Swedish Cake Toscakaka - Secret Recipe Club

Whilst I may be missing San Francisco and yearning for a place where my heart calls home, there are things about the UK I love. Friends. The ability to purchase good poppadoms. Radio 4. And my kitchen. When I turned the key in the lock and hauled my body, weary from 18 hours of returning Eastward, up the front doorstep…stepped into my kitchen I was flooded with nostalgia for my very own space. The pots, my red dutch oven, my chef knife, the little timer in the shape of a lemon that I never use and the soup spoon that is too large for my mouth. It was good to be ‘home’.
I’ve not cooked for a couple of months, well I have cooked but not created or veganised any recipes, or baked a single cake or airily light sweet muffin. I’d been AWOL from the The Secret Recipe Club too. When I put the red apron over my head and set to work on my return recipe, I tied that bow around my waist with a satisfied tug. Oh, how I love to cook.

The Secret Recipe Club assigns you to a biog from the list of members, for you to secretly choose one of their recipes to make. All the while, someone else has also been secretly poking around in your blogosphere recipes ,to cook or bake one of yours. It is huge fun and I love the discipline needed get it cooked and written about on time, AND the chance to try recipes from blogs I may not have otherwise come across.

This month I was signed to the pretty pink blogging home of Avanika, a baker from Mumbai. She writes in such a fun way. You almost feel like she is right alongside you in a kitchen full of adorable smells of baking. I loved the fact that I am baking alongside a cook from India! I went through the history of Avanika’s baking, and picked out three possibles for me to veganize. Creamy Lemon Slices, Crunchy chocolate bars but, owing to jet lag and a mountain of menus to plan and notes from my trip to assimilate I opted for the easiest option - Swedish Visiting Cake or Tosca Kaka to give it its Swedish name.

Avanika’s recipe was very simple to follow and it took no time to make (and eat!).

Veganising the recipe altered up her recipe just a bit. I would suggest doubling her recipe also as it made for a very small cake. The quantity below will give you small a 7inch cake.

This is my version. I cut out some of the sugar and butter, turned it gluten free and made it vegan. Healthier AND ‘yumsilicious’.

Ingredients

Heat oven to 180
lightly grease a 7 inch pan with vegan butter

1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
zest of 1 lemon
5 Tbs of apple sauce
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup almond flakes or slithers
1 tsp vanilla extract or the seeds of one pod
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp pink salt
4 drops lemon oil (optional)
1 tsp baking powder

Method
1. cream together vegan butter, sugar & zest, add extracts and salt and lemon oil (if using).

Fold in the flour and baking powder (sift the sorghum and baking powder together to ensure even distribution). Beat lightly for a moment and spoon into the greased cake pan.
2. bake until your kitchen is filled with the sweet smell of cake. Approx 30mins. Check if done if a tooth pick comes out clean.
3. leave to cool, put on a wire rack.

I LOVED this cake. It was moist, the palm sugar gave it depth and a chewy, caramely, crust. The subtle hint of fresh lemons gave the cake lightness and harmonised effortlessly with the almonds. I declare it a ‘keeper’.

Thanks Avanika (smiles)