Sweet Tentacles

« Tippaleivät in the Eckberg window. »

The traditional Vappu tippaleipä cake is so hard and crunchy that I can only imagine it as a torture device for the hungover as the loud noise inside your head when eating them is truly painful. It makes me wonder if some old granny made them as a cruel way to get back at the drunks in the park. :) [ Well, if I am to believe what I read on the internet, the tradition here came from Germany to western Finland in the 1700s. They were first made in Helsinki in the 1830s at Kaisaniemi restaurant by Kajsa Wahllund (namesake of the park) and became a traditional treat only after the 1900s. They were known as "lonkeroleivistä" or tentacle cakes. :) Sadly, no mention of a vengeful granny. ] They are much like American funnel cakes (and we even have a Funnel Cake King) but the ones people buy from the stores are hard to the point of just assuming that they're stale as they don't really taste like much of anything. Like a bird's nest without the birds. They're also rather expensive since they're a traditional treat that everyone buys instead of making at home. I tested my homemade tippaleivät on a dinner party and everyone, especially the kids, seemed to love them, even those who said they really never liked the traditional crunchy ones.

I consulted my copy of Kotiruoka for a recipe and it had the absolutely brilliant idea of using a catsup or mustard bottle for pouring the batter into the hot oil. Both the funnel technique and the old plastic bag trick are a pain in the ass and make a huge mess. With the catsup bottle, you can make the batter, pour it into the bottle and store it in the refrigerator overnight if you don't want to make them right away. The soup ladle technique is also a great idea although I just used some egg forms I have for frying eggs or small pancakes that worked very well.

For frying, choose a deep metal pot with a lid that fits as it's safer to use with less hot oil splattering around the kitchen. Keep the lid handy in case of problems. The tongs and the oven mitts also minimize contact with the hot oil and the pan. Tongs are better at manipulating the cakes than a spoon or a fork, too. The temperature of the oil is important but it doesn't need to be exact. Sunflower oil has a high smoke point so just keep the oil hot and mind the burner setting to keep it from smoking. Be sure to remove any bits of cake left behind as they'll burn in the oil and start to smoke. The cakes take about a minute to fry and, once they're a nice and medium golden brown on both sides, use the tongs to lift the cake up from the oil, shake a bit of the oil from it and place it onto a cooling rack lined with paper towels to drain. Top with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Eat. :)

Tippaleivät or Finnish Funnel Cakes

Makes: about 24 cakes
Time: less than an hour
Special tools: catsup bottle, deep metal pot, tongs, round egg forms or large soup ladle with long handle
Source: Kotiruoka

• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 dl or 1 cup whole milk
• 4 dl or 1.75 cups wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• about 500ml or 2 inches deep in the pot sunflower oil for frying
• confectioners' sugar and/or cinnamon sugar for dusting

1. Whisk eggs in a bowl with a fork. Add sugar, salt, milk and flour/baking powder mixture. Mix batter well until smooth.
2. Pour batter into a strong plastic bag (double-layer) and close the bag. The batter is handily piped from a clean plastic catsup or mustard bottle. (brilliant idea)
3. Heat the oil in a thick-bottomed iron pot to 180C/355F. Sink a round steel soup ladle into the hot oil so that it is half-full of oil. Cut a small corner from the plastic bag. Let the batter run in a thin ribbon into the ladle so that it slowly forms a lattice. Cook 2-3 tippaleipä at a time. Turn the cake when the bottom turns a golden brown.
4. Lift the finished cakes onto a cooling rack lined with paper towels to drain. After they have drained, decorate with confectioners sugar and/or cinnamon sugar before serving. Serve with sima.