Swedish Sockerkaka

Swedish Sockerkaka with a California twist

This time of year there is abundance of persimmons and pomegranates in Northern California. From farmer's market to established yards and parks it seems most everyone knows someone who is giving away fruit. Since my pomegranate tree is finally producing after about 8 years and my neighbors persimmon tree is over flowing, I decided to add their rich color to my sockerkaka which we made for a friend's birthday. This cake is so popular among our family and friends. It is simple and very pretty. I use either a small 4 cup Swedish cake pan or a 6 cup larger one-thrift stores are great place place to find unique ones. This one in the photo is such a find!

I recently added to my kitchen an amazing new Mixer-The Ankersum Origional. This mixer has been made and sold in Sweden since 1940! Most of my husband's family and friends have one which they call the "Assistant". Many families pass their down to the next generation. Jorgen's cousin has one which is 40 years old and still runs. Baking and serving "fika" with coffee is a very important part of Swedish daily life.

The Ankersum Origional with batter mixing bowl 

Here in California we live fast paced lives. We love good food and especially real food. There is little time for food preparation -let alone baking. Yet, in our home we have made it our Swedish culture to cook often, and especially to bake Swedish  cookies and cakes and breads. This cake, much like an American sponge cake, is quick, simple, and can be dusted with powdered sugar, presented with fresh fruit, whipped cream, or in the summer with a small cluster of fresh flowers decorating the plate.
The ingredients are simple as with most Swedish cakes: real butter, sugar, fresh eggs, baking powder,milk, and vanilla sugar or lemon zest. 

Often we are asked to bake this cake for friend's birthdays. Just this past week we had a busy Wednesday and after a  full day of kid's school, my class, making dinner, ballet,  so I quickly mixed this cake up and had it ready for one of the kids' friend's 21st birthday. Our neighbor had loaded us up with persimmons and we had a few pomegranates left over form jelly making, add a few raspberries and we had a beautiful cake for the celebration. Of course, there was a bowl of whipped cream to add on top of each slice!


Sockerkaka recipe

Oven 350

Prepare pan:

A small bundt pan that hold about 3 cups works well.

brush softened butter into every nook and cranny

lightly dust with flour or fine crumbs

I like to use a stiff brush and softened butter to get into all the spaces of the pan then dust with flour or crumbs.

2 eggs

¾ cup of sugar

1 ¼ cup of flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla sugar or  1 tsp vanilla extract

or grated zest from half a lemon

Melt the butter on the stove. Let cool a bit.

Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients and the vanilla sugar and/or zest.

Add this to the egg mixture. Then add the milk and melted butter.

Beat well until light and well mixed.

Pour into the pan and bake on the lower half of the oven for about 40 minutes. The cake will be slightly pulling away from the sides of the pan and the color will be golden, and your tester will come out clean.

Cool on the counter before removing from the pan. A trick I learned from an old cookbook in Sweden is to drape a  slightly cool, wet dish towel over the upside down form for a bout 5 minutes. The cake will cool under there and come out easily.

Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with seasonal fresh fruit. Amazing and great with coffee.