Kladdkaka for Dummies

Here in Sweden we have a cake called “kladdkaka”, which literally translates as “moist/doughy (or sticky) cake”. It is essentially a brownie, I guess: It is a chocolate cake, fairly dense since it doesn’t contain any fermentation, and, well, rather moist and doughy (or sticky, depending on how long you bake it). I wouldn’t describe it as a particularly fancy cake – perhaps not something to offer on, say, a formal party – but it is excellently suited as a quick snack when one may want something sweet in the middle of the week. No doubt there exists many different variations on this cake, but there seems to be one that is more prominent than the others. For your pleasure, I present here what I, from much research on the ’net, believe to be the most common recipe:

• 100 g margarine
• 3 dl sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1½ dl flour
• 1 ml salt
• 5 ml vanilla sugar
• 60 ml cocoa

1. Put your oven on 175°C – that is 350°F, or for that matter 810°R. As you probably know the results from different ovens sometimes vary greatly, so you may have to fine tune the temperature and time (see below), to make your cake just as doughy/sticky as you want. Incidentally, this means you probably will have to make a lot of cakes.
2. Melt the margarine in a saucepan or bowl. Whatever you choose, do not pick too small a vessel, because we are going to use it to mix all the other ingredients too. That way we reduce the dishes – one of the major philosophies in the making of kladdkaka, in my opinion, apart from it being quick and easy to make. If you are really fanatic about this, and I see no reason why you should not, you take care to save the table knife you used when you cut the margarine (using the even spaced lines on the packet, which I guess you have too) and use it to cut the cake latter on. If you don’t have the weight lines, but rather use scales, and if you want to use a spoon to get the desired amount, then you use the same spoon to stir the mixture, of course. If you have neither lines nor scales, but want to measure the melted margarine by volume, I can tell you that 100 grams roughly equals 1 decilitre. By the way, in my opinion 100 grams of margarine is actually excessively much, (and that is not because I’m thinking of the potential health aspects – I’m definitely not): another recipe stated half of that amount, and it works just as well and the cake doesn’t get as greasy. Nowadays I usually use 75 grams, as a compromise.
3. Okay, where was I? Yes, the melted margarine. Some recipes states that you should let it cool now, but I find that an unnecessary wait. Just add the sugar, and stir. You will probably note that there seems to be very much sugar compared to the margarine. Don’t worry – that is as it should be.
4. Now add the eggs, one at a time. (In some variations of the cake you are supposed to beat the eggs and the sugar first, and then add the melted margarine, but I wouldn’t bother.) Just stir gently until it looks homogeneous.
5. Add all the rest of the ingredients, and stir till you get a smooth mixture. Some versions omit the salt – don’t do that! It is essential to the flavour. Pour the mixture into a cake tin, favourable one with a detachable rim. You may grease it, but don’t use any bread crumbs unless you happen to like it much. You could take flour, but I find that the greasing alone is enough to make the cake not stick. If I were you I wouldn’t be too careful to get all the mixture into the tin, since half the fun is licking the bowl – you probably made the cake in the first place since you wanted something sweet this instant, and then you don’t want to wait for the cake to be ready before you get any.
6. Bake in the oven for 25–35 minutes. Take care not to leave it in the oven for too long, since it won’t be kladdkaka then, but rather a boring “non sticky cake”.
7. Eat, or serve, with or without beaten cream.

Variations

• 150 g margarine
• 4 dl sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2¼ dl flour
• 1½ ml salt
• 15 ml vanilla sugar
• 1 dl cocoa
• ½ dl mixture of very strong coffee and coffee liqueur (e.g. Tia Maria)

1. Do as above, more or less...
2. ...but add the coffee/liqueur last (I don’t state the proportions of these – you will have to try for yourself what tastes best)...
3. ...and bake it for 35–40 minutes instead.

This is of course the same as above, only that coffee/liqueur has been added, and all measures are multiplied with 1½, except for the relative amount of regular sugar which has decreased, and the amount of vanilla sugar which has increased.