Spicy Nordic Mini Cakes

In the beginning of February we have a special day in Finland, called Runeberg’s Day. Runeberg was our national poet but he’s not known just for his work. Every year on that special day, everyone enjoys a pastry named after him – it’s called Runebergin torttu. The story tells that this pastry was invented by his wife when she had to bake something with the ingredients she had in the kitchen.

Because the day is soon after Christmas, this is the perfect recipe to use your leftover gingerbreads! These pastries are perfectly spicy for winter baking, but still the flavour isn’t too christmassy. These mini cakes get their final touch from powdered sugar paste and raspberry marmalade. It may sound odd, but the taste is really good!

Normally these pastries are very small, but I like to make mine bigger (because they stay moister!). Sometimes I might make just one big bundt cake! To see the original pastry, google Runebergin torttu!

Spicy Nordic Mini Cakes

• Author: Viola Minerva
• Prep Time: 20 min.
• Cook Time: 30 min.
• Total Time: 50 min.
• Yield: 3 small cakes, 6 portions 1x
• Cuisine: Finnish

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 200 g butter
• 1 dl (2/5 cup) granulated sugar
• 1 dl (2/5 cup) demerara sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 dl (1.25 cup) all purpose flour
• 1.5 dl (0.65 cup) almond flour
• 1 dl (2/5 cup) crushed gingerbreads
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tl cardamom
• 150 ml double cream
• (breadcrumbs for the cake tins)

Extra:

• 6 tsp raspberry marmalade (suitable for baking in oven)
• 6 tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C.
2. Beat the butter and the sugars until fluffy and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, continuously whisking.
3. Combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix the dry ingredients and double cream into the butter mixture in turns.
4. Butter and breadcrumb 3 small cake tins (or other cake tins of your choice).
5. Add half of the batter to the cake tins. Then add 1 tsp of raspberry marmalade in the middle of each cake. Add the rest of the batter on top.
6. Bake in middle of the oven for about 25-35 minutes or until cooked (try with a cake tester).
7. Set aside to cool.
8. Mix the powdered sugar with a very small amount of water until you have thick white paste. Start with only 0.5 tbsp of water and add a little bit at a time so it won’t turn out too runny. Pour on top of each cake.
9. Finish the cakes with the rest of the raspberry marmalade. Enjoy!

Notes

You can make one bigger cake or many smaller mini cakes with this batter, just remember to increase/decrease the baking time depending of the cake tin(s) you’re using!

In the traditional recipe the cakes will be moisten with almond liquor after baking and left to set for many hours. I usually skip this part, but if you feel like your cakes need to be moisten, you can also use orange juice!