Tosca Cake (Swedish Almond Cake)
Swedes take their fika coffee and cake break very seriously, so it’s no surprise Sweden is home to so many incredible cakes. And one of those cakes is toscakaka, or tosca cake. Tosca cake is a light sponge cake with a crispy caramelized almond topping. It sort of tastes like sponge cake with a huge almond lace cookie on top, which is heaven for me because I really love almond lace cookies. See my recipe for almond lace cookies here.
Apparently tosca cake is considered a retro cake these days. In fact when I told my mom that I had made a tosca cake over the weekend she said she remembered her parents serving tosca cake at the mountain inn they ran in Telemark when she was a child.
I’ve also heard this almond cake referred to as Swedish visiting cake, perhaps because it’s so quick and easy to make if you get visitors. You can have a tosca cake ready to eat in under an hour. The ingredients are also quite basic so you probably already have them in your kitchen, if you’re the sort of person who always keeps almonds on hand (in other words, if you’re Scandinavian).
Tips
Tosca cake is wonderfully simple to pull together. But one thing that will make the process even easier is to run the flour through a sifter or strainer when adding it to the wet ingredients. I know this is a step that we so often skip (and often it doesn’t matter), but it’s so helpful when making cake batters. This way you won’t have to stir the batter too much and it will stay fluffy without lumps.
Also try to take the time to let the butter cool after melting it. If it’s still hot when you add it, the baking powder will get activated, so in that case be sure to get the cake in the oven as quickly as possible after adding hot butter.
You can add a bit of almond or vanilla extract to the cake batter if you like, but it’s not necessary.
The tosca topping takes about fifteen minutes to prepare, which means you should have enough time to make it while the cake bakes for the first twenty minutes at the bottom of the oven. The almond topping needs to bubble for a couple of minutes at the end, so if the cake is almost ready you can turn up the heat on the topping to get it there.
And if the topping starts bubbling too soon, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and continue stirring it (you can also remove it from the heat for a while to let it cool a bit, but don’t stop stirring).
Let the cake cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove springform sides. This is a lot easier to do when the topping is still warm, so don’t wait too long. You might need to use a knife to gently release the topping from the edge of the form, but if it’s warm it should be easy to do.
Tosca cake is best eaten the same day it’s baked. It does keep for a couple of days, but the topping will get a bit soft after the first day.
You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.
Tosca Cake (Swedish Almond Cake)
Equipment
- springform cake pan
- electric mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Cake
- 7 tbsp butter
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
Almond topping
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 7 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp flour
Instructions
Cake
- Melt the butter and set it aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line the bottom of your springform with baking paper and butter the sides.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. You can use an electric mixer or whisk by hand.
- Add the flour, baking powder, milk, almond extract (if using), and butter and carefully stir until smooth (don't stir more than necessary).
- Pour the batter into the springform and bake in the lower part of the oven for about 20 minutes. The edges should release a bit from the form when it's ready for the topping.
Almond topping
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, almonds, milk and flour and reduce to medium/low heat. Stir occasionally until the mixture starts to bubble. Let it bubble for two minutes and then reduce to the lowest heat, continuing to stir until the cake is ready.
- Take the cake out of the oven and pour the almond topping on top, spreading it evenly across the cake. Return the cake to the oven, this time on the middle rack and bake for another 20 minutes, until the top is a rich golden brown (but not burnt).
- Let the cake cool for a few minutes and then remove the sides of the springform. You can use a knife to gently release the almond topping from the edges if it sticks.