Beloved dessert

was born in Sweden and came to Canada when I was six years old. As I learned to speak English, which was my third language, we stopped speaking Swedish and only spoke Serbian at home. Our culture and diet was mostly Serbian and so we didn’t keep any Swedish customs at home. I still have the odd Swedish word mixed in with my vocabulary, but little else. I was intrigued to try this recipe when I saw it online; it was described as Sweden’s most beloved dessert, a cross between a brownie and molten cake. What it really is: an under baked brownie. I wouldn’t compare it to molten cake, but that’s because I’m totally spoiled by my husband’s molten lava cake from the Merrill House. It took me several tries to nail it. The first time I overcooked it, but the result was a nice brownie. The second time I totally undercooked it and found it to be too raw tasting. The third time was perfect; crisp on the edges and gooey in the centre. My favourite was the first brownie cake. I didn’t care for the gooey centre, but Mom liked that one. You will want to watch it while baking because it cooks fast and every oven is different so I can’t give an exact time.

Kladdkaka: Swedish sticky chocolate cake
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly. Stir vanilla and sugar into butter and then stir in eggs, one at a time.

Sift flour and cocoa together and stir into butter mixture, blending until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes, checking after 10 minutes and every five minutes after. Cake should be well baked on the edges but still gooey and wobbly in the centre. If you have a really hot oven then bake at 375°F. Let cake cool completely before slicing, sprinkle icing sugar on when ready to serve.

Makes 8-10 servings.