Recently I was looking for some pictures to take with me to my holiday to Europe.
I am visiting family and engaging in some compassionate traveling by finding locations that inspire compassion in action.
In some old piles of pictures, I found several that were of the cakes we have made over the years. Most of them have been decorated by my daughter who has an excellent eye for tasteful looking decorations.
I came to think that finding the pictures should mean something. That I should share the art of the Finnish style party cake making with everyone.
In Australia, there is a great variety of styles for cake making. People like them sweet, dry and moist, fruit filled or just plain. One of the most popular cakes in Australia are Lemmingtons, small square sponge cakes covered with chocolate and coconut. They are eaten at every occasions. They are sold for fundraising, too. They are easy to make and do not cost much.
A sponge cake is the base of the Finnish or Scandinavian style layered party cake.
This is my simple recipe for the cake base.
One class full of eggs
One class full of white sugar
One class full of plain flour. I substitute approximately 1/3 of the class with potato flour to make the sponge fluffy.
Beat the eggs and the sugar until it is fluffy and white, add the flour and ster. Bake in a cake tin in 225 celsius temperature for 10-15 minutes
I cut the cake in three layers and moist it with pineapple juice from the crushed pineapple can. I also use the pineapple in the filling.
There is an ongoing discussion going on about the moistening of the cakes. Some people like to use rum, others use milk. I prefer the juice because it gives the cake an edge with it's taste which blends well with anything.
I blend bananas with raspberry jam for filling on top of the pineapple.
There is another ongoing debate about the filling. The most exotic of the Finnish jams is Claud-berry (lakka). Many people like it a lot and use it in their cakes. It is a matter of taste. So everybody should experience with their favorite fillings.
If you like chocolate filling then 'Nutella' and cream is a really tasty variation for a filling. Then I use milk to moisture cake layers.
The most important part of the cake is the decoration. The Finnish cakes are covered with whipped cream and decorated with whatever is available. In Australia we decorate them with exotic fruits.
The first cake pictured in this blog is the birthday cake that has been baked for my younger daughter's 21st birthday in Finland this month. The filling is of caramel and cream and it is decorated with caramel. The two other cakes are some of our Christmas cakes in Australia. They are decorated by my older daughter and add the huge selection of Australian fruits to our Finnish tradition.
Experiment and Enjoy!
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