World's Best Cake

December 8th

Verdens Beste ~ World's Best Cake

The World's Best Cake.

That's quite a statement.  But then the name was derived by the Norwegians and they are nothing if not a determined group of beautiful people.  And this is a beautiful cake.  Is it the Best Cake In The World?  I'll leave that for you to decide.

This is a layered cake made from sponge, vanilla custard and meringue topped with almonds.  There are many many versions of this cake out there, after all apart from the Kransekake (see here ) this is Norway's official cake, voted so by the Norwegian public in 2002, with 69% saying this was their favourite celebration cake in Norway.   It began it's life way up north inside the Arctic circle in Trøms on an island called Hinnøya in Harstad. (We sailed over to the north of Norway a few years ago, here's the post, Arctic Norway , with lots of beautiful Norwegian scenery, to give you an idea of the area that this cake generates from.)

A small cafe opened in the 1920s and was run by Hulda Ottestad and sister.  About ten years or so later they bought for the extortionate sum of 200 kroner, about £20 in today's money, two recipes from Denmark that they thought would work well in their cafe.  Both used a lot of almonds, an expensive ingredient, so mixing the two recipes, one of them being the Danish kongekake (kingcake) and limiting the number of almonds used they created, Verdens Beste.  It was not originally known as The Worlds Best Cake but instead was known simply from the area in which the sisters came from, Kvaefjord, thus it was called Kvaefjord kaka.

What is interesting about this cake to me is that no one actually knows the original recipe any longer as it was only handed down by word of mouth and we all know how that can alter things.  What is known is that it should be a layer cake and that it must include the sponge base, vanilla custard, or some say rum custard and a meringue topping.  There is also some debate as to whether you should add whipped cream in with the custard.  My version would always include the whipped cream.  If you are going for the calories and celebrating, let's go the whole hog.

This is not a difficult or very time-consuming cake but the slightly tricky part is cutting the sponge in half and reassembling.  Just take care and have something large to slide one half of the cake onto.  I use a Mary Berry cake lifter to help me.  Here is how to make it!

Verdens Beste

You will need:
♥  a rectangular tin lined with greaseproof paper,  the pan should measure as close as possible to 35 x 25cm

CAKE BASE
♥  150g butter
♥  150g sugar
♥  5 egg yolks
♥  150g plain flour
♥  1 tsp baking powder
♥  1 tsp vanilla paste or seeds from 1 pod
♥  100ml whole milk

CAKE FILLING
♥  300ml of double cream
♥  300ml good quality thick custard or homemade custard, chilled

MERINGUE
♥  5 egg whites
♥  1 tsp cornflour
♥  2-3 drops of white wine vinegar

Adding egg yolks one at a time

♥  250g sugar
♥  50-75 g slivered almonds



1  Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius.


2  Whisk the cream and sugar together until light and pale.


3  Gradually add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well between each one.

Adding in the vanilla seeds.

4  Stir in the vanilla paste or seeds from a vanilla a pod.


5  Sift in the flour and baking powder.  Folding in carefully. 


6  Pour in the milk and continue to fold.  I can never get this to be a smooth consistency and it does not seem to matter, but obviously the less lumpy the better!


7  Spoon the mixture into the grease papered tin and set aside.

Add the almonds before baking

8  The meringue topping:  using a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.  Add the sugar gradually whilst still mixing and also add the cornflour and the white wine vinegar, you want the consistency to be of stiff peaks.  This could take 3-5 minutes of whisking. 


9  Spread the meringue evenly over the sponge mixture and scatter with the almonds.



10  Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. The meringue should be firm and not too coloured.

Cut the cake in half horizontally with
a serrated knife

11  Leave to cool in the pan for a few minutes.  Then CAREFULLY lift out without cracking the meringue.  Any moving of this cake I feel is the hardest about making it!! Leave to now cool completely.


12  Whip the cream until firm, do not over whip so it becomes lumpy though!   Fold in the chilled thick custard.


13.  Taking a serrated knife, cut the sponge base of the cake in two horizontally.  Again this is a little tricky with the meringue on top, but not impossible.  CAREFULLY, lift off the top half and put to one side.

Add the cream/custard
to the bottom half

14  Add the cream and custard combo and spread it onto the bottom half of the cake.  Again CAREFULLY place the top half of the cake back onto the bottom half, meringue is facing up at the top.


15  Set aside in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.  The cake is great on the same day but I actually prefer it on the second day!

A few cracks will appear with the cutting and moving
of the cake, just try not to split it completely.

The Worlds Best Cake was enjoyed at Crochet club
when we made our Christmas Crochet Baskets

♥  Is this the Worlds Best Cake?  ♥