[DANSK] Glories of Butter, Sugar & Coconut: Drømmekage



I've recently switched to the new blogger - I know, you can't really tell, I've tried to have it look as much like my old one as possible. I'm not good with changes. Yes, I want a new banner, and new colors and - they will come, in their due time. Just not right now. For now, I just got really tag/label-happy and went over all of my posts and tagged along. That is one nifty feature, I must say!

But. It also made me realize that gosh! I do do a lot of sweet baking and such. Take a look at that, right there in the sidebar: 33 posts in Baking for the Sweet Tooth. At the time of writing this, that is. For some reason, I do believe it will grow, fast and furiously, within the next year. And, like, right now.

More Danish treats. I just can't help myself, and Martin is doing nothing to stop me. In fact, the last couple of weeks, his standard sentence when coming home from work has been: Where's the cake? What kind of cake are we having tonight? I better just comply! (as if I mind, lol!)

Drømmekage is, as Melissa so rightly said about the Brunsviger, one of those cakes that more than justifies and glorifies the excistense of butter and sugar. Here, we throw a little coconut into the equation as well, and what do you get? Sweet, vanilla-y cake with a sligthly crispy, chewy topping of caramelized coconut, the topping bleeding ever so slightly into the top of the spongy cake underneith it. Tell me you don't want a slice and I know you're lying!

Drømmekage fra Brovst

Just for the record, I often make half this portion, using a smaller cake pan. Lordy, imagine I made the full portion - we'd be all bellies and grease! So depending on the amount of people you need to serve, I'd adjust.

For the bottom part:

6 eggs
500 g. vanilla-scented sugar (or use regular and add 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract with the eggs)
500 g. flour
4 tesapoons baking powder
4oo ml. milk
100 grams melted butter

For the topping:
350 grams melted butter
100 ml. milk
450 g. soft brown sugar
200 g. shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Grease (or line with baking paper) a 30 x 20 cm. cake pan.

Whip together the eggs and sugar until foamy and white. Mix the flour and baking powder and blend in. Add milk and melted butter, blend until combined. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

10 minutes before the cake is done, mix together the ingredients for the topping. When the cake is done, pour over the topping and bake for another 10 minutes.

Take out of the oven - the topping will still be slightly runny, but will firm up as it cools. Leave to cool for an hour or so, then dig in. Not that it will be bad if you wait until the next day, but who would want to wait that long?

Comments

Pille said…
My Danish host mum did something very similar (i.e. loads of butter, coconut topping - utterly delicious), but she added cocoa powder, so it was dark. A very tempting recipe!
Cakes from home. Oh, this does look and sound very good.
Tea said…
mmmmmmmmm....this looks so yummy, as do many of your recipes! Glad I found your blog. I`ll be back :)

tea
xo
Anonymous said…
YUm, looks very tempting, smaller or bigger size! ;-)
Helene said…
This cake looks so good. I love coconut, butter and flour!
Ooh, the coconut makes this cake especially enticing!

This is my first visit; you have lovely photos and delicious recipes. I'll be back again!

Susan from Food "Blogga"
Anonymous said…
Very lovely, will give this a try for sure.

This is my first time visiting here (via Delicious Days) and I think that I may gain a few pounds (more of them, ahem) because I will be checking back!

Nika
Anonymous said…
Nika again, I looked for your RSS feed button and dont see one, is it hiding somewhere? It would be great to have that.
Cerebrum said…
MUAHAHAHA, lured you all in with that butter/sugar/cocnut, didn't I?

Pille - I have a recipe for chocolate cake with a topping sorta like this, with cocoa in it - will post soon!

Tanna! It is good!

Tea - thank you - and you're always welcome back! Love your photo!:-)

Bea - indeed, bigger is better - just not for the hips!

Helene - who doesn't?!:-)

Susan - you know, I'm not that into coconut myself, but here - it seals the deal, no doubt! And thank you, you're welcome back any time (and I might just sneak by your blog, too;-)

Nika - thank you - or should I say, I'm sorry about that! (the pound-gaining I mean);-) Rest assured, my scales aren't exactly thanking me either, lol!

