TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Swedish Visiting Cake, brings me back to a simpler time. A time before I was a member of two baking groups, owned stacks of cookbooks, subscribed to a number of cooking magazines, and read dozen of food blogs. You see, I’ve always enjoyed baking, but my recipe repertoire used to be a lot smaller, and one of the things I made was a nice little almond cake. A friend of mine had made the cake and I loved it: it had a deep almond flavor and a nice chew, reminiscent of marzipan. Anyway, of course I requested the recipe, and it turned out to be from the package of Safeway brand almond extract – no fancy ingredients like marzipan involved! It’s been a few years since I’ve made that cake, but obviously I remember it well, and this one was delightfully similar.



Dorie says it’s called a “visiting cake” because you can begin making it when you see people up the road and have it (nearly) ready by the time you sit down to coffee. I think it works as a visiting cake on another level too: the ingredients are simple enough that if you happen to be visiting someone who is not much of a baker, you could probably still cobble together the ingredients and a pan to bake it in (no leveners and you can bake it in almost anything!) . And then that friend or relative would want to start baking, because this cake proves that you do not need gourmet ingredients or tons of time to make a spectacular cake.



We rated this cake an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, for an EDR 4.25. Many thanks to the inimitable Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs for an excellent selection. Nancy takes impeccable recipe notes and imparts the details in her posts, which are always a pleasure to read, both on her regular site and also her yeast baking site, The Corner Loaf. You can find the recipe here on Nancy’s site and visit the TWD blogroll to see what the rest of the bakers thought of this cake.