Kvæfjordkake

The story

Kvæfjordkake is a sheet cake of thin butter sponge baked under a layer of meringue and almonds, cut in two and sandwiched with vanilla cream folded into whipped cream. Norwegians also call it verdens beste, the world's best. It comes from Harstad in northern Norway, where Hulda Ottestad and her sister, who came from the nearby district of Kvæfjord, ran Café Alliance between the two world wars. According to the Norwegian recipe site Matoppskrift, Hulda bought two Danish cake recipes for 200 kroner, one of them a kongekake, or king's cake. She changed it, among other things by using fewer almonds, which were expensive, and named it Kvæfjordkake. After the café closed, the sisters published the recipe. Visit Norway, the national tourist board, notes that the cake spread from Harstad and Kvæfjord to the rest of the country. On September 7, 2002, the program Nitimen held a vote for Norway's national cake, and Kvæfjordkake won with 69 percent, ahead of marzipan cake, carrot cake, kransekake and chocolate cake. It has no special Easter role; Norwegians bake it for all kinds of celebrations, and its yellow cream and golden top suit the Easter coffee table. Bake the base and cook the cream the day before, then fill the cake that morning.