October 2018

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

Thursday evening my Fiancé, Henrik, and I went to a wedding cake consultation at Patisserie Sthlm, along with our wedding planner, Anna from Rental Stories (who has been so totally awesome through this whole process!) We couldn't have been more pleased. They were so great!!!

It's actually been a little difficult to find an American style tiered wedding cake baker in Stockholm—Sweden's wedding cakes, though beautiful, usually have display stands with a big pole going through them, that I'm personally not a fan of (see Haga bakery's image below).

I also noticed that a lot of Stockholm bakeries (Haga included) only have a few pre-set flavor profiles to choose from. As deliciously awesome as bakeries like these are, not allowing for customization of the inside of a wedding cake isn't optimal.

My preferences really narrowed our options in the search for the perfect wedding cake baker. On top of that, all the American style cake bakers we initially liked, seem to keep moving away! First, we were really interested in Thora's Tårtor, but she was in the process of moving her shop down to southern Sweden. (If you are in the south, check her out!) Another suggestion by Anna, Sherry Bakery, also decided to move to Canada! LOL! It was beginning to get a little discouraging.

We had at least a few good options left to contact. One of our favorites was Liv Sandberg. She looks like she makes perfectly beautiful cakes. However, we wanted to cover our bases and look around at all the vendors first. I initially emailed Naked Cake (twice) and they never even bothered with a response—now, it looks like they've even removed the wedding section off of their website. Henrik and I went in person to Sthlm Cupcake, without our wedding planner's knowledge, which was a little dumb. Wedding planners really know their shit and ours would've probably told us not to go. Henrik and I were predictably unimpressed. Chokladfabriken also looked like a good option. They had American style wedding cakes, but again, only two flavor profiles to choose from on their site. Our planner also suggested The Craving Solution, which looks perfectly adequate, but maybe a little rustic for my taste.

By a stroke of luck one day, I was scrolling through my Instagram and landed on one of Sweden's famous influencers, Kenzas', images of her 1 year wedding anniversary cake. (See a picture of it below.)

Just like that, I found Patisserie Sthlm! Anna, Henrik and I traveled a little outside the city center to a suburb called Barkaby to get there. It's in a completely newly built area of the city. So new in fact, that there is still a ton fencing, dirt and construction materials everywhere. It's located right across the street from a large dirt covered fenced-in plot of land, probably reserved for future buildings to come.

We showed up a little earlier than when our appointment was scheduled, right as one of the owners was walking inside. We had planned to kill some time by walking around a bit, but she spotted us right away and warmly welcomed us right in. They immediately led us to a little cute couch arrangement and offered us some refreshments. I have to give them some props for putting their logo thoughtfully on all of the water bottles. Nice touch ladies!

My first impression of the interior was a little surprised. Walking in, it felt like we could be inside a nice apartment of any one of the young girls that worked there. I think I was initially expecting more of a bakery feel. You know, with the traditional style counter and pastries on display, etc? Which, I guess is silly, because they're really only a custom order and special event kind-of-place. So, there isn't a need for that traditional kind of set up.

I immediately asked to use the restroom and saw all the cute girly touches of pink everywhere in there. Even the cleaning products were pink—including a small heart shaped sponge sitting on the edge of the sink. Which, I noticed while washing my hands with their equally girly pink-ish floral scented Victoria Secret style soap. I began wondering when my love affair ended with all that was pink and girly. Was it in my 20's? No Idea. I was also immediately made aware of my age (I'm in my 30's), but more importantly, of how really impressive these girls were. I mean, to already own their own business and have the level of success they seem to be having, is really just so amazing. It makes me wonder about what I have been doing with my life. Haha!

After our initial discussion, they provided their three most popular flavors for us to taste. They were all fantastic! The raspberry mousse was delicious. Anna was partial to the chocolate mousse. Henrik and I were really huge fans of the lemon option. I knew Henrik would love the lemon because he usually goes crazy for lemon meringue pie, but it really was just SO GOOD that I couldn't resist either. I can really see why these are considered "the favorites". They said they were also open to any other custom flavor options we wanted. Which, as you can guess, sold me on the spot. Although the lemon was so good, we might just end up going with it as is. Haha!

I had heard Megan Markle's cake (below) was also lemon curd, but with elderflower buttercream. Which, not only sounds amazing, but kind of Swedish too! Don't you think? Elderflower is a really popular thing here. I might just have to copy her. She is a fellow American-European expat after all. The girls at Patisserie Sthlm agreed to look into it and some other Swedish inspired options for our next tasting. So excited for that!

I am also getting married at a royal castle, Rosersbergs Slott (below), so it kind of feels appropriate to do as the royals do. Right?

After the tasting, we got down to business and discussed the bakery's capabilities. Could they accommodate gluten-free or vegan guests? Yes, Check! Could they accommodate a gluten-free and vegan guest? They thought so (but are going to look into it further). Could they ship to the castle? Yes, check! All was looking good so far.

We began discussing the size of our cake, and what it could look like—because It needs to be big enough to feed 124 people. It was then suggested that they possibly make us an extra large "fake cake", and we just have sheet cake for serving the guests. It was explained that the “fake cake” could actually have one real layer on top, for the cutting ceremony. Which, I thought was really smart! They said if we choose that option, then they could really make look our cake look however we want. I thought that it was absolutely amazing of them to suggest that.

