Those crazy Scandinavians! Those of us who were born after the Golden Age of Radio can still appreciate the sentiment from Garrison Keillor telling us about the bachelor farmers in his native Minnesota.
Those crazy Scandinavians!
Our latest arcane contribution from Scandinavia to the world of radio enjoyment is not anything very new, but it is fun, and a lot easier to appreciate than lutefisk. We recently came across a reference to Radio Kaka, or Radio Cake, on the Swedish Wikipedia page (please don't ask what we were looking at Swedish Wikipedia for...) Radio cake is not only a simple to make and tasty treat, but it has a delightful story, as well.
Radio cake was a staple of Swedish cookbooks for decades. Several bloggers have commented on seeing the recipe in their grandmother's cookbook collection. There are two popular stories of how the confection got its catchy name. The more staid version was that the treat of biscuits covered in chocolate could be enjoyed while listening to the radio- it could be bitten without crunching or crumbling, both desirable attributes when you are concentrating on the radio signal with your headphones on.
It is more likely that the name was coined when a technically inclined child saw a slice in his grandmother's kitchen. The layers of light colored biscuit surrounded by dark chocolate visually resemble the speaker grill of a plastic cased radio set.
As tasty and attractive as radio cake is, it is surprisingly easy to make; something even a bachelor farmer could handle without making too big of a mess in the kitchen. The technically minded folks over at the Food Network would explain that Radio Cake is a form of chocolate ganache layered with biscuits and that in this context, biscuits are a European word for crackers or cookies. Traditionally, Radio Cake is made with coconut oil and Marie biscuits (Mariekex in Swedish). Most of the recipes found on the Internet are written in metric, but the conversions should be simple enough to make. Radio cake is one of those delightfully simple things where you can change things around and still have a terrific result.
Butter is a convenient substitute for coconut oil. Graham crackers can stand in for Mariekex. One of the most accessible Radio Cake recipes is copied below:
Radiokaka (Radio Cake)
200g dark, dark chocolate. I use Whittakers Dark Ghana.
200g butter
2 cups icing sugar (loosely heaped, not tightly packed or anything).
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut, either desiccated or thread
1 packet plain biscuits
Begin by melting the butter and dark chocolate together over a low heat or double boiler (a mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water works). Meanwhile, beat the eggs until fluffy and combine with the icing (powdered) sugar. When the chocolate has melted, combine with chocolate mixture with the sugar and eggs, stirring constantly to prevent the eggs from setting.
Thoroughly grease a loaf pan, or line with parchment or waxed paper. Spread a layer of chocolate in the bottom of the pan, about ¼ inch thick. Place a layer of biscuits or gram crackers on the chocolate layer and cover with another layer of chocolate. Continue until the pan is full, or you run out of ingredients. You can top with a layer of coconut flakes if you like. Place the pan in the fridge overnight (in Minnesota in wintertime, you can place outside!) When the chocolate has set, remove the cake from the pan and slice ½ inch layers. Then get a warm cup of coffee and turn on some Old Time Radio.
Notice how the cake doesn't get in the way of your listening?
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