Battle of Pastries

5 February is a special day in Finland. We then celebrate the birth of our national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg, who lived in the 19th century. The celebration mainly consists of flagging in honour of Runeberg, and eating cakes that are named after him. Quite a nice way of celebrating someone, I think, especially because I like those cakes very much. (Please find the history of the Runeberg cake here and also take a look at the great design pieces of Tonfisk.)

This year, however, there is a problem. Sometimes it happens that Shrove Tuesday falls on the same date as Runeberg´s day, like today. For Shrove Tuesday we Finns also have a delicacy called shrovetide bun. It is a kind of sweetbread, risen with yeast, and filled with whipped cream and marzipan or jam. By the way, there are strong opinions divided between those, who insist their bun with jam, and those who consider marzipan as the only real filling in the Shrove bun. Finns tend to have an aversion to marzipan, I truly cannot understand that, as I am a fervent lover of that stuff. How about you, what is your relationship to marzipan? : )

But what´s the problem then with this all? I read in a couple of newspapers that many bakeries don´t sell Runeberg cakes and Shrovetide buns as much this year than they do normally, when the dates are different. This year most people either buy cakes or buns. The bakeries were guessing, which pastries would be more popular and would win the battle. Anyway, they cannot complain of my shopping behaviour, as I bought them both today!

And for those of you, who might be interested in trying to make a homemade version of the Runeberg cake, here comes a recipe. I can´t remember any more, which magazine published the recipe, but I´ve had it for ages and it is quite easy to follow. You can use the normal cupcake forms, either paper or metal and you´ll get app. 20 cakes, depending of course, how big forms/moulds you use. Good luck with baking!

200 g soft (not melted) butter
200 g caster sugar (ca. 2.5 dl)
2 eggs
2 dl fine breadcrumbs
2 dl finely ground almonds
2 dl wheat flour
1 tea spoon baking powder
(2 drops of bitter almond oil, not necessary)
raspberry jam (I prefer the homemade jam, if available.)
2 dl icing sugar
water

Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius.
Beat soft butter and sugar until you get a light and fluffy mixture. Add the eggs one by one. Mix the breadcrumbs, ground almonds, flour and baking powder in another bowl and then add gradually to the butter-egg mixture. (If you use bitter almond oil, you can add it now.)
Next form the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured working surface. Roll the dough lightly into a long "tail form" and cut it app. into 20 pieces (or less, depending how big you want the cakes). Put the pieces into the cupcake forms. With your finger, make a cavity in the middle of each piece and then fill it with raspberry jam. Bake the cakes in 200 degrees Celsius for about 15 min. (this maybe more or less, depending on your oven) Take the cakes out the oven, and if needed, you can add some more jam in the middle. Make the icing by adding some drops of hot water to the icing sugar, mix carefully, and squeeze a circle of icing round the jam.

I hope you´ll enjoy the cakes!