Making Runebergin torttu aka Runeberg’s Cake is a cozy Finnish tradition in early February — and specially at the 5th of February, at a birthday of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, a national Finnish poet and Finnish anthem author.
According to a popular legend his wife Fredrika Runeberg, novelist and also journalist, created the pastry flavored with almonds and rum for her husband.
Presently many periodicals compete in the ingenious presentation of the cake idea. Actually you don’t need any recipes for it too. Just follow the cake style: brown base, red top and white circle around the red.
It could be a muffine or cheesecake. It could be porridge with cream and berries. I’ve even come across versions with a large cake the size of a baking sheet decorated with berry rings and white icing.
This year I was involved into the game too. Here is my own Runeberg’s cake fantasy too close to modern mousse deserts. Hope you’ll like it.
For this version you will need two silicone molds: Round Silicone Shot Glass Mold for chocolate biscuit ‘glasses’ and Silikomart Micro Dome for berry confiture. But the result is worth it.
Runeberg Cake – Runebergin Torttu
Finnish classics in a new way
Ingredients
Chocolate glasses
300 g melted butter
350 g white sugar
4 eggs
50 g cocoa
350 g all purpose flour
Vanilla mousse
170 g cream 33-35% fat
100 g milk 2-3% fat
4.5 g gelatine
40 g white chocolate
vanilla pod
Berry ‘coins’
100 g raspberry
40 g white sugar
1 tsp agar
Instructions
Chocolate glasses
- Preheat oven into 170 °C.
- Whisk butter and sugar, then add eggs one by one, then milk, cocoa and flour. Put the dough into the cornet, fill in Round Silicone Shot Glass Mold and bake for 40 minutes until dry stick.
- Chill then freeze completely for several hours.
Berry ‘coins’
- Put raspberry and sugar in a saucepan, add agar and boil. Put the mixture in a cornet and lay out the ‘coins’ into the mold Micro Dome by Silikomart.
- Freeze completely.
Vanilla mousse
- Soak gelatine plates in ice water. If you use gelatine powder mix it with 27 g of ice water and then use the whole mixture.
- Boil milk with vanilla seads, add chopped chocolate. If you use gelatine plates squeeze them well and add to milk and chocolate. Chill until 30 °C.
- Whisp cream, add gelatine mixture, chill a while.
Assembling
- Defrost the glasses and trim the bottom of them.
- Put the mousse in the glasses not reaching 3-5 mm to the edge.
- Place the ‘coins’ on top of the mousse, pressing lightly to form a bead around the ‘coin’. Refrigerate for two hours.
- Serve.
