Summer Berry Cake

brown sugar cake piled high with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries

Hey my dudes,

Summer is now upon us, and besides sunshine and soft breezes, summer means berries. Lots and lots of berries! Berry stands have been popping up all over Stockholm and I simply cannot resist. Are the berries heartbreakingly expensive? Yes, of course they are! Berries always are! Is that stopping me? No! Of course not! it never does.

The cake is a twist on my grandmother’s sockerkaka recipe, kind of like the Swedish version of a Victoria Sponge. Lately, though, I have been really loving the caramel notes of brown sugar, and I wanted to mix it up a little. Half of the white sugar in the original recipe was replaced with brown sugar, and it turned out so nice. A plush, light brown crumb. The caramel notes I was hoping for. A cake to make the fruit sitting atop it shine.

While I used berries on berries — hence the name — you can use any combination of summer fruit that you like. This cake would be beautiful with just a single type of berry — imagine a cake simply piled high with blackberries! So lush! It would also work well with all manner of stone fruit — peaches, apricots, cherries — as well as figs or grapes if you wanted to make this in late summer/early autumn.

Sweden’s National Day is tomorrow (June 6th), so I gilded the lily and topped the cake with blue and yellow edible flowers. I was actually planning on making a flag cake in the shape of a Swedish flag (like Americans do for the 4th of July), but I just couldn't get it to work. Maybe next year.

Anyway, the flowers are completely optional, but they really add that extra something something. I get mine, as always, from CubeGreens. If you’re Stockholm-based, they are just the best — give them a try!

That’s it for this week! Next week, we’ll be deep-diving into Swedish Midsommar and I can’t wait!! 15+ recipes, a song book (sånghäfte), and more! It’s gonna be your guide to celebrating Midsommar like a real Swede. You guys are going to love it (I hope haha).

Until next week 👋🏻❤️
Xoxo,
Cecilia