A cake that can be mixed up in the time it takes for the oven to heat up? That’s just one perk of this Swedish Visiting Cake. It also tastes great.
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is nothing short of impressive given how quick and easy it was to put together. What makes it so quick and easy? It’s mixed in one bowl, by hand, and the butter is melted before adding so there is no time spent trying to get the butter to room temperature. It’s the perfect last minute cake!
The story behind this cake is that you can start mixing it when you see visitors coming up the road and it will be ready by the time the coffee is ready to serve. I can see how this would be true if I could see visitors coming up my road. A more likely scenario these days is, you can start mixing it when you get a text message that friends are on their way over and it will be ready when the coffee is ready to serve.
The recipe calls for the cake to be topped with slivered almonds, which I didn’t have. For a cake that is all about last minute and quick, I wasn’t about to make a trip to the store, plus I didn’t have time for that. A quick rummage in the freezer produced an excellent stand-in, pine nuts. I also added 1 teaspoon of ground lavender flowers for a little flavor excitement. The moment I added the ½ teaspoon of almond extract I knew I likely just obliterated any hope of picking up on the lavender flavor. Almond extract is a bit of a flavor bully and it did tromp right over the lavender. I just wasn’t thinking quickly enough.
I was fearful the cake would be a bit dry, but that fear was put to rest after the first bite. It was not only moist, but tender which made it seem very light despite not using any chemical leveners. So the next time you need to bake a cake in a hurry, or you find yourself without baking soda or baking powder, this is the recipe to turn to. But please don’t wait for such dire circumstances before giving it a try.
Nancy of Dogs Eat the Crumbs selected the recipe for this week and you will find it posted on her blog. Thank you Nancy for selecting a speedy project this week; things have been a little hectic around here lately.
Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 121 recipes completed 100 to go!
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Wow, lavender and pine nuts. Sounds delicious. It sure looks good!
lavendar and pine nuts!! how creative. Have to try the lavendar. Have made lavendar scones and buter, but not cake. Sounds great.
That flavor combo does sound wonderful – lavender is a bit much for me (too floral), but I can see how it’d work!
This sounds great! Almond extract is a flavour bully, but I love it anyway! I can foresee myself making this again and again with lots of variations, including my favourite, cardamom. Glad I found you–I couldn’t link from your comment from the coconut cake.
I like the pine nut idea! I really need to give this one a try.
This does sound easy, I might have to try it myself! Once again, you’re always creative with the ingredients! Lovely picture, Carol.
I love your variation – pine nuts would be excellent. Taking it out of Sweden for a minute, what do you think about a tiny bit of rosemary with the pine nuts – skip the almond altogether? This cake lends itself to flavor tweaks; love the dense texture. Thanks for baking along with me this week. Hope things calm down for you just a bit!
I think rosemary would be fantastic in this cake. I agree that leaving out the almond extract would be a good idea. A light touch with the rosemary would be key. Maybe finely chop a teaspoon of rosemary and rub it into the sugar with the lemon zest, or infuse a 4-5″ spring in the melted butter for 15 minutes then remove it. It seems that some experimenting is in order! Lavender rosemary would be a nice combo too.
Your variation sounds wonderful! And it looks great, too.
ooh…I love the idea of lavendar and pinenuts. Sounds delicious.