Re. the feed button - I actually thought there was one here automatically, in the Blogger template, but guess it isn't so - I use Bloglines myself, and they find the feed for you if you just type in the adress of the page, so I've never thought about it not being there. Will look into it though, thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Anonymous said…
Yum! Bring on the butter and the sugar! :) The coconut as well! I'm ready for a BIG bite :)

I also recently switched to the new blogger...I'm excited to put the labels :) How do you get them on your sidebar? Or is there an automatic option? I am really tech-challenged!
Monika Korngut said…
Delicious looking photos!!! I really like your site.

All the best,
Monika :-)
No argument from me about butter or sugar--bring it on! As for Blogger, I was forced to switch last night, and while I was frightened out of my wits, my blog remained intact.
Anne said…
I just love this cake, Zarah... and it's my twinbrother's all time favourite!
Thanks for your sweet comment!
xx
Anne
mina said…
i was really anxious to try this recipe since i get a slice of drømmekage everytime i venture into christiania. (;

however! my results turned out a soggy, buttery mess... i halved the recipe, checked and re-checked the measurements, and i copied the cake part completely. but i only used a third of the butter (btw i used lurpak) in the topping since it seemed like way too much (and i didn't have enough). my first hint at failure was when the batter was still jiggly after 30 minutes of baking... but the topping was really good even though the cake was a soaked sponge.

where did i go wrong? help! ):
Cerebrum said…
Oh Mina, I'm so sorry to hear this! I have to admit, I have no idea where you went wrong. I'll have to check my recipe when I get home, but I'm pretty sure it's correct as it is here (a google search I did just now gave me similar ratios). Was the cake fully baked when you put on the topping? Sometimes it needs a little longer than stated (in fact, it may need a lot longer - I seem to recall having to wait an awful long time for it to bake fully every now and again). I don't think cutting the butter in the topping back should have resulted in what you describe - and would you believe I already cut back the butter a substantial bit from the original recipe? Let me know if you try it again, otherwise I guess I just have to bake you one! ;)
mina said…
zarah maria! i made another attempt at the cake. since i was visiting my parents and friends in the states around christmas, i decided to hold one of my infamous tea parties. but what my guests didn't know was that i was setting up a sort of julefrokost. :D

again, i used less than half the butter in the topping but this time the cake turned out fantastic. i used a round pan and used one of those funky-smelling american spray oils. i think last time the problem was that i used a long loaf pan and just lined it with some baking paper... anyway all my friends loved it and i served it after the gløgg, gravad lax, and rugbrød (the latter i brought from denmark and managed to get through customs with just a few raised eyebrows). makes me feel homesick for copenhagen!

thanks so much for this recipe! (:
Cerebrum said…
Oh Mina I'm so happy to hear that! YAY for Drømmekage (and rugbrød smuggled into the States - you naughty girl!)! :D
Blombelle said…
I just dicoverd your lovely blog. Tastefull in many ways.
Seems your 'Drommekage' has landed on the wwweb in The Netherlands but in a wrong translation. Does it mean something like 'dreamcake'?
Nice combination of the beautifully light cake and crunchy topping!
I wonder if this old family recipe was a Danish recipe then. I never asked my mother where she got it from. Regret. Greetings from Canada!! http://ottawafood.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-is-so-lazy-about-lazy-daisy-cake.html
Ünige said…
Hi!

I am very happy to find your blog. I've spent 5 months in Denmark in a Hojskole, it was awsome.
I miss those tastes, so I am trieing to reproduce them here, back home.
I just have one question: do I need dark or light soft brown sugar for brunsviger?

Thank you,
Ünige
Cerebrum said…
Ünige - we only have the dark kind here, that's why I haven't specified anything - forgive me! Dark it is, but I'm sure it won't be bad if you only have light ;)

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