This apple cake recipe is a close cousin to Swedish apple cake from Skåne. In fact, I was on a mission to bake a “Skånsk äppeltorta” using breadcrumbs from Christmas bread. The ingredients and the concept are the same, the execution took a turn of its own.
You see, I didn’t have fresh kavring (Swedish molasses-based rye bread). Instead, I had breadcrumbs which included leftovers from malted rye bread and black sourdough. Hence the dark look of the cake!
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I used the last of my very bold and sweet oven apple butter, so I cut down the amount of sugar and cinnamon from the given recipe below. Finally, we didn’t have custard or ice-cream on the side as you would normally have with Skånsk apple cake. Whipped cream enthroned the cakes this time.
This is a quick and pantry friendly dessert and apples are available all year round. Make the best of whatever you have available – fresh bread, breadcrumbs, or even cookie leftovers. But whatever you use for the crispy base, be sure to add a tiny bit of rye flour in the mix if your breadcrumbs or cookie leftovers didn’t include it. And as the ingredients differ from time to time, do taste the fried breadcrumbs mix and your jam to adjust the sugar level of the final cake.
Apple Cake for Two
Apple cake goes upside down
Traditionally Skånsk Apple Cake is prepared in a cake pan or pie pan. For making individual cakes, I used these 4cm x 5cm ring cylinders with which are always bake Runeberg’s Torte. These round cake and dessert cylinders* are similar but a bit bigger. I reckon soufflé molds can also be feasible to build the upside-down look if hollow cylinders are not available. And you are absolutely fine to bake these normally.
I stacked the ingredients in the cylinder with upside-down logic placing the apple slices in the bottom and then layering the rest. Tinier apple cubes are hidden within the cake body. When the cake is baked, I carefully pushed the cake in wanted position out of the warm cylinder.
P.S. If you have boxes of breadcrumbs or Swedish kavring bread available, do try the real deal. Here’s a nice well researched Skånsk Äppel Torta/Kaka recipe with step by step photos at Lost in a Pot blog.
Love, Saara
Recipe adapted from Finnish Michelin Chef Hans Välimäki’s 2004 cookbook “Koti keittiössä”, Otava.