Runeberg Cake - Runebergin Torttu

The 5th of February is the Runeberg Day and named after the national poet Johan Ludvig who was born on the that day in 1804. He wrote the Finnish national anthem “Maamme / Vårt Land” (Our Land). This song was sung at every end-of-school-year closing celebration I have been. Runeberg was already very famous during his lifetime.

His wife Frederika Runeberg invented the Runebering Torttu. She was a pioneer of women’s rights and one of Finland’s early novelists. In my very personal opinion, one of the main reasons everybody knows the Runeberg Day is because of those very tasty cakes. The story goes that Johan Runeberg had a sweet tooth and asked his wife for something delicious to eat. When Fredrika had nothing suitable on hand, she decided to make a cake from the ingredients she happened to have like some left-over gingerbread, breadcrumbs, flour and rounded it up with a good dose of punch or rom. Fredrika Runeberg's recipe book from the 1850s contains instructions for the cake, but it is probably a variation of a cake originally created by Lars Henrik Astenius, a pastry chef from Porvoo, in the 1840s. Fredrik Ekberg, a master baker from Helsinki who grew up in Porvoo, began selling this pastry in his pastry shop as early as the 1850s under the name Runebergintorttu. Cafe Ekberg is a very traditional cafe in Helsinki and if you are in the area around that time of year, indulge yourself with a Runeberg cake.

If you stroll through Helsinki from the markets square via the Esplanaden Park towards the Swedish Theatre you will find a statue of him in the middle of the park.

Usually the Runeberg Cakes are baked in a form that is a bit deeper and thinner than a Muffin board, but a Muffin baking board it doing a perfect job.

Ingredients:

150 g Finely Crumbled Gingerbread

1 dl Breadcrumbs

4 dl Flour

1 dl Ground Almonds

3 tsp Cardamom

2 tsp Vanilla Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

200 g Butter (soft)

3 Eggs

2 dl Cream

1 dl White Sugar

1 dl Brown Sugar

Bitter Almond Oil

For the “Bath” and the decoration:

2 dl Apple juice

3 Tbsp. Rom / Konjac or Punch

200 g Powdered Sugar

150 g Raspberry Yam (Frederika used in her original recipe apple yam, but somehow raspberry yam is the typical version today). The yam should not be very liquid.

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together with a good dose of bitter almond oil. The dough will be a bit coarse and wet.

Put into well buttered muffin form and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degree (no convention).

Let the Runeberg Cakes cool down. Put the apple juice and the rom into a big cup and dip each cake briefly with its lower part into the cup.

Mix the powdered sugar with a bit of water and put into a plastic bag. Cut of the corner, so that you can pipe a circle on top of each Runeberg Cake. Into the middle put the raspberry yam.

There are various versions of this cake, this one is a very moist and rich version.