They also showed us a little sample of what else they can do for dessert tables, wedding favors and the like. There was a small tray of a few items laid out. How cute are some of them (below)?!

They offer so many other things on their website than just wedding cakes. They have macaroon and strawberry towers, Cream tarts and cookies, just to name a few. If you have a celebration of any kind coming up, go to www.patisseriesthlm.se to see more! Also, check out their super pretty Instagram account @patisseriesthlm. I'm already a huge fan of this place and I haven't even ordered my cake yet. LOL! But... "Dun dun dun dunnnnn", I think we may have found a winner, people!!! I will definitely update Y'all again after our next cake appointment. I have a really good feeling about this place. <3

Until next time,
💖Kramar💖

CocoNUTS!

I'm officially crazy for coconut yogurt!

I am lactose intolerant and a firm believer that milk products are inflammatory, so I haven't actually had real yogurt for breakfast in forever! I'm so glad the world is changing, with all of these great dairy alternatives now. There have been a few dairy alternative soy products in Stockholm for a while, but soy is a bit controversial healthwise (especially when it comes to your hormones,) so I've been trying to avoid it. Now, that coconut yogurt has FINALLY hit Sweden the past couple of years, I can totally jump on the trend full-time and recommend it wholeheartedly!

I have hunted down all the kinds of coconut yogurt in Stockholm that I can find. The availability seems to have grown a lot over this past year. So far, my favorites are The Coconut Collaborative at ICA Liljeholmen (pictured above,) Abbot and Kinney's from The Good Store and Garant Eko Kokosghurt Naturell from Mat.se. I always recommend to go for the unflavored natural kinds, to avoid any extra added sugar—you can always put in honey or fruit to flavor it to your preference later.

Because of this new addiction, I have even attempted to make coconut yogurt on my own, in the oven. That didn't really turn out as planned. Somehow, it got contaminated and turned pink. 😝 I'll spare you all the grossness and not put up a photo of that mess. Apparently, making coconut yogurt is actually a little hard. Everything has to be super sterilized, so no unwanted bacteria can creep in and ruin it.

Since then, I have purchased a yogurt maker from Kitchentime.se (for only 249:-,) thinking it would be easier. It has just been sitting around for a while, waiting for me to use it. Out of fear of growing pink bacteria again, I haven't quite found the time yet. Haha! 🤣 But, I'm about to pick a day sometime next week to attempt this process again. I will, for sure, update you on my progress. Cross your fingers for me (if you are Swedish: hold your thumbs!)


This alien looking thing is the yogurt maker I purchased 😂

Does anyone have any tips on buying other good dairy-free yogurts in Stockholm?

How about making coconut yogurt at home? I could use all the tips I can get. Comment below!!!!

 

Quick Breakfast Tacos!

If there is anything I love about the US, it's definitely the food.

It's time to celebrate National Taco Day in the US today! While the taco is usually more associated with Mexico, the breakfast taco is actually a Texan creation. It's one Texans are pretty darn proud of too (rightly so, they're legit!). Why aren't there any restaurants in Stockholm with breakfast tacos? (Or, are there? Hit me up if you have an inside scoop.) Until then, I'm getting pretty darn good at making my own.

My sister is still in town today, so I surprised her with a quickly made impromptu breakfast taco trio. I totally just threw them together with ingredients already on hand. No real recipe needed!

Today's quick tacos were made with:

Normally, if it was a weekend (and I had a little more time on my hands) I would have probably made some turkey bacon or sausage for in them as well.

There are millions of variations on the breakfast taco. Just put in what you like and find a good combination that works best for you! 💖🌮💖

Miss Chicago Cake

My sister, Hiliary, is in town from Chicago this week!!! This is like her sixth time visiting me here, so she is already pretty well versed in being a Stockholm tourist. No matter how many times she comes here though, we always find something new for her to see or experience. I think her love of Stockholm now far surpasses my own. She is definitely a Swedophile.

One of the things she finds really charming about life here is, of course, the traditional Swedish Fika. It's really the perfect tourist activity. Your guests get to satisfy their sweet tooth while feeling culturally elevated at the same time. That's what I call a win-win situation.

Today we indulged. BIG TIME. I have been following Stockholm's Swedish-American bakery "Mr. Cake" and their wildly good-looking pastries on Instagram, for a while now. With Hill here, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to test the place out. Holy MOLY, everything was so good! Apparently, we weren't the only ones who thought that because It was veryyyy busy.


First, we got lunch! I got the pumpkin soup. It was delicious and felt just like fall.

I saw that Sweden's official "Cinnamon roll" day (Kanelbullens dag) is going on tomorrow. I couldn't wait to try Mr. Cake's American cinnamon rolls until then though, so I got one today.😜 Swedes are probably going to hate me for saying this, but I think I might still prefer the gooey, sticky, American style cinnamon buns over the Swedish ones. 😋


The Red Velvet Croissants were a total show stopper.❣️❣️❣️


Not to mention... the donuts. 🍩🍩🍩👀👀!!!!


Afterward, we walked all the way down the beautiful Karlavägen boulevard (towards Karlaplan) to burn off some of that sugar.

Then we ended up going into a bookstore in Fältöversten, where I picked up this little gem, just in time for tomorrow! (I might still prefer American Cinnamon rolls, but Sweden's are pretty darn good too. I can't hate. 😘❤️)