Runeberg torte | Finnish almond cakes with raspberry

Runeberg torte has a unique appearance and flavor. If you are an almond lover like me, you like cardamon, and want to try a treat packed with flavor, I guarantee this iconic Finnish Runeberg torte recipe is your cup of tea. Child friendly, these yummy cakes are untraditionally dipped into raspberry juice instead of using alcohol.

The beginning of the year is the time for two distinctive treats in Finland, Laskiaispulla and Runeberg torte (Runebergin torttu). While Laskiaispulla is a fluffy bun overfilled with luxurious whipped cream falling out of it, the Runeberg torte hides its secrets like a yummy horse of Troya. It is a modest-looking cake, but its appearance is distinctive: tall, cylinder-formed, simple pastry with a tiny dot of raspberry jam on the top encircled with sugar icing.

When you walk around in January – February in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, you will find café vitrines colored red and white to represent the plentifulness of the Runeberg torte (Runeberg cakes, Runebergin tortut).

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Every bakery has its own version. This all culminates on the 5th of February, Runeberg Day, when we celebrate Runeberg’s birthday. By the way, Runeberg is Finland’s national poet and THE poet who wrote the lyrics of Finland’s national anthem.

The story behind the Runeberg torte

It is said that Mrs. Fredrika Runeberg, the wife of the Finlands national poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, was the first to make this treat. It was the time after Christmas in the early 19th century. Mr. Runeberg was complaining that his sweet tooth was tingling. The pantry was quite empty after Christmas celebrations so his wife used what was left: some bred crumbs, gingerbreads, almonds, and cream. Mr. Runeberg was delighted.

Another version of the story says that Runeberg loved this treat that Lars Astenius, a pastry chef in their hometown in Porvoo, baked. Runegerg family often visited his bakery. But the fact is that you can find the recipe in Fredrika’s recipe book – so who can tell how the story really began?

Well, I’m totally, impartially on the wife’s side.

Though the creator of Runeberg’s torte is unclear, the characteristics stay from year to year the same: the simple outline of the cylinder form, ground almond, moist mouthfeel, and the delicious raspberry jam. Traditional Runeberg’s torte is moistened with arrack, punch, or even rum syrup. Our family doesn’t consume alcohol nor prefer the strong alcohol flavor and I wanted these to be suitable also for small children, so I have been using raspberry juice instead of the alcohol to enhance the raspberry flavors in this Runeberg torte without alcohol.

Ingredients you need

• Gingerbreads, you can also use oat biscuits or thin crispbread
• Wheat flour, you can also use Graham flour
• Almond meal and chopped roasted almonds, traditional, can be substituted with other neutral-flavored nuts or seeds
• Cardamon
• Baking powder
• Butter, can be substituted with margarine
• Brown sugar with molasses (fariinisokeri/farinsocker), can be substituted with cane sugar, plain white sugar, or half sugar and half dark syrup
• Cane sugar, can be substituted as above
• Eggs
• Coconut cream, traditionally there is used regular cream. I wanted to pair up the coconut flavors with the incredible almond flavors. Coconut cream can be substituted with cream, soured cream, crème fraîche, or smetana
• Sourdough bread crumbs, can be substituted with another kind of bread crumbs
• Raspberry juice. Can be substituted with lemon juice, orange juice, apple juice, or liquidy sugar syrup.
• Bitter almond aroma or almond extract, optional
• Powdered sugar
• Raspberry jam, use homemade if you want these to be completely from scratch. Shop bought is also good, make sure to use jam that is close to marmalade with consistency, so it will not run down.

You can find the exact measurements in the recipe card.

Tools you may need

• Rolling pin or mortar for crushing the gingerbreads
• Sharp cooking knife and cutting board
• Large bowl for wet ingredients and separate bowl for the dry ingredients
• Measuring cups and scale
• Electric whisk
• Spoon or spatula
• Small cake tins (traditional size is about 5,5cm ø, and 5-6cm tall), you can use as well deep muffin pan or muffin tins, if you don’t mind the different outcome. I have used ovenproof coffee cups in this recipe.
• Baking pan and parchment paper if needed
• Piping bag or a small clean plastic bag, where you can cut the corner open for piping the icing sugar

How to make Runeberg’s torte without alcohol

Step one: Prepare crumbs and measure dry ingredients

Turn the oven on to 200°C (392°F).

