Swedish Visiting Cake

A couple of days ago I purchased Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking From My Home to Yours. I’m so ridiculously excited about this book, it’s absurd. There are a million things I want to try, but I started with this.



I love the name of it, Swedish Visiting Cake, I’m a sucker for good names. I had pretty high expectations starting out, and I wasn’t disappointed. This cake is really delicious, it comes out super moist, damp even, with a great crust, it has that amazing rustic feel I love in cakes. It would be amazing in the morning with a cup of tea or coffee. I used honey toasted almonds on top, they added a really nice flavor.



This cake calls for both vanilla and almond extract, or either. I used only vanilla. I think the almond extract may have overpowered the great lemon taste a little. I didn’t have a cast iron skillet big enough to bake this in, so I just used a normal cake pan.

I can’t wait to make this again.



Mine didn’t come out nearly as pretty as the picture in the book, by as my dad always says, sometimes the ugliest foods are the most delicious.

Swedish Visiting Cake
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for preparing pan
1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sliced almonds (blanched or not)

Center a rack in oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter a seasoned 9-inch cast-iron skillet or other heavy oven-proof skillet, a 9-inch round cake pan or even a pie pan. I used a my favorite pan in the whole world — a 9-inch oven proof, heavy skillet.

Pour sugar into a medium bowl. Add lemon zest and blend zest into sugar with your fingers until sugar is moist and aromatic. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Whisk in salt and vanilla and almond extracts.

Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in flour. Finally, fold in melted butter. Scrape batter into prepared skillet or pan and smooth top with rubber spatula.
Scatter sliced almonds over top and sprinkle with sugar. If using a cake or pie pan, place pan on baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and a little crisp on outside; the inside will remain moist.