Silviakaka (Silvia Cake)

Yes my name is Silvia, but no, I did not name silviakaka, or Silvia cake, after myself. Silviakaka is named after another Scandinavian Silvia, Queen Silvia of Sweden.

I first heard of Silvia cake from a Swedish colleague when I worked in a supermarket my first year living in Norway. I introduced myself and he said, “oh Silvia, like the cake?” He of course could have said, “like the queen?” but I suppose I reminded him more of cake than royalty.

Silviakaka is a light vanilla sponge cake topped with a yellow egg cream frosting and sprinkled with coconut flakes. The yellow frosting is appropriate, since Silvia has blonde hair – well, not Queen Silvia, the other Silvia (it’s me). I’m actually so proud of how delicious Silvia cake is. I mean, I would probably make it regardless because of its name, so it feels like a bonus that Silvia kaka also happens to be one of the tastiest cakes I know.

The sponge reminds me a lot of angel food cake, though it’s made with whole eggs instead of egg whites. Sponge cakes can be a bit tricky, but this one is pretty reliable as long as you make sure to whisk the eggs and sugar together long enough (5 minutes with a hand mixer), until they’re pale and thick. Then carefully fold in the rest of the ingredients, stirring as little as possible to get a smooth, lump free cake batter.

This silviakaka recipe is for a small brownie pan (20 x 30 cm, or 8 x 12 inches) and makes about twelve pieces, but if you’re using a large cake pan you can double the recipe.

The cake is finished when the top is golden brown and the center no longer jiggles when you lift the cake out of the oven. You can test the center with a toothpick – it will come out dry when the cake is done.

Be sure to whisk the egg cream the entire time once you’ve added the egg yolks. If you still get any cooked egg lumps you can pull them out with a fork.

I’ve also made the egg cream with granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar and it tastes almost the same, but it wasn’t quite as smooth. So feel free to switch out the powdered sugar for the same amount of granulated sugar if that’s all you have on hand.

You’re supposed to pour the egg cream glaze on top of the cake while it’s still in the form, but the form I used was a little smaller than called for, so I didn’t have space on top of the cake for the glaze. Instead I took the cake out of the form and poured the glaze over it on the cake platter, which was definitely messier but worked fine as well.

Let the glaze cool a little before pouring it over the cake.

Add the shredded coconut on top a few minutes after, when the glaze is beginning to set but hasn’t yet fully hardened. This way the coconut will stick to the cake, but it won’t sink too far into the glaze.

I’ve also seen silviakaka topped with sprinkles instead of coconut, which could be a good option if you’re not a big fan of coconut, or if you want to make the cake more colorful.

Swedes will usually cut the Silvia cake into small pieces and serve it for fika, the Swedish coffee + cake break.

You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.