It’s month two of Around The World in 12 Dishes and we are visiting Sweden (see yesterday’s post on Swedish Midsummer). This works for me as we are trying to arrange a house swap in Sweden next summer, so it gives me a good opportunity to poke around on Pinterest and see what I can find. I confess that, despite knowing several Swedes, I know very little about Swedish things beyond Ikea. If you asked me to name Swedish food, I could have come up with:
Ikea meatballs
Gravadlax
Pickled Cucumber
Ummmm.
See? Actually, I can add Princess cake to that list, but only because a Crown Princess was recently born in Sweden and a mother at school, who is Swedish, told me that she had made the traditional cake to celebrate the occasion. Princess Cake was my first thought when I was looking for recipes for the Challenge- I assumed that most other people would go down the meatball route. But have you seen what’s involved with a Princess Cake? Don’t get me wrong, those things are beautiful, but there’s a good reason there hasn’t been a need to make one for the past 30 years!
Which sent me back to the drawing board, by which I mean the Pinterest board. And before you could say ABBA, I found the perfect cake: Swedish Visitors Cake. It is a dream to make, and both The Little Misses enjoyed eating it, so I’m confident I’ll make it again! I adapted it, as I had an excess of pears to use and a lack of almonds and have printed my adaptation of the original below:
Swedish Visiting Cake Recipe by Dorie Greenspan Baking: From my Home to Yours, via Bella Eats
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
200g sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
200g plain flour
2 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a springform 9 inch cake tin.
Mix lemon zest into sugar with your fingers until sugar smells warm and lemony.
One at a time, whisk in the eggs until well blended, then add in salt and vanilla and almond extracts and whisk further.
Carefully fold in flour.
Finally, fold in melted butter.
Arrange pears in the base of the cake tin, then cover with batter, smoothing down with a spatula. Sprinkle the top of the cake with a teaspoon of sugar.
Place the tin on a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and pulling away slightly from the edges of the tin.
I was having a nosey at your posts and couldn’t resist commenting on this one, with the Swedish link. I’d replied to your comment on my post, asking where you were planning to go in Sweden, and now I see here you’re thinking of a house swap. Sounds an exciting idea. We will have to discuss areas, once I’ve whizzed round the country in the summer.
As to the cake, I think even I could manage this, though I’m also tempted by your espresso brownies further up the page!
Try away Trish- them brownies are delicious! Thanks for visiting too. Don’t know why i never get the email telling me that my comment has been replied to, but I’ll do that now
Oooo yum! I love trying out new recipes. This looks tasty. Thanks for sharing at oopsey daisy!
It’s delicious Alsion (no modesty here). Enjoy!
This looks delicious! I’m pinning it! We make lefse (which is probably more Norwegian than Swedish) and Swedish Meatballs every year during the holidays to celebrate our Scandinavian ancestors–I can’t wait to try this…we might have a new Scandinavian dish for mid-year fun!
Thanks for commenting Carla- we may well be embarking on a holiday to Norway next year so I may need to get the recipe from you.