Active Time

　　20 minutes

　　Total Time

　　1 hour and 5 minutes

　　This Danish Dream Cake (or ‘Drømmekage fra Brovst’) originates from Brovst, a village in Jutland. In 1965 a young girl baked her grandmother’s secret family recipe in a competition and won, and the cake has been a favorite of Danes ever since. No wonder: This cake is remarkably light and fluffy, with a delicious coconut topping.

　　You can buy vanilla sugar in Scandinavian food shops, but it’s also easy to make at home. Add 1 cup powdered sugar to a small food processor with a dried-out vanilla bean. Pulse until completely pulverized, then sift out any large pieces of the vanilla bean.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 10–12

　　3 eggs

　　1 cup (225 g) granulated sugar

　　1⁄2 tsp. vanilla sugar (see note at top)

　　1¾ cups (225 g) all-purpose flour or cake flour

　　2 tsp. baking powder

　　2⁄3 cup (150 ml) whole milk

　　3⁄4 stick (75 g) butter, melted

　　

For the topping

1 stick (100 g) butter

　　1½ cups (150 g) dried shredded coconut

　　1¼ cups (250 g) dark brown sugar

　　1⁄3 cup (75 ml) whole milk

　　Pinch salt

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Prepare a 9-inch springform or round cake pan, greased and lined with baking parchment.

　　

Step 2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla sugar on a high speed for a few minutes, until white and light. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together.

　　

Step 3

Carefully fold the flour into the egg mixture. Mix the milk with the melted butter in a jug/pitcher and carefully pour into the batter, folding it in until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

　　

Step 4

Bake in the preheated oven for 35–40 minutes, or until almost done (try not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes of the total baking time).

　　

Step 5

To make the topping, put all the ingredients in a saucepan and gently melt together.

　　

Step 6

Remove the cake from the oven and carefully spread the topping all over the cake. Return to the oven. Turn up the heat to 400°F and bake for a further 5 minutes.

　　

Step 7

Leave cake to cool before eating, if you can (we are well aware it’s hard to do that).

　　From ScandiKitchen by Brontë Aurell. Photography by Peter Cassidy © Ryland Peters & Small 2015. Buy the full book from Ryland Peters & Small or Amazon.