Some people prefer their cakes moistened with Punsch, but most use rum or almond extract as a flavoring instead. As with any traditional recipe, there are numerous variations of the Runeberg’s Cake – some make theirs with ginger bread crumbs, and most use almonds in some form; some want their cakes very moist, and some prefer a crumbly cake. Most recipes have twice as much margarine or butter as my recipe, but I wanted to make a lighter cake, so we could eat several of them!

My Runeberg’s cakes include things I found in the cupboard yesterday evening: digestive cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, ground almonds, almond extract, and hazelnut-almond rice milk. We couldn’t resist having a bite of these yesterday evening, but the real treat was at the breakfast today, when the flavors had developed in the fridge overnight. The texture is quite crumbly, since I don’t like my cakes too moist, but the moistness is easily adjusted by the amount of liquid infused in the cakes after baking. This recipe makes exactly 12 cakes.

Dry Mix:

• 2 and 1/2 dl ground cookies (we had digestives)
• 2 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 2 dl bread crumbs
• 1 dl ground almonds (50 g)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• pinch each: cinnamon, cardamom, dried ginger

Wet Mix:

• 1/2 dl dark syrup
• 1/2 dl sugar
• 1 dl liquid margarine (or melted margarine)
• 1 and 1/2 dl soy yogurt (plain, unsweetened)
• 1 dl hazelnut-almond rice milk (or other vegan milk)
• a few drops of almond extract (not more!)

Moistening:

• about 2 dl hazelnut-almond rice milk (or other vegan milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Decoration:

• 2 and 1/2 dl confectioner’s sugar
• a few teaspoons orange juice (or water, or soy milk)
• raspberry jam

I made the cake batter like a muffin batter: mixed wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then combined the two, and mixed just enough to combine. Now, I greased and floured my muffin tin, and spooned the batter in the cups. I leveled the surface of each cake, and then baked the cakes in 175 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, until they were a little browned over the tops.

After the cakes had cooled down a little bit, I removed them from the tin, and moistened them with rice milk flavored with rum extract. I spread the milk over the cakes with a teaspoon and let them infuse all of it. Some people just make a mixture of rum, water, and sugar to moisten their cakes, some use additional almond extract in this. More liquid can be used to make moister cakes.

I made the icing as thick as possible, first adding just enough liquid in the confectioner’s sugar to produce a crumbly paste, and then adding some more drop by drop until the consistency was just thin enough for piping. I placed a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle of each cake, and then piped a circle of white sugar icing around the tops of the cakes. Now, I leveled the jam to make it coat the whole cake. After having a test bite with Heikki, I refrigerated the rest of the cakes until the next day.