Swedish Almond Cake Recipe - NYT Cooking

June 03,2024

Fika is the Swedish custom of stopping twice daily for coffee, conversation and a little something sweet; the word was created by flipping the two syllables in kaffe Minutes after I had a fika in the Stockholm studio of the pastry chef Mia Ohrn, I started thinking about what I’d serve at my own first fika This cake, so much easier to make than you’d guess by looking at it, has become my favorite.
Fika is the Swedish custom of stopping twice daily for coffee, conversation and a little something sweet; the word was created by flipping the two syllables in kaffe. Minutes after I had a fika in the Stockholm studio of the pastry chef Mia Ohrn, I started thinking about what I’d serve at my own first fika. This cake, so much easier to make than you’d guess by looking at it, has become my favorite. The recipe turns out a moist, buttery, tender cake, which would be lovely as is. But when the cake is half-baked, I cook a mixture of butter, sugar, flour and sliced almonds, spread it over the top (a homage to Sweden’s famous tosca cake), put the pan back in the oven and wait for the mixture to bubble, caramelize and create a shell that is a little chewy, a little crackly and very beautiful. It’s a perfect cake for fika, and great for brunch.