Well, friends, I enter the last year of my 20s tomorrow! Cue Halloween horror music. I’m that crazy person who doesn’t make birthday wishes, probably because I immediately forget them right after blowing the candles. Instead, I set intentions—a little checklist of things I want to accomplish, if you will.
- Bake More Pies: Because . . . why not?
- Make Time for Cooking Sessions with Mama Lin: Mama Lin turned 70 this year, and I think it’s time that I learned those family recipes! I feel like I am my mother’s last hope on this front.
- Relax and Put the Phone Away: I’m addicted to my iPhone. When I’m standing on a street corner waiting for a light to change, I check my phone to see if I gained a new follower on Instagram. Right before I going to bed, I scroll through my Twitter feed to read the latest sports stories. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my e-mails. It’s ridiculous, I know! Let’s work on breaking that habit.
- Visit Grand Canyon and Yellowstone: They have been on my “to visit” for far too long. Plus, I never need an excuse to travel more.
With those birthday intentions in mind, let’s eat cake! I adapted this cake recipe from Dori Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. I made this cake gluten free, pulled back on the butter, and used maple syrup instead of cane sugar. It comes together very easily, and I love the light flavors of the cake. I topped the cake with a bit of Kahlúa whipped cream because it’s not a birthday party without a bit of alcohol, right?
MASTER MY MISTAKES / COOKING NOTES
- Gluten-Free Flour Blend: I blended my own flours for this recipe, but a store-bought blend works well. If you’re not making a gluten-free cake, you can use all-purpose flour instead. I tested two types of blends: (1) oat, sweet rice, and millet flour; and (2) oat, sweet rice, and quinoa flour. I prefer the texture of the cake when I use quinoa flour, but that kind of flour is expensive. Feel free to use millet flour instead.
- Using 2 vs. 3 Eggs: I tested a version of the cake using three eggs instead of two. The cake was a bit thicker, but I found the texture to be too dense.
- Adding Almond Extract: Dorie Greenspan suggests adding almond extract to the cake, and I thought that it overpowered the delicate flavors of the lemon zest. It tasted similar to a marzipan cake. If that is your cup of tea, feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the batter.
- Adding Fruit: During one of my test batches, I added thinly sliced apples on top. The cake tasted fine, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the cake looked. Also, the moisture from the apples made parts of the cake a bit mushy. I left the cake in the oven for a few more minutes to make sure that the batter was fully cooked. I would recommend decorating the cake with fruit instead of baking them right on top of the cake. I made a batch of Karen’s sugared cranberries to give the cake a little pop of color. They’re delicious!
Servings: 8 -10
Swedish Visiting Cake with Kahlúa Whipped Cream
This simple yet delicious cake comes together very easily and is perfect for any occasion. Adapted from Dorie Greenspan.
Ingredients
Cake
- zest of one lemon
- 2/3 cup (155ml) maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (40g) oat flour*
- 1/3 cup sweet rice, 55g flour
- 1/3 cup (42g) quinoa flour (or 1/3 cup, 49g, millet flour)
- 6 TBS unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (29g) sliced almonds
Bourbon Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (235ml) heavy cream
- 3 TBS (22g) powdered sugar (or icing sugar)
- 1 TBS kahlúa
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Optional Toppings
- turbinado sugar
sugared cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Position oven rack to the middle.
- Take 1/2 TBS of the butter and melt it on a 10-inch cast iron skillet. You can also use a 9-inch cake pan for baking the cake. Swirl melted butter around the entire surface of the skillet.
- In a small saucepan, melt the rest of the butter over medium heat. Once melted, remove saucepan from heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the lemon zest and maple syrup together. Whisk in the eggs until well incorporated. Add the salt and vanilla and whisk everything.
- Sift flour into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, stir flour and wet mixture together. Add melted butter and stir well.
- Pour batter into skillet. Sprinkle almonds on top. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Prepare Whipped Cream: While cake is baking, prepare whipped cream. Place all the whipped cream ingredients into a glass jar. You want to make sure that the jar can hold at least 2 cups of liquid. Shake jar vigorously. You will hear the liquids jostling in the jar when you first shake it. Keep shaking the jar until you can no longer hear liquids moving around, about 5 minutes. When you open the jar, you should see thick whipped cream. Refrigerate whipped cream until the cake is ready to be served.
