Suksesssterte – Norwegian vanilla almond cake

Suksesssterte – Norwegian vanilla almond cake – is a classic Norwegian dessert and one of the country’s most popular cakes, also traditionally served at Christmas. You may notice similarities to the famous IKEA almond cake with Daim bars: this cake is gluten-free, made with an almond meringue ‘sponge’ and topped with a delicious vanilla cream. It’s simple to make and uses basic ingredients. With this cake, success is guaranteed!

Ingredients for the almond base:

• 5 egg whites, from medium eggs
• 200 g caster sugar
• 200 g ground almonds
• a pinch of salt

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer, add a pinch of salt and whisk until stiff. Gradually add the sugar, one spoonful at a time, whisking continuously, until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Add the ground almonds and fold them in.

Transfer the almond meringue mixture to a 23 cm springform tin lined with baking paper and smooth the surface.

Bake at 170°C for 30–35 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. The centre of the cake will sink – don’t worry, this is perfectly normal.

Ingredients for the vanilla cream:

• 5 egg yolks, from medium eggs
• 80 g caster sugar
• 150 ml double cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• 200 g cold butter, cubed

Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.

Heat the double cream in a saucepan until almost boiling. Add the beaten egg yolk mixture and vanilla, then whisk together. Continue heating for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Take care not to let the mixture boil, as it will split. Once the mixture has thickened noticeably, remove from the heat and add the cubed butter. Stir until all the butter has melted. Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film, pressing it directly onto the surface of the cream, and leave to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, place in the fridge for 1–2 hours. Remove from the fridge and whisk using the whisk attachment until you have a thick, light and fluffy cream.

Spread the cream over the cooled cake and smooth the surface. Chill in the fridge for 3–4 hours. Once chilled, top with fresh raspberries and decorate with thin drizzles of melted chocolate (melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or microwave, transfer to a disposable piping bag, snip off the tip and drizzle over the cake).

Additionally:

• fresh raspberries, for decoration
• a few squares of melted dark chocolate

Note: You can also dust the cake with cocoa powder or ground coffee.

Enjoy!

Recipe source: Scandilicious Baking by Signe Johansen.