with strawberries I decided on the latter. It was sensational. Frozen, almost chewy lemon mousse on the thinnest of bases, a perfectly shaped mini meringue on top and finished off with strawberries marinated in a velvety strawberry sauce.

Iced lemon meringue and strawberries 

I did wonder if I should pluck up courage and ask Mr. Rhodes if he might be interested in coming along to VisitSweden's food event in London in September but he disappeared into the kitchen before I had a chance.

Very full and extremely happy we went back to the Metro, excited about soon using our vouchers at all the restaurants and vowing to go back to Mezzanine for the proper full sized portion of iced lemon meringue.

Ladurée - macaroons, macaroons and more macaroons - Dubai

There was one place in London I always wanted to go to but never ended up in - Ladurée. This tiny little café in Burlington Arcade just off Piccadilly looks like my perfect place.

Three tables, hundreds of perfectly formed, colourful macaroons, served by one grumpy looking Frenchman or woman, perfect. However, having been a tiny bit scared of the grumpy looking French waiter and hordes of tourists that stop and admire the cakes I never made it in and thought macaroons would have to wait until the next trip to London. Imagine my surprise when on one of my early morning strolls on the first floor of Dubai Mall I come across a HUGE Ladurée, Dubai style.

Ladurée in Dubai Mall

Being situated in a mall it is tricky to beat the quaint location in Burlington Arcade. However, Ladurée has managed to re-create a tiny corner of Paris next to the glitzy 'Fashion Catwalk'. Suitably placed at the end of the Catwalk, Ladurée is the perfect place to rest your feet after a long day in those Jimmy Choos before tackling the Joseph shop across the road. You can either sit 'outside' at the tables on the green lawn or inside where the perfect old fashioned French decor could have you fooled into thinking you were somewhere in the 8th arrondissement sipping a Café crème while smoking your Gauloises.

I opt for the indoor cafe and as I step in smooth jazz plays gently in the background. This sadly serves to remind me that we're still in a mall and I wish they'd gone for a more French soundtrack. The dark blue velvet chairs with their gold tassels and the dark wood furniture agains grey blue walls with more velvet makes it almost a regal looking place. It could look cheesy but here it just sort of reminds me of an old grandmother's tea parlour, in a nice way! Outside is the more summer-y looking garden cafe with a light green fence and light wooden tables and chairs on a fake lawn with some manicured bushes.

Macaroons and tea at Ladurée

I sit down in the corner and three lovely waiters are quickly at hand. At the table next to me are a couple of a local Emirate women and men, nibbling on their macaroons. I take as a good sign, the locals seem to love Shakespeare and Co which is another favourite so this place must be just as good. I order tea and two macaroons, liquorish and pistachio, that arrive on lovely pink and blue china. The subtle liquorish goes incredibly well with my cup of Thé Oolong la violette, violet tea. Unbeatable flavour combination if you ask me! Pistachio is a classic and doesn't disappoint. Very nutty tasting with tiny, tiny bits of pistachio nuts agains the velvety green pistachio cream, heaven.

Now I love macaroons in any flavour, colour or shape but my lasting taste from today is my amazing violet tea, not everyone's cup of tea (no pun intended!) but if you used to love those odd little parma violet sweets as a child you'll love this. As I leave I linger near the counter admiring all the pretty macaroons and gift boxes while trying very hard not to buy all of it. Why is it that anything pink or mint green with gold embossed writing makes me want it!?

http://www.laduree.fr/

An Italian Aussie in Dubai Mall - Dubai

So Tim might have got the job offer of a life time, and yes, it's hot and sunny here year round, we pay no taxes and I can spend hours by the pool, but the real reason we have come to live here in Dubai is the heavenly ice creams and cakes at Brunetti's.

Being Swedish, having coffee and cake is a very, if not the most, important part of the day. We call it 'fika' and to 'fika' generally consists of taking a break from whatever you're doing to have coffee and a piece of cake. In companies in Sweden people would be up in arms if the 'fika paus' was abandoned. At about 10am and 3pm Sweden comes to a halt when it's workforce leave their computers, abandon meetings and conference calls to head to the 'fika' room (yes there is a specific room for this) and happily tuck in to whatever cake a colleague has baked or bought along with a couple of cups of coffee. Across Sweden you will find endless cafes with delicious cakes, a few classics are Princess Cake (prinsesstårta), Vanilla Heart (vaniljhjärta) and Cinnamon buns (kanelbullar).

Brunetti's was the first place Tim and I went to in Dubai on our 48 hour stay here in October last year, and despite it's location in the larges mall in Dubai and next to a rather hideous 'Candylicious' shop and a huge fish tank (what is it with Dubai and aquariums!?) where you are constantly watched by the manta rays, it is a lovely place for coffee and cake. It may sound and look very Italian but this establishment originates from Australian. The chain of cafes only has one branch outside Melbourne and this happens to be in our local mall, the Dubai Mall. However, the founder, Mr. Giorgio Angelé allegedly began his training in Rome aged 10. In 1956, Giorgio came to Australia with the Italian Olympic team as a pastry chef. After working for a few years, Giorgio was then given the opportunity to migrate to Australia permanently and set up Brunetti's.

Their Gelateria offers around 25 flavours of ice cream all made using fresh fruit and natural ingredients.

Mango and Green Apple ice cream at Brunetti's

I don't exactly know what is in this ice cream but something makes it far more smooth but still 'icy' than normal ice cream. I went for two scoops, one of the amazingly smooth mango, and on of a slightly artifically tasting green apple. Tim decided on dark chocolate and strawberry and we quickly decided that mango and dark chocolate is by far the best combination.

Brunetti's cake selection is conveniently divided in two parts, normal sized cakes such as lemon meringue, strawberry tarts and lemon mousse etc on the left hand side of the rather huge counter, and then a tiny bite sized version of the same cakes on the right. In between is the ice cream and also lovely looking chocolates. Having tried most of the bite sized versions I am getting ready to tackle the full sized cakes next, and maybe get some chocolates to take away...

http://www.brunetti.com.au/Default.aspx