BLIZZARD WEEKEND - BLIZZARD BAKING!
Toscakaka - Tosca Cake: Simple and delicious!
The blizzard is weekend gave me the perfect excuse to not leave my kitchen! I have been baking and cooking, and cooking and baking. I baked a cake whose recipe I have been meaning to share for a while; it’s called Toscakaka, a Scandinavian cake that consists of a light vanilla cake topped with a delicious almond caramel. I discovered this cake a few months ago…in the cookbook called Scandilicious Baking by Signe Johansen.
My husband and I had this cake first a few months ago and we couldn’t believe the flavor: simple and simply delicious. We were literally blown away by how dangerous this simple little cake was...I had to give it away... before we ate it all in one sitting.
This cake is either named after the opera Tosca. Others say it’s named after Tuscany, where almonds are grown. I don’t know…not sure that I care.
I’m so happy to have found this recipe! The cookbook has the ingredients listed by weight: I have translated them into volume for those of you who don’t weigh. This cake is good for an afternoon snack, a dessert or breakfast! It keeps very well also. I guarantee this recipe is a keeper!
Preheat oven to 350F. I butter and line a 9” round cake pan with parchment. I also put strips of parchment under the round to create …’handles’ to pull up the cake a bit…the sides get sticky with the caramel. See the photo below.
CAKE:
3 eggs – large
¾ cup/150 g white sugar
½ teas vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup/150 g all-purpose flour
1 teas. Baking powder
¼ teas. Fine sea salt
5 tbls/75 g unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup/75 ml buttermilk
CARAMEL:
9 tbls/125 g butter
1 cup lightly packed/125g light brown sugar
1 ½ cups/150 g sliced almonds: Buy the freshest, best almonds you can find: it makes a difference!
¼ cup/50 ml whole milk
¾ - 1 teas fine sea salt
½ teas vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract – I prefer vanilla bean paste
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare your pan.
Using the whisk attachment of your mixer mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla paste until pale and fluffy. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
Still using the whisk attachment – add the flour mixture and the melted butter, and buttermilk …alternating the dry with the wet ingredients. I start and stop the mixer, scraping the sides of the bowl, mixing on low – still with the whisk.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Drop on the counter to release any large air bubbles (sometimes I forget to do this…not a deal breaker.)
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cake is done: it will be light golden brown and the center will pop back up when lightly pressed.
When the cake is in the oven make the praline: Put all of the caramel ingredients into a small sauce pan over medium/low heat …bring to a simmer and cook for about 7 – 8 minutes: it will have thickened. I generally start putting this all together once I put the cake in the oven.
When the cake is done, turn the oven temp up to 425F. Take the cake out of the oven and pour the caramel over the top…try to even it out across the cake top.
Return the cake to the oven on an upper shelf for 5 -10 minutes until the caramel is bubbly and browned.
Cool in the pan for about 5-7 minutes – then run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen any stuck caramel. Let cool a bit longer until the top is ‘dry’ and can be flipped from the pan…flip from the pan, remove the parchment and quickly return it to the rack to finish cooling.
This cake is wonderful plain. I also like it with some whipped cream and fruit compote…dark cherry compote is especially good. Enjoy!!!












