Norwegian Cream Layer Cake (Bløtkake)
Feather-light sponge, berries and whipped cream for every celebration
- Makes
- 1 three-layer cake (24 cm / 9½ in)
- Hands-on
- Total
- Level
- Some skill
Bløtkake is the cake of Norwegian birthdays and Constitution Day: a light, fatless sponge split into three layers, moistened with milk or juice, filled with whipped cream and berries and covered in more cream. The sponge is airy and dry by design, so it soaks up the cream and berries; that is the point.
Ingredients
Sponge
- 5large eggs (about 250 g without shells)at room temperature
- 175 gsugar (¾ cup + 2 tbsp)
- 125 gall-purpose flour (1 cup)
- 50 gcornstarch (or potato starch) (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp)
- 5 gbaking powder (1 tsp)
- butterfor the pan
Filling and topping
- 150 mlmilk, or a mix of milk and juice from the berries (⅔ cup)for moistening the layers
- 750 mlheavy (whipping) cream, 35–40% fat, cold (3 cups + 2 tbsp)
- 40 gpowdered (icing) sugar (⅓ cup)
- 5 mlvanilla extract (1 tsp)
- 600 gstrawberries (1 lb 5 oz)or a mix of berries; frozen work for the filling
- 100 gstrawberry or raspberry jam (⅓ cup)
- Diet
- Vegetarian
- Allergens
- gluten, egg, milk
- Origin
- Norway
- Season
- Spring, Summer
Method
- Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Butter a 24 cm (9½ in) springform pan and line the base with baking paper. Don't grease the sides much; the sponge needs to cling to rise.
- With an electric mixer on high, whisk the eggs and sugar for 8–10 minutes, until very pale, almost white, tripled in volume and thick enough that a ribbon trailed from the whisk sits on the surface for 3 seconds.
- By hand, set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk until warm (about 40°C, 104°F), then off the heat for 12–15 minutes more until cool and thick.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch and baking powder together twice. Sift them over the eggs in three additions, folding gently but thoroughly with a large spatula after each one, cutting down through the middle and turning the bowl, until no pockets of flour remain.
- Pour into the pan and bake on the lower-middle rack for 35–40 minutes, until golden, springy and pulling slightly from the sides. Don't open the door for the first 25 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the ring and cool completely on a rack, at least 1 hour. The sponge will settle a little.
- Slice the sponge horizontally into three even layers with a long serrated knife. Slice half the strawberries; halve or keep the rest whole for the top.
- Whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla to soft, billowy peaks that just hold their shape.
- Put the bottom layer on a plate and drizzle it with a third of the milk. Spread with half the jam, a quarter of the cream and half the sliced strawberries. Repeat with the second layer.
- Top with the third layer, drizzle with the remaining milk, then cover the top and sides with the rest of the cream and decorate with the remaining strawberries.
- Chill for at least 1 hour (or up to 6) so the layers soften and the cake slices neatly.
Why it works
A fatless sponge gets all its lift from air beaten into the eggs, so the long whisk to a thick ribbon is the whole recipe; the warm-bowl method by hand dissolves the sugar faster and makes the foam more stable. Cornstarch lowers the flour's gluten and gives a fine, tender, light crumb. Because the sponge is dry and open, it absorbs milk and cream juices and turns soft and moist after an hour's rest.
Common mistakes
- Cutting the whisking short. If the batter isn't pale and thick, the cake will be flat.
- Stirring the flour in rather than folding, which collapses the foam.
- Overwhipping the cream; it turns grainy and is hard to spread. Stop at soft peaks.
Variations
- Marzipan cake (marsipankake)
- For a smooth finish, cover with a thin layer of cream, then drape with 400 g rolled marzipan and decorate the top with berries. Marzipan is made from almonds, so this version contains tree nuts.
- Vanilla custard layer
- Replace half the cream in the filling with 250 ml thick vanilla custard (vaniljekrem).
Make ahead and storage
The sponge can be baked a day ahead and kept wrapped, or frozen for 2 months. Assemble up to 6 hours before serving and keep in the fridge. Leftovers keep 1 day chilled.
Notes
Fan oven: 160°C (320°F). Use a 24 cm pan at least 6 cm deep. Gluten-free: replace the flour and cornstarch with 175 g potato starch and check that your baking powder is gluten-free.
