Ingredients
Pastry
- 300 gplain flour
- 200 gcold butter, cubed
- 100 gsugar
- 1egg
- 1 tspbaking powder
- a pinch of salt
Filling
- 250 gground almonds
- 250 gicing sugar
- 2egg whites
- 1 tspground cardamom
- ½ tspalmond extract
To glaze
- 1egg, beaten
Directions
- Rub the butter into the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then bring it together with the egg into a firm dough. Add no water at all.
- Chill the dough for at least an hour.
- Mix the ground almonds, icing sugar, egg whites, cardamom and almond extract into a thick spreadable paste.
- It should hold its shape on a spoon. Too loose and it bubbles out through the lattice; too stiff and it dries to a brick in the oven.
- Press two thirds of the dough into a 24 cm tin, taking it a little way up the sides.
- Press it in rather than rolling it. This dough is short and crumbly and it tears the moment you try to lift a rolled sheet.
- Spread the almond filling evenly over the base.
- Roll the remaining dough between two sheets of parchment, which is the only practical way to handle it, and cut it into strips about 1 cm wide.
- Lay the strips over the filling in a lattice, pressing the ends firmly into the rim.
- Glaze the lattice with beaten egg, taking it right over the rim so the edge browns evenly.
- Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 35 to 40 minutes, until deep golden.
- Cool completely in the tin. It is fragile while warm and firms considerably as it cools.
- It keeps a week in a tin and is better on the second day. Its name means prince cake.
Technique
- Cardamom is the Norwegian signature and it is used more generously here than most non-Scandinavian palates expect.
- The lattice is traditional and the strips are meant to be narrow and closely spaced.
- It is a bakery cake rather than a special-occasion one, sold by the slice with coffee.
Substitutions
- Marzipan thinned with an egg white, if you would rather not mix the filling from scratch.
- Ground hazelnuts in place of some of the almonds.
Variations
- With a layer of raspberry jam under the almond filling.
- Made as small individual tarts.
- With the top left plain rather than latticed.
History
A Norwegian bakery cake whose name means prince cake, filled with ground almonds and icing sugar.
Frequently asked questions
What is Fyrstekake?
Fyrstekake is a dessert from Norway: almond-filled tart under a lattice of pastry strips. A Norwegian bakery cake whose name means prince cake, filled with ground almonds and icing sugar.
How long does Fyrstekake take to make?
Fyrstekake takes 30 min plus 1 hr chilling of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 tart, 12 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Fyrstekake?
Yes, within limits. Marzipan thinned with an egg white, if you would rather not mix the filling from scratch. Ground hazelnuts in place of some of the almonds.
What is the most important thing to get right in Fyrstekake?
Press it in rather than rolling it. This dough is short and crumbly and it tears the moment you try to lift a rolled sheet.
