[DANSK] Time for a Good Old Standby: Den der du ved nok...

It's been a while since we've had cake, has it not? Maybe not so, I guess the whole dulce de leche affair the other day counts as cake. But it's been a while since DANSK has been showing it's pretty face, so why not combine the two and bring you this - Den Der Du Ved Nok-Kagen. Didn't get a word of that? That's fair. It translates into That-Cake,-You-Know. How did it get that name? I don't know. But what's in a name? A rose by any- you know!

What it is, is a cocoa version of Drømmekage. Just like Drømmekage, this is tender sponge cake with lots of coconut and butter on top, and it is awesome, both in the eating and in the making. It is one of those cakes where you need exactly three bowls and a cake pan and nothing more strenous work than a few stirs with a whisk and a spoon. And maybe a bowl for melting the butter, and a coffee pot for making some coffee, but honestly, it's dead easy. When I was a kid, I used to make it a lot after school, inviting the friends over for doing the dishes. In the bath tub. But that's a different story. And they did get to eat the cake, after they'd done the dishes ;)

The worst part about this cake is that you have to wait for the cake to cool before you can put the topping on, and then you should, ideally, wait for that to set a bit. In reality, that seldom happens. And then you have topping dribbling down your fingers and chin, but oh, it's all part of the enjoyment.

Den Der Du Ved Nok-Kage - or Cult Cake (as in it certainly developed sort of a cult following in the years of bathtub dish washing), or, as it was known in my family, in fact, still is: chokoladekage med snask - litterally, chocolate cake with sticky goo. May not sound yum, but it is.

I use a 20 x 30 cm. roasting pan, and line it with baking parchment - that way it's easy to get the cake out of the pan afterwards, and cut it into neat slices.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

For the cake:
350 g. sugar
450 g. flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 tabelspoons cocoa
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla essence
200 ml. buttermilk
175 ml. milk
250 g. melted butter

In one bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl or pitcher, mix the eggs, vanilla essence, buttermilk, milk and melted butter. The butter will go a little lumpy, don't worry. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry, making sure there are no pockets of flour left. Pour ito the prepared baking pan and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

For the topping (snask, goo - whatever you prefer!)
250 g. icing sugar
100 g. shredded coconut
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 tabelspoons vanilla essence
7 tabelspoons coffee (as in the hot, liquid beverage - not granules or something!)
175 g. butter, melted

When the cake has cooled, you make the topping. You can make it earlier, but it most certainly will set, and it's not a problem to stir it with a bit more coffee to make it spreadable again, but why go through the trouble? This is a hard step (not) - mix all the ingredients, and spread the topping on top of the cake. It may seem a wee bit liquid, so you may want to start with 4 tablespoons coffee, and then go from there. It should have a texture somewhere between spreadable and pourable, if that makes any sense. Either way, you should leave it to set before cutting into the cake. If you can. Share with friends.