The Pinecone

« The käpykakku made with 4 sponge cake layers, raspberry jam, chocolate cream and thin semi-circles of marzipan dusted with cocoa and garnished with almond halves. »

It may come as a relief to those who suffer my 'cookery' that I managed to find a cake that has put me off the idea of baking another cake for a while. No, I just ordered the fucking cookie book and will plan on making loads of lewd cookies loaded with aphrodisiacs for the rest of the summer. Maybe the cupcake periodic table if I feel inspired. The cake that gone and done me in was the nefarious käpykakku.

Due to my particularly masochistic streak and my strange determination to like things like herring and marzipan due to their ubiquity in the Nordic taste palate, I got the crazy idea to try making the cake that looked much like a lumpy turd in bakery cases around town. I figured that somehow I could improve on the cake while making it look less like a turd and more like a pinecone. My ambition seemed simple and harmless enough, but this cake finally made me realise that I definitely dislike marzipan, but marzipan and chocolate is gagtastic. Now I also know why I never liked Hershey bars with almonds as a kid. I moved to a part of the planet that should really erect a shrine to the almond as it's in so many different dishes. Surely, this is proof that I'm a glutton for self-punishment. One of these days I'm going to have to find out why the almond and not the walnut, hazelnut or pecan. Speaking of marzipan, Jarkko found a copy of Jenny Åkerström's Prinsessornas Kokbok in Finnish yesterday at the big book sale in Vammala which contains three different bizarrely complex princess cakes. After some poking around with google, it would appear that this year is the centennial of Princess Astrid's birth and that the current form of the princess cake is a combination of the three cakes made not by Åkerström, but a baker in Stockholm. I'll likely put a scan of the recipes [1.8mb pdf, Finnish] and more of the background on the princess cake recipe entry. I'm still considering doing a blueberry moomin version of the cake when blueberries come in season. The world needs more blue foods, even if they are made with almonds.

The pinecone cake has about as many varieties as there are cakes and the provenence of the creation might be Tampere sometime in the 1990s, but there are enough sponge cake layer cakes covered with marzipan around that it could have come from anywhere. My question is, why a pinecone? I found a recipe for käpykakku in the cookbook, Isoäidin Keittiössä, but aside from a lovely picture of the outside that was decidely an improvement over the usual store cake, there wasn't a picture of what it should look like on the inside [and nothing on google]. So, before beginning, I went and bought a store bakery cake as a test control and also to get an idea of how to put it together. The store cake was bland, a bit greasy, with a soggy sponge and a heavy chocolate marzipan aftertaste. I made three different versions of the cake, hoping to make it better and without marzipan.

1. cake 1: sponge cake, strawberry purée filling, and meringue topping made look like a pinecone with a spoon and dusted with cocoa. This was a lovely light cake but the meringue was far, far too sweet.
2. cake 2: sponge cake, chocolate filling, raspberry purée, and thin semicircles of marzipan and almonds arranged on top to look like a pinecone. This cake looked good but the chocolate filling was far, FAR too chocolately which overwhelmed the light sponge and raspberry while the marzipan began to melt either because of the humidity or because of the strong cocoa filling underneath. Much of this recipe was from Isoäidin Keittiössä and I think the recipe was pretty far off from being reliable. The chocolate filling remains below, but that's about all I kept. With less cocoa, it'll be good.
3. cake3: chocolate sponge cake, strawberry purée/whipped cream/mascarpone or rahka filling and meringue topping with less sugar than cake 1. This tasted great as the light chocolate sponge didn't overwhelm the strawberry flavour and the meringue wasn't quite so sweet. Note: Meringue + humid weather = sticky goo. :)

So, out of the three cakes, I liked the third cake the best as the light chocolate sponge and the fruity sweetness of the filling complemented each other without being overwhelming and the meringue wasn't so heavy and almondy. I thought about mixing plain almond paste with some of the purée and spreading it on the sponge cake as a base layer before adding the filling to keep the almond flavour in the cake but I left it out due to my dislike of almond and chocolate on the previous cake. I can highly recommend this combination.

The basic form of käpykakku is 4 layers of sponge moistened with fruit juice or purée or jam, filled with chocolate cream or fruity cream and topped with marzipan or meringue. I won't be making it again anytime soon, but the Isoäidin Keittiössä cookbook claims that it's one of their most popular recipes so, given that there is very little information about the cake on the net, maybe someone else will. :)

Käpykakku / Pinecone cake

Preparation steps and approximate time

1. Prepare filling, either the chocolate cream or the fruit filling. chill. (15-30 mins)
2. Make sponge cake. (45 mins)
3. Cut sponge into pinecone shape, add filling, and chill.(20 mins)
4. Make meringue or prepare marzipan. (10-20 mins)
5. Cover cake with meringue or marzipan. (15-30 mins)
6. Chill and serve. (1-2 hours)

