I am faced with a choice here, in terms of thankfulness, to my Scandinavian relatives:

1. For my lovely daughter-in-law.
2. For introducing my family to ‘Kladdkaka’ or Sticky Chocolate Cake.

Obviously there isn’t really a choice here! She wins hands down but Sticky Chocolate Cake comes a very close second. It is the most popular Cake in Sweden and you really can see why! For us English cake makers the concept is a little strange.

What….plain flour and no raising agent?

What…..deliberately under baked?

What…..gooey in the middle?

It is rich, chocolatey, sticky, soft and sweet but crisp and cracked on the top.

There are many aspects of Swedish culture I love especially the one of Fika. Fika is basically a coffee and cake break, taken with friends or colleagues.

Well, it is a bit more than that! Coffee, cake, chat. For a few minutes or all day long. You can have several fika breaks or even a fika date.

The recipe itself is not the tricky thing but you do need to be careful how long you bake the cake for. Watch it carefully. What you want is a just about baked cake, it may raise a little but it will fall again. That’s OK. It will be quite thin and is good, so good served with cream, whipped cream, creme fraiche or ice cream.

Watch it carefully after you have made it for it will be gone in a flash!

It is often said the cobbler’s children have no shoes,  the baker’s children have no bread. I had a cake order yesterday for a Retirement from the Royal Air force after 33 years of service. My youngest son arrived home from college.

“Is that cake for us?” he asked

“No it’s an order”

“It’s never for us.”

Oh dear. Poor lamb. So today I made him one all for himself.

You can find the recipe here.