This easy Swedish Blueberry Cake is a riff on the traditional Scandinavian Toscakaka with a buttery almond topping that yields to a moist rich blueberry cake underneath. (Jump directly to the recipe.)
Lately I’ve been trying to take a back seat on surfing the web for recipes and really diving deeper into the cookbooks that I own. I adore cookbooks (it’s one of the reasons I started this blog, and one of the reasons I wrote my own cookbook Marbled, Swirled, and Layered) and I own WAY too many of them. But somehow, when I am looking for a recipe I just sit down on my computer and just type in keywords hoping to find that perfect recipe.
Not that I have issues with recipes online. I love recipes online! I run a blog with recipes online. The ability to find recipes online is amazing! But the sense of discovery I get when I thumb through a magazine or pick up a cookbook is something that doesn’t quite translate on the web. Sure I can surf through Pinterest or visit some of my favorite recipe sites. But the thrill of finding a recipe that you didn’t know you needed in your life is so much more visceral when you find it from a printed page. At least for me it is.
Of course, actually using your cookbooks is a pretty obvious thing for most folks, but it’s something I still occasionally forget. And then my friend Tina’s book Song of All arrived on my doorstep. It’s NOT a cookbook, but rather the first book in a fantasy trilogy set in Scandinavia. I’m excited to read it, she’s a dear friend of mine and in my writing group, but it also got me thinking about Scandinavian cuisine which led me to a bunch of Scandinavian cookbooks I own. Why do I own so many of these books? And more importantly, why have I not cooked out of them?
It was thumbing through the one of the books, Fire and Ice: Classic Nordic Cooking by Darra Goldenstein that had me bookmarking and placing post-it notes on page-after-page. And it was there that I stumbled upon Goldenstein’s version of toscakaka. Her version, a Swedish Blueberry Cake, is a riff on a traditional toscakaka, a classic Swedish cake that is usually made without fruit. But this blueberry version just looked absolutely lovely, the perfect cake for me to make, then snuggle down and have a slice, while I dive into my friend’s book. And I once the smell of the cake baking in the oven permeated the apartment, I suddenly felt that hygge sensation that everyone keeps talking about.
Swedish Blueberry Cake aka Blueberry Tosca Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup white granulated sugar 200 g
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 115 g or 1 stick
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract optional but recommended
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 175 g
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
Topping
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 115 g or 1 stick
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon pearl sugar optional but recommended (see headnote)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking oil and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
- Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale yellow in color, about 3 minutes. Add the baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir in.
- Stir the melted butter, vanilla and almond extract (if using) together, then add it to the egg mixture. Beat to incorporate, then add the flour and mix until absorbed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and spread evenly into pan.
- Sprinkle the blueberries over the cake batter, then press berries into the batter. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in oven or until the cake is puffy in the middle and just starting to turn golden brown on the edges.
- About 10 minutes before cake is done, combine all the topping ingredients, except the pearl sugar, into a pan and cook on the stovetop on medium high heat until it starts to bubble. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 3 minutes, stirring once or twice carefully, trying not to break any of the sliced almonds.
- Once the cake is barely done, pull it out of the oven and increase the heat of the oven to 400°F. Carefully spoon the topping ingredients over the cake then sprinkle the pearl sugar on top (if using). Return cake to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown and crisp.
- Let cool in the pan 15-20 minutes before removing from springform pan.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
Now that cake sounds and looks amazing!! I bet that top is crunchy – which I like and would be perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Now, I’m like you, I love my cookbooks and magazines. I page through them and read them like novels. Yes, I can do a search for a recipe but it’s not like you’re holding it in your hands. Hubby keeps wanting me to zen the kitchen and rid it of some of my cookbooks. And, where have I been?!!!! You have a new “do”. I like it! No nonsense and let’s get down to pictures and recipes. I’ve never made a cassoulet — I’ll have to give it a go.
Nora Barry says
I just made this, it was fabulous! However, I didn’t notice a pan size specified, so I used a 9″ springform and that seemed to work well. I live in a small town, where pearl sugar is unavailable, so I just substituted chopped up sugar cubes. I have your cookbook and love it. Please keep coming up with new recipes!
Irvin says
Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I went ahead and updated the recipe. It should have been a 9=inch springform pan, so I’m glad it worked out for you! Thank you so much for leaving a comment and I’m glad you enjoyed the cake (and my book)!