Chocolate Filling:

time: about 25 minutes
source: Isoäidin Keittiössä

• 4 gelatin sheets
• 2 eggs
• 2 dl whole milk
• 4 tablespoons cocoa (should really be more like 1 tablespoon)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 3 dl or 1 1/4 cups whipping cream, cold

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for about 10 minutes. Place cream container in a bowl of ice and chill the bowl in which you plan to whip the cream by putting it into the refrigerator/freezer.
2. Stir the eggs in a saucepan until the yolks are broken. Add milk, cocoa and sugar. Bring the mixture to a simmer while stirring. Do not allow the mixture to boil or it will become lumpy. Squeeze the water from the gelatin sheets and stir into the hot mixture.
3. Cool the gelatin mixture by placing the saucepan in the sink filled with cold water. Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold it into the cooled gelatin mixture. Place in refrigerator while you prepare the sponge cake.

OR

Fruit Filling:

• 250g rahka, excess liquid drained from top or 250g mascarpone
• 2 dl or 1 cup strawberry/raspberry/puolukka purée
• 3 dl or 1.25 cups cold whipping cream
• fine or confectioners' sugar

1. Whip cream on medium high speed to soft peaks, add sugar to taste. Set aside
2. Whip rahka/mascarpone and add purée until well mixed. Fold in fresh fruit if desired.
3. Gently fold whipped cream and rahka/mascarpone together until well mixed. chill for an hour or two until firm.

Sponge Cake:

makes: two 8- or 9-inch cakes
time: about 45 minutes
source: CI

Sift together

• 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl cake flour
• 1/4 cup or 0,75 dl unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1-2 tablespoons cocoa (for chocolate sponge only)

Heat together, cover and set aside

• 3 tablespoons whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar

separate and mix

• 5 eggs room temperature
• 3/4 cup or 1,75 dl granulated sugar

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350F/175C degrees. Generously grease and flour two or three round 8- or 9-inch cake pans and cover pan bottoms with a round of parchment paper. Whisk flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl (or sift onto waxed paper). Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat and add vanilla; cover and keep warm.
2. Separate three of the eggs, placing whites in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment (or large mixing bowl if using hand mixer or whisk) and reserving the 3 yolks plus remaining 2 whole eggs in another mixing bowl. Beat the 3 whites on high speed (or whisk) until whites are foamy. Gradually add 6 tablespoons of the sugar; continue to beat whites to soft, moist peaks. (Do not overbeat.) If using a standing mixer, transfer egg whites to a large bowl and add yolk/whole egg mixture to mixing bowl.
3. Beat yolk/whole egg mixture with remaining 6 tablespoons sugar. Beat on medium-high speed (setting 8 on a KitchenAid) until eggs are very thick and a pale yellow color, about 5 minutes (or 12 minutes by hand). Add beaten eggs to whites.
4. Sprinkle flour mixture over beaten eggs and whites; fold very gently 12 times with a large rubber spatula. Make a well in one side of batter and pour milk mixture into bowl. Continue folding until batter shows no trace of flour, and whites and whole eggs are evenly mixed, about 8 additional strokes.
5. Immediately pour batter into prepared baking pan[s] [makes 9-10dl of batter, so ~3dl per cake layer]; bake until cake tops are light brown and feel firm and spring back when touched, about 16 minutes for 9-inch cake pans and 20 minutes for 8-inch cake pans.
6. Immediately run a knife around pan perimeter to loosen cake. Cover pan with large plate. Using a towel, invert pan and remove pan from cake. Peel off parchment. Re-invert cake from plate onto rack. Repeat with remaining cake[s]. Cover with clean cloth until ready to assemble cake to keep the cake moist. You can use the paper from the cake pans to create your cutting pattern, too.

Topping:

• about 500g natural colour marzipan
• a bit of cocoa powder

OR

Meringue Frosting

**Note: Everything MUST be perfectly dry when making meringue, use a blowdryer on your mixer blades if you must. It's also not recommended during particularly humid days. It will look creamy and soft when it comes out right. Halve the sugar for less sweetness and/or add a bit of melted semi-sweet chocolate at the end to give it a chocolaty taste and a pinecone brown colour if you like.

• 3-4 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/4 cups or 3 dl granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup or 0,75 dl water

1. Beat egg whites at slow speed in electric mixer until frothy. Add vanilla, cream of tartar and a pinch of salt and beat at medium speed to soft peaks. Raise mixer speed to high and beat whites to stiff, glossy peaks. Turn off mixer.
2. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to boil over high heat, constantly and gently swirling pan by the handle. Cover and boil 2 minutes, then cover and boil until a candy thermometer registers 238 degrees (syrup will form soft, gum-like ball when dropped in ice water).
3. With mixer at high speed, pour syrup in thin, steady stream into egg whites. Continue to beat until frosting is cool, 7 to 10 minutes. Apply frosting in heaps to the top of the cake, smooth over the top and sides of the cake with a spatula or frosting knife, and with a spoon, create divots or spikes to give it the pinecone look. Dust lightly with cocoa. Serve.