RUNEBERGSTÅRTA (RUNEBERG'S CAKE)
 ANLI
INGREDIENTS

batter:
1 egg
25 ml sugar
50 ml soft brown sugar (firmly packed)
100 g butter
50 ml cream
200 ml flour
1 tsp baking powder
50 g ground almonds
(50 ml ground or finely chopped walnuts or hazelnuts or ground dark sugar cookies)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
½ tsp almond essence
(a dash of almond liqueur — "Amaretto")
sugar syrup:
100 ml sugar
50 ml water
1 - 2 tbsp (or to taste) Swedish punsch, rum or cognac
raspberry topping:
100 ml raspberries — fresh or frozen
50 ml sugar
sugar icing:
icing sugar
water
dash of almond essence
INTRODUCTION

These cakes were named after Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), the national poet of Finland, who is said to have had a special liking in them. His birthday is celebrated on the 5th of February, around which time the cakes are sold in many bakeries or made at home. Although the recipe may seem long and complicated, it isn't. These cakes are very quick and easy to make. Source (with photos): http://www.dlc.fi/'marianna/gourmet/15_21.htm
METHOD

1.Melt butter and let it cool slightly. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Beat egg and sugars until fluffy, add almond essence (and liqueur), melted butter and whipped cream.
2.Mix together dry ingredients. (If you don't have walnuts, hazelnuts or sugar cookies at hand, you can omit them or replace them with ground or chopped almonds.) Gently fold dry ingredients into the batter.
3.Lightly butter eight small (90 ml / 3 fl. oz) cylindrical moulds and spoon batter into them. Place moulds on baking sheet and bake cakes at 175°C - 200°C (345°F - 390°F) for 15 - 20 minutes or when a toothpick inserted in the middle of them comes out clean.
4.Meanwhile prepare sugar syrup and raspberry topping. Place sugar, water and the alcohol of your choice into small saucepan. Bring mixture to the boil so that sugar melts and alcohol evaporates. Remove from heat and set aside.
5.Place raspberries and sugar into another small pan, bring to the boil and cook gently until sugar has melted and berries are broken (about 15 minutes). Stir every now and then. Set aside to cool. Topping should be rather thick, let it boil for a little longer if it's too thin.
6.Take hot cakes out of the oven and drizzle the warm sugar syrup on top of them. Use all of the syrup. Let cakes absorb the syrup for half an hour or longer. When cakes seem thoroughly moist, gently remove them from the moulds and flip them over.
7.If the bottoms are uneven, cut them flat carefully, using a serrated knife, so that the cakes will stand straight. This is most easily done while the cakes are still inside the moulds. Cut by moving the knife along the rim of the mould.
8.Cut a small round hole on the top of cakes using a small teaspoon. Fill the holes with raspberry topping and let it set in refrigerator.
9.Meanwhile prepare a very thick sugar icing by mixing a dash or water with icing sugar. Flavour the icing with a dash of almond essence. Pipe icing around the raspberry topping on top of cakes. Let the sugar icing set and serve cakes with coffee or tea.
10.Makes about 8 small cakes.



REVIEWS

http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/shrove5.htm Try this site...

AnLi
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