I am of Scandinavian decent. No surprise to some of you I am sure. I have been doing more and more every year to celebrate many of my heritages. I believe it helps define you as a person. It gives you balance within your self to know and understand about your ancestors. I also love to bake. This cake I added free standing lace butterflies as part of the decoration on the cake.
This is a very traditional Norwegian cake that usually makes an appearance at any special occasion in Norway, but especially on May 17, the national day of Norway. This cake is especially made on that day as the red, white and blue colors represent the colors of the Norwegian flag.
There are so many variations of this particular cake. You can customize the cake to your tastes. Use any varieties of berries you like. The only rule is if you use this cake on Norway’s National Day it has to have red, white and blue on the cake.
I made a few changes to this traditional cake to up the flavor a bit, however you can keep it traditional if you prefer. To keep it traditional use jam inside. Or you can use a custard. Either way it is an easy cake to make for any occasion.
Bløtkake is one of those cakes that actually tastes better the next day because the custard and whipped cream has had some time to soak into the sponge cake. You can, of course, serve this cake immediately and it’s still delightful, but seconds on the day after will be even better. Enjoy!
Norwegian Cream Cake – Bløtekake
Sponge Cake/Sukkerbrød
- 5 eggs
- 175g (3/4 cup) sugar
- 175g (1 1/4 cups) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
Custard Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 TBS cornstarch
- 2 cups milk+ 4 TBS
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Whipping ingredients
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 2 ½ TBS powdered sugar
Instructions
To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place a parchment sheet in the bottom of a 9”spring form cake pan so that it fits just right (cutting it into a circular shape and greasing the bottom so it sticks) and grease the sides of the pan and top of the parchment sheet.
Blend the eggs and sugar together in a kitchen mixer on medium/high speed for 6-8 minutes.It is really important because you want the sponge cake to rise when it bakes and become airy and light.
Fold in the flour and baking powder into the batter and mix gently with a spatula.
Pour the batter into the prepared spring form cake pan and place on top of a cookie sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
When the cake is done, allow to cool. You can also freeze the cake for future use.
To make the custard:
Heat the 2 cups of milk but do not boil.
In a bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Add cornstarch and whisk until thoroughly combined. Slowly add heated milk while beating continuously to slowly temper the eggs. (you can use an electric mixer on low speed) (if you add hot milk all at once to the eggs they begin to scramble.)
Add vanilla and return to the stove.
Simmer for about 10 minutes while stirring constantly, until custard is thickened. Chill.
To make whipped cream, beat cream and sugar with an electric mixer until whipped cream consistency.
To assemble the cake:
Split the cake in half horizontally into 2 or 3 layers (your choice, either is good). Pierce both halves of the cake with a toothpick. Pour of the remaining milk or juice over each half of the cake. (the cake is very dry so you need to make it moist with adding the milk) I used lemon curd as part of my filling.
On each layer of cake, then spread a layer of jam(your choice) on the layer. Top the jam with a good amount of the custard, followed by the whipped cream and spread it out to the edges of the cake.
Lay the top layer of cake on top of the custard covered bottom layer and use the rest of the whipped cream to frost the entire cake.
The decoration of the cake is now up to you. You can also put berries in the center of the cake. Berries all over the outside of the cake and any other decoration you desire. NOTE: I had a difficult time with the frosting of the cake due to the heat. The frosting did not want to thicken right. If you refrigerate the whipping cream frosting before you frost the cake you get better results on a hot day.
Here are more examples of the Norwegian Cream Cake (the following pictures were found on Pinterest)
more to feast your eyes on.