- When the cake is finished, let it cool for 5 minutes before cutting into it. Serve cake warm with some whipped cream, turbinado sugar, and sugared cranberries, if you like.
- Wrap any leftovers tightly and store in room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
*You can make this cake with all-purpose flour. Just use 1 cup (125g) for the entire recipe.
Did you make this recipe?Tag @hellolisalin or leave a star rating and comment on the blog!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook.
Courtney | Fork to Belly says
Oh wow, this looks so wonderful! Kahlua makes everything 100x yummier 😉 Happy early birthday, Lisa!!!
Lisa says
Thank you so much, Courtney!! And yes, Kahlua is awesome!
Catherine says
Dear Lisa, Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. This cake is a beautiful way to celebrate. I love the sound of it and wish I could try a slice right now. A wonderful list for the new year, I like to do the same thing. xo, Catherine
Lisa says
Thanks, Catherine!!
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel says
This is so gorgeous! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Lisa says
Rachel, thank you so much! It was indeed a wonderful birthday!
Marye says
Oh yum! This cake looks so good!
Lisa says
Thanks, Marye!
Amanda Paa says
happiest of days Lisa! i hope you get to cross off all those things on your bucket list in the last year of 20’s. i’ve been wanting to get to the grand canyon as well. i think this cake sounds delightful, almost breakfast like! xo
Lisa says
Thanks, Amanda!! Definitely had this cake for breakfast, too, and it was wonderful!
Liz @ Floating Kitchen says
Happy almost birthday, Lisa! This cake looks like the perfect way to celebrate. And I love your list of intentions. I want to make them my intentions too! So hopefully Mama Lin won’t mind having an extra child kicking around. 🙂
Lisa says
Hehe, I’m sure Mama Lin will not mind!
Ashley | Spoonful of Flavor says
Happy Birthday, Lisa! I would love a slice of cake to celebrate your birthday with you. The flavors are incredible and the whipped cream is calling my name.
Lisa says
Thank you so much, Ashley!!!
Dietitian Debbie says
The Grand Canyon is definitely worth crossing off of your list. I just went a couple of weeks ago and it was every bit as amazing as I had hoped! Happiest of birthdays to you!
Lisa says
Thanks, Debbie! I’m so glad you had fun on your trip!!
Maggie says
Happy birthday! From your list of intentions it’s going to be a fantastic year. Of course, any year that starts out with kahlua whipped cream is bound to be incredible!
Lisa says
Thank you, Maggie!!
irina dalah says
hi lisa, thanks for sharing!!
I’ve tried this with a mixture of quinoa, amaranth and whole rice flour.
also I’ve used a whole tbs rum instead of the vanilla extract (I just love rum ;-), and a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg instead of the lemon zest.
It was amazing – easy to do, fast to bake, surprisingly tasty!!
I plan to try it again, with lemon and orange zest; coffee; nuts; brandy-infused dried fruits; and rose extract.
I’d like to explain something – so you could appreciate how much this recipe helped me.
I had some trouble with food allergies that weren’t behaving like the classic allergies so conventional doctors couldn’t do anything. Naturopaths and alternative medicine practitioners helped’ and still the honest ones agreed that there is something off with my issues and they can’t help with all of them.
and then one of these alternative medicine guys, got me onto the d`adamo genotype diet. This solved all my problems!! hard to believe after nearly 50 years of things getting worse every 5 years or so!! no atomic migraines, no rashes, no nausea, no… some more symptoms that are not nice to mention. The only problem now is that I am a bit restricted to what I can use in my cooking. And for baking is especially hard since i can’t use any kind of grain except rice, no starches at all, and not most of the legumes… thank god for pulses 😉
Your recipe is so versatile, your explanations so honest and comprehensive that I can use only permitted ingredients and I can still get a delicious cake!!
so again, thanks for sharing!! you saved my holidays 😉
Lisa Lin says
Irina, thank you so much for trying out my recipe and for your kind words! I’m just glad that I was able to help you with my recipe! Loved that you add some rum into the cake. I will need to try that, too. Thanks again for your lovely note!