Begin by measuring the gingerbreads and use a rolling pin or mortar to crumble them and pour them into the bowl for dry ingredients. Then chop the almond crumble. Cut slices with a sharp knife and then cut horizontally to make almond crumble. I have chopped the almonds to very coarse crumbs – you can sure cut it finer if you prefer or use ground almonds.

Pour almond crumbs into the bowl with the gingerbread crumbs. Mix wheat flour, almond meal, cardamon, and baking powder in the same bowl and put it on the side.

Step two: Prepare and measure the wet ingredients and sugar

Take another bowl for the wet ingredients and sugar. Cut the butter into a few centimeter cubes, and add the brown sugar with molasses and cane sugar. Use the electric whisk to cream it. Add the eggs one by one and whisk in between.

If you are using a bitter almond aroma you can add it now into the batter.

Lastly, add the coconut cream and mixed dry ingredients gradually alternating and whisking carefully to combine, resulting batter that is quite thick.

Step three: Prepare the cake molds

Grease and flour the cups or cake tins. I always use small ovenproof cups of Finnish Arabia porcelain, but if you have the cake tins about 5,5cm ø, and 5-6cm tall, they are just perfect to use now.

Pour the batter in and leave 1-2 fingers wide space for the tortes to rise. Move the tins to the baking pan, and use a baking sheet if needed. Place them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until risen and beautiful golden color. Test if the toothpick comes out clean, you can take them out and let them cool down.

If you want to enjoy these tortes as delicious almond muffins you can stop right in here and start eating. But with the next steps you can upgrade your muffins to yummy Runeberg tortes.

Step four: Resize the Runeberg tortes

When the tortes have cooled down cut gently the tops of from the tortes. Don’t press too hard or the torte will tear up and be deformed. The easiest way is to use a large bread knife. Then turn them bottom up to have a nice and even surface.

The idea is that the top of the cake is flat so that the icing sugar circle and the raspberry jam won’t fall off.

Bonus step: Quick raspberry juice

If you don’t have raspberry juice mix 125 ml water, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 60 grams of raspberries (or 50 g fresh ones) in a small cooking pan and bring it to a boil. Use an immersion blender to blend the raspberry-sugar water. Let the mix cool down and filter the raspberry seeds with a sieve or a small cloth to get nice and smooth raspberry juice.

Step five: Dunk the Runeberg tortes

Next, is time to dunk in the tortes.

Pour raspberry juice on a bow and, dunk and roll the tortes in the juice – be generous. You can even dip them twice to get them nice and moist. Leave them on the side for a moment to let them suck in all the liquid. If you are not in a hurry you can even leave them covered in a fridge to the next day.

Step Five: Decorate the Runeberg torte (The best part!)

Mix water and powdered sugar in a small bowl. When well combined, pour the mixture into a piping bag. Pipe a small ring on the top of the torte, about half a centimeter from the edge. I had a quite small hole in my piping bag so I did two circles on top of each other to make a larger circle. Let the icing sugar dry on the surface then fill the circle with the raspberry jam.

Serving

Traditionally Finns are known to drink lots and lots of coffee and that is what is commonly served with the Runeberg torte. So get that coffee pan on the stove for the perfect Runeberg Day vibes with a cup of hot coffee ( or iced coffee) and your Runeberg torte! With the Christmassy flavors Runeberg torte pairs up perfectly with the Christmas Glogg with hibiscus too!

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Storage

Runeberg torte stores in the fridge for up to four days. If you want to freeze them, do so before dunking and decorating and they store for up to six months.

How to tweak this recipe

• Add some other Christmas flavors like a hint of nutmeg or cinnamon for more spiced cakes.
• Bake the cakes in a muffin tin crumble some nut mixture on the top and skip the sweet icing and jam.
• Grate some orange zest into the batter to deepen the flavor, and dunk in the orange juice.

You can find the recipe card below!

What traditional bakes do you have?

Do you have some cakes or sweets you bake once a year – always? And your family asks for them if you are not baking them? Tag me on Instagram with @blue.tea.tile or let me know in the comments, I would love to know more!

Resources

To expand my knowledge and to tell you more about Runeberg tortes history I have used the Finnish resources of the archives of Helsingin Sanomat, the leading newspaper in Finland, and the article of the Finnish Public Service Media Company YLE. The inspiration for this recipe comes from the Finnish queen of baking Kinuskikissa (Fudge Cat), but I have tweaked it quite a bit to adjust the flavor to get the non-alcoholic version of the torte just to die for.

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