Anne Wallace says
Hey there Irvin,
Hope all is fine and dandy with you, my friend (at least I feel your are a mindred spirit—totally with you on printed cookbooks versus cyber browsing. And yes, I even have Scandinavian baking books that are ever so lightly touched yet unbaked virgin tomes)
I am making two versions tonight of this recipe: a blueberry with some grated lime included and a raspberry with grated lemon.
What brand kosher salt floats your boat?
Keep you posted on my Baking With Lin Kitchen Adventures!
Cheers,
Anne
Irvin says
Yes! Please keep me informed please! I love your variant ideas.
And I’m a fan of Diamond Kosher Salt. It’s more crunchy and less dense. All my recipes are designed with it. If you use a different kosher salt like Morton’s, I’d half the amount.
Anne Wallace says
Hey there Irvin,
Hope all is fine and dandy with you, my friend (at least I feel your are a mindred spirit—totally with you on printed cookbooks versus cyber browsing. And yes, I even have Scandinavian baking books that are ever so lightly touched yet unbaked virgin tomes)
I am making two versions tonight of this recipe: a blueberry with some grated lime included and a raspberry with grated lemon.
What brand kosher salt floats your boat?
Keep you posted on my Baking With Lin Kitchen Adventures!
Cheers,
Anne
sanjay mishra says
I love this swedish blueberry cake already. You put many of my favorite thinks in it. I definitely try this at home Thanks for sharing this with us.
Akash says
This swedish blueberry cake is very delicious .I would love to try it soon.Thanks for this fantastic recipe.
Rose Pettersson says
I’m going to try the Swedish Blueberry Cake this weekend. It looks good.
peppy says
Greetings from Bulgaria.
I am a huge fan of Swedish cakes and this bluebery cake is totally amazing!
Thank you!
Renae says
This looks so good! I have a couple questions about substitutions (sorry!)…
1. Can I sub almond loud and if so, how much?
2. Can this be made as a loaf? How much time to cook?
#inexperiencedbakerwoes
Irvin says
Hi there. I’m not sure what almond loud is? And this recipe is specifically designed for a 9-inch cake round. You can try to make it into a loaf but I can’t guarantee it’ll turn out! The batter is probably the right amount for a loaf pan though. I’d bake it roughly the same amount of time though you might have to adjust the time. Try checking the loaf about 35 minutes in to see how the top looks. You should also cut the topping in half because a loaf pan has less surface area than a 9-inch round cake!
Anyway, if you do attempt this in a loaf pan, please come back and let me know how it turns out!
Janet Fisher says
could i use almond flour to make this gluten free?
Irvin says
Hi! So as you know, regular flour has gluten in it, which helps to keep the cake together! If you just substitute almond flour, it might fall apart and become too crumbly. If you want to make this gluten free, you could sub in about 1/4 almond flour and then use 1 cup of your favorite all-purpose gluten free flour (like Cup4Cup or Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1). Make sure the flour has some sort of binder in it, like xanthan gum.
Or you can use an mix of gluten free flours you might have (I think buckwheat, teff, white rice and millet would all make good flours for this cake) as well as 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan or guar gum. Or, if you’re avoiding gums, try grinding 1 teaspoon of flax seed or chia seed and using that instead. They will help bind the cake to keep it from becoming too crumbly.
But if you do want to try making the cake with all almond flour, go for it and come back and let me know how it turns out! I might increase the egg to 4 eggs, as that would also help keep the cake bound together. Keep in mind that the cake will be denser and more egg though, if you use just almond flour and the extra egg.
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krys says
I just made this, and the recipe is confusing. It says “Bake for 40-45 minutes…” and then the next step (6) says “About 10 minutes before cake is done…” So do we do step six at 30-35 minutes? Then step (7) says “once the cake is barely done..” does that mean 40-45 minutes? This is a challenge as I’m at high altitude, 7000 feet, and understanding a recipe exactly is important since altitude adjustments are hard enough! I wound up over-baking the cake, and I’m not sure if it’s because of the altitude adjustments (not always adequate on first try) or if I should have baked it 30-35 minutes first instead of 40-45 minutes…
Beth Ringland says
I have made this multiple times without the almond extract, almond slivers, and sugar pearls, as they were not in my cabinet but, I have been told to “get that crack cake out of my site”