Friday, December 12, 2008

Saffron Cake

mjuksaffranskaka

Absolutely nothing says Christmas in Sweden like saffron. Despite that, I'd never tried making a soft saffron cake before - just saffron buns of different kinds. I came across this recipe at one of the best Swedish food blogs, Kryddburken, and I totally had to make it. You might think it has a lot of fat, and you're totally right. But saffron tends to dry out whatever you put it in, so you really need all that fat to make it nice and moist. I used, per the recipe's instructions, margarine but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to use real butter. (It so rarely does!)

Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent - make this and have your friends over for some genuine Swedish Adventsfika!

Saffron Cake

1 g saffron, ground (or mash it with a sugar cube in a pestle if you have saffron threads)
200 g margarine (if using unsalted butter, add a small pinch of salt)
2 eggs
300 ml sugar (about 300 g)
150 ml milk (0,6 cups or 150 g)
400 ml all-purpose flour (240 g)
2 tsp baking powder
Confectioner's sugar to garnish

Melt the butter, and stir in the saffron. Add the milk and let the mixture cool a little.

Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and baking powder. Carefully stir in the butter mixture - if you're not careful, you'll get saffron-y butter all over.

Pour into a buttered and floured pan, preferrably a springform with loose sides. Bake at 175°C for 40-45 minutes, until the cake is no longer sticky in the middle and has started to shrink away from the sides of the pan. When cool, decorate with sifted confectioner's sugar.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mjuk Saffranskaka

14 comments:

LBB said...

Oh, my goodess. That is beautiful.

Jessica said...

ml är bara för flytande grejer. För fasta saker är det väl gram? Och de olikaviktenheterna är inte utbytbara med varandra

Anne said...

Jessika, vad menar du nu? Det är klart att det inte är direkt utbytbart, men socker väger t.ex ungefär 95 g per dl (eller ja, närmare 100 de flesta gånger jag kontrollmäter, jag använder nog lite dryga dl), vätska väger i de flesta fall 100 g per dl, mjöl väger ungefär 60 g. Engelsmän mäter nästan allt i g (kolla Nigellas böcker).

Waspgoddess said...

sounds amazing. last night i made your lussekatter from the recipe you posted last year and they turned out just beautiful. "lussade" for my boyfriend this morning and they went down a treat! thank you and Glad Lucia!

any suggestions for bite-sized swedish xmas treats (sweet rather than savoury) that i can make to take to work next week?

Anne said...

Waspgoddess - make this cake, but as mini muffins! :)

Anonymous said...

This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Anyway, this cake is great.
It's so delicious and moist.

Will bring it to the office tomorrow. My colleagues will love this!

Waspgoddess said...

made this today, but as mini muffins like you suggested. and they turned out fantastic. wonderful delicate taste, easy to put together. thank you.

Anonymous said...

I addded a little bit of ginger and rose water to what you had mentioned. Not sure if that changed anything, but still the result was fantastic! thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

awesome recipe just like the cake i had when i was in sweden!!!! brilliant thanks so much

barbaramaynard@rogers.com said...

Just have to make this again this year. I serve it with organic whipped cream and toasted almonds and raspberries or orange segments. It will be our treat after Christmaas turkey.

Anonymous said...

Is this really only 1G saffron !!! For saffron cake ?? Of am I wrong and a littlebit stu..

Anne said...

1 g is quite a lot! :)

Anonymous said...

Does it matter what kind of baking powder - another words is the amount based on typical American baking powder? I get bikarbonate, backpulver all confused in translation. Excited to try these on the heels of Lussekatter.

Anne said...

Regular baking powder for this one, NOT bikarbonat (which is baking soda). Baking soda needs acid to activate, and this recipe doesn't have any.