Smørkage - Danish Butter Cake
Smørkage, or butter cake is another traditional Danish pastry. We have this cake in two versions, one made with real pastry dough and this one made with a sweet yeast dough, resembling the American cinnamon rolls.
This recipe is by far easier than making real pastry, and the taste is still really good. My cake turned out a bit darker than I expected.
Makes one 9 to 11 inch cake.
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 40 g yeast
- 100 ml milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (114 g) butter, salted & room temperature
- 350 g all-purpose flour
Remonce:
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g butter, salted & room temperature
- 50 g marzipan (almond paste), grated
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Custard:
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoons vanilla paste
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 300 ml (≃1⅓ cups) milk
Directions:
Custard:
Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the cornstarch and vanilla paste.
Heat the milk to a slow boil, set aside.
While whisking vigorously drizzle the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about ¼ of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin stream, whisking constantly.
Pour the mixture back in the saucepan and reheat it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens, and let it get to a boil. Remove from heat and chill the custard in a bowl in the refrigerator. Sprinkle with sugar or press a film of plastic wrap against custard so it doesn’t form a pudding skin.
Remonce:
Mix the ingredients to a brown paste, set aside.
Dough:
Dissolve the yeast in the finger-warm milk, add the sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the eggs. Mix flour salt, cardamom and pour into the yeast-mixture with the butter. Knead the dough until it's elastic and shinny. Let the dough rest in a bowl covered with a tea towel for about 30 minutes.
Butter a 9 or 11 inch springform and set aside.
Take about ⅓ of the dough and roll it out in a circle 9 or 11 inch in diameter. Lay it in the bottom of the springform, and spread remonce and custard on top.
Roll the rest of the dough into a rectangle 8x12 inch (20x30 cm). Spread the rest of the remonce and custard on top. Roll up the dough spread like a roulade. Cut the roulade in 8 pieces and place them on top of the dough in the springform, cut side up.
Let the cake rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven for 400℉ (210℃).
Brush with egg-wash and sprinkle with slivered almonds. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, cover cake with a piece of aluminum foil, and bake for another 18-20 minutes.
Take the cake out of the springform, and let the cake cool completely, before you decorate with white icing (hot water and confectionary sugar).
Enjoy.