This is my family’s go to for birthdays and gatherings. It’s the easiest cake I’ve ever made, and comes together quickly for a professional result.
It’s also likely the cake Kirsten’s mother would have made her. Almond desserts are highly prized in Scandinavia, especially in Kirsten’s time, and this cake requires no expensive ingredients like chocolate or vanilla extract- all of what goes in here, except the almond paste, would be lying around the farm.
After 45-50 minutes at 300 F, our cake is ready to come out. Now we need strawberries, raspberries, and powdered sugar. Slice your strawberries.
Get your cake on a plate or pan to cool. From the bottom, it should look like this. Cool for about 20-30 minutes- it’s a thin cake and should be served warm.
Kirsten gives the all clear!
Gently flip it onto the plate you’re going to serve it on, and arrange the strawberries around it.
Dust with powdered sugar.
At this point, the cake is accurate to Kirsten’s story and illustrations, but in my opinion, a raspberry garnish is necessary.
Get about 2 cups of frozen raspberries and microwave them for 30 seconds. This loosens up the juices and makes them mashable. Then, with the back of a spoon, strain them through a mesh strainer into a bowl, and scrape off the bottom.
Add about a tablespoon of sugar.
Now you’re ready to enjoy.
The texture of the cake should be dense and slightly chewy, with a good crust, similar to a brownie.
The raspberry garnish enhances the sweetness of the cake but cuts through the sugary, cakey taste, making it light and tart.
And there you have it. A nice summer treat in time for Kirsten’s tenth (or 176th) birthday.
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy, plus more if needed
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 generous tablespoon strawberry jam
Instructions
In a small food processor, blend freeze dried strawberries until they turn into powder. Pour the powder into a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids and seeds, keeping the fine powder that came through the sieve. Set the powder aside.Add the fresh strawberries to the food processor (no need to clean it out) and process until smooth (you will need 3 tablespoons of strawberry puree).
With a hand mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beater as necessary. Add the powdered sugar, ½ a cup at a time, beating until combined.
Add freeze dried strawberry powder, 3 tablespoons strawberry puree, vanilla extract and jam, and beat on medium speed until fully combined, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. If necessary, adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken, or more strawberry puree to thin it out. Place in a piping bag, or use an offset spatula to frost cake or cupcakes.
