I am still mystified by the name of this cake. Is the cake named after the opera by Giacomo Puccini? I can’t answer you this question nor can I give you any background information of this cake – I really wish I could - but I can provide you with the recipe à la Marianne.
The classic Swedish Toscakaka has a very thin nut crust which usually consists of flaked almonds and I have an obsession with nuts. I think I could live on nuts and would be happy the rest of my life. Maybe this is a lie or I contradict myself here because I always tell you that I need to bake in order to seek happiness. Well, let’s say that baking, nuts – in particular almonds and I add cinnamon to this list makes me happy. So a combination of nuts and cake results in uber-happiness, at least in my logical baking world understanding.
Instead of using only flaked almonds I made a thick crust with different nuts. When I presented my mom with my version of this cake she testified that “my take on toscakaka” was actually really good which is reason enough for me to post this recipe here on my blog.
The classic Swedish Toscakaka has a very thin nut crust which usually consists of flaked almonds and I have an obsession with nuts. I think I could live on nuts and would be happy the rest of my life. Maybe this is a lie or I contradict myself here because I always tell you that I need to bake in order to seek happiness. Well, let’s say that baking, nuts – in particular almonds and I add cinnamon to this list makes me happy. So a combination of nuts and cake results in uber-happiness, at least in my logical baking world understanding.
Instead of using only flaked almonds I made a thick crust with different nuts. When I presented my mom with my version of this cake she testified that “my take on toscakaka” was actually really good which is reason enough for me to post this recipe here on my blog.
Makes one cake (20 - 23 cm / 8 or 9 inches)
INGREDIENTS
Cake
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 135 g granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
- 140 g pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 50 ml whole milk
Nut crust
- 120 g unsalted butter
- 90 g granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 200 g roughly chopped mixed nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans or flaked or slivers almonds)
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 175 °C.
- Butter and flour a cake pan (8 or 9 inches / 20-23 cm).
- Melt the butter and let the butter cool down.
- Whisk eggs and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla sugar and mix well.
- Combine flour and baking powder.
- Add flour, melted butter and milk to the butter sugar mixture.
- Pour the batter into a baking pan.
- Bake the cake for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime prepare the nut crust. Combine all ingredients in a pot and heat it up while stirring constantly. When the mixture starts thickening take it from the heat.
- Take the cake out of the oven. Spread the nut crust over the cake and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Liebe Marianne,
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine actually made this cake for me before and it tasted delicious. After reading your conundrum, I conducted a little informal research online on the namesake of Toscakake (or simply Swedish Almond cake.. I like the Puccini flare better :)). Only one site suggests that the cake is believed to be naming after Puccini's opera. Perhaps this is Scandinavian version of opera cake??
Enough of the name. I was wondering whether or not it is possible to reduce the amount of sugar that is in the cake batter and the nutty crust. Or would substitution with brown sugar possible?