• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Scandicuisine
  • Recipe categories
  • Finnish recipes
  • Finnish culture
  • Swedish recipes
  • Swedish culture
  • About Scandicuisine
    • Freelancing
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipe categories
  • Finnish recipes
  • Finnish culture
  • Swedish recipes
  • Swedish culture
  • About Scandicuisine
    • Freelancing
×

Home » Finnish recipes

Brita cake

Published: Mar 11, 2023 · by Cecilia Hoikka · Affiliate links are marked with an *asterix

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Brita cake is a traditional Finnish, stylish, and delicious dessert that is perfect for spring and summer celebrations. The cake features a crispy meringue topping on a sponge cake base, filled with fresh strawberries and a refreshing lemon cream filling.

Brita cake decorated with strawberries and blueberries on wooden plank board.

Why I love this recipe

  • Perfect to use any kind of berries in the cake
  • Simple to make. Meringue and sponge cake base can be made ahead of time and filled later on before serving
  • A Crowd pleaser who everyone likes
  • Lemon curd gives a nice lemony taste
  • You can bake this in a sheet pan or round cake pans.
Jump to:
  • Why I love this recipe
  • Background and History
  • Ingredients for base
  • Ingredients for filling and decorating
  • Instructions
  • Variations
  • Equipment
  • Storing
  • Top tip
  • Other cakes
  • Brita cake

Background and History

Brita cake and its variations is a very popular cake to make in Finland. Usually, we make this summertime when fresh berries are ripe, but this cake is very versatile with different fillings, so it can be made all year round.

Actually, the cake gets its inspiration from Norway. Norwegians bake kvæfjordkake that resembles Brita cake but does not have any fresh berries added and has a vanilla custard filling. Brita cake is also loved in Sweden where it is called Pinocchio cake, manor cake (herrgårdstårta), and summer cake (sommartårta). It became loved by the Finnish people thru a baking contest organized by Kodin Kuvalehti year 1983.

Ingredients for base

eggs, flour, sugar, butter, milk in bowls and a fresh lemon.
  • Butter. Can be replaced with margarine
  • Eggs
  • All-purpose flour
  • Sugar
  • Milk. Can be replaced with plant-based milk
  • Baking powder
  • Lemon zest, can be replaced with lemon extract

See recipe card for quantities.

Ingredients for filling and decorating

lemon curd, heavy cream, fresh strawberries on blue surface.
  • Heavy cream
  • Lemon curd
  • Vanilla extract
  • Fresh strawberries
  • Fresh blueberries

Small snack lemons can also be used as decoration.

Free Recipe E-Book

Swedish holiday recipes

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

.

Instructions

  1. Whip the egg whites into a sturdy foam, and add in the sugar gradually while continuing to whip.
A microplane is handy for grating zest.
  1. Cream together the room-temperature butter and sugar until it is light in color and fluffy using a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer. Add in the egg yolks and grated lemon zest. Mix the flour and baking powder together and add in the mix. Beat gently until combined.  
  1. Spread the batter evenly out onto your sheet pan, or divide evenly between two smaller cake pans. Spread the meringue evenly on top using a spatula or knife. Bake at 350 F, 1(75 C) for 20-25 minutes in the lower part of the oven. Let the base cool down.
  1. Whip your heavy cream until it is fluffy and relatively stiff. Add in the lemon curd and vanilla extract and whip to mix.
  1. Cut the base in half. Spread all or half of the filling over the bottom layer. (depending on how you like to decorate). Top with sliced strawberries, so that the filling is completely covered.
  1. Lay the second layer on top. Decorate with cream and berries. You can pipe your cream into patterns, leave the top without cream or spread some with a knife. Use strawberries and blueberries to decorate. Edible flours are also a nice addition. Even small lemon slices can be used, or leaves of herbs, like mint.

Variations

You can make many different variations on flavors. Here are some tips:

  • Mango Brita. Add fresh sliced mango as filling. Flavor your whipped cream with mango puree.
  • Rhubarb Brita. Add some rhubarb jam as filling. Decorate the meringue with sliced almonds.
  • Apple Brita. fill with apple compote flavored with cinnamon. Use caramel sauce in decoration.
  • Black currant Brita. Use black currant compote in filling. Decorate with fresh black currants.
  • Lime curd Brita. Replace the lemon curd with lime curd. Decorate with lime slices and strawberries.

Even canned peaches, pears or mangoes are a perfect filling.

Equipment

  • A sheet pan. finnish sheet pan is the size 35x30 cm (13x11 inches). A US ¼ size sheet pan is ok to use or use 2 smaller ones 6x9 inches. You can also use two round cake pans.
A sliced brita cake where you can see the layers.

Storing

The cake stores 2 days in the fridge. It is best served fresh since the cream makes the meringue soggy when stored.

Top tip

You can put your cream in a piping bag or just spread it on top of the cake with a knife. you get more sticky meringue taste if you leave the top without cream.

Other cakes

  • big cake with whipped cream, raspberries, caramel topping on a cakestand with roses.
    Raspberry caramel cake
  • strawberry layer cake on wjhite cake stand with cut up piece.
    Finnish strawberry cake
  • A round cake from above with cut clices on small plates. Red background.
    Finnish spice bundt cake-Maustekakku
  • closeup on a sticky chocolate cake piece with gooey inside and whipped cream on top and powdered sugar.
    Kladdkaka-Gooey Easy Swedish Chocolate Cake

Brita cake

Finnish strawberry brita cake with meringue, lemon cream and fresh berries.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 25 mins
Total Time 1 hr
Course Dessert
Cuisine Finnish
Servings 10
Calories 457 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan 35x30 cm (13x11 inches) A ¼ size sheet pan is ok to use or use 2 smaller ones 6x9 inches

Ingredients
  

For base

  • 1⅓ sticks butter, 150 grams
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 zest of fresh lemon

For meringue

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 4 egg whites

Filling and decorations

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup lemon curd
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pound fresh strawberries (450-500g)
  • ½ cup blueberries

Instructions
 

  • Whip the egg whites into a sturdy foam, add in the sugar gradually while continuing to whip.
  • Cream together the room-temperature butter and sugar until it is light in color and fluffy using a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer.
  • Add in the egg yolks and grated lemon zest. Mix the flour and baking powder together and add in the batter. Beat gently until combined.  
  • Spread the mixture evenly out onto your sheet pan, or divide evenly between two smaller cake pans. Spread the meringue evenly on top using a spatula or knife.
  • Bake at 350 F, 1(75 C) for 20-25 minutes in the lower part of the oven. Let the base cool down and cut it in half.
  • Whip your heavy cream until it is fluffy and relatively stiff. Add in the lemon curd and vanilla extract and whip to mix.
  • Place one layer onto a serving plate of the appropriate size and shape. Spread all or half of the filling over the bottom layer. (depending on how you like to decorate) Top with sliced strawberries, so that the filling is completely covered.  Lay the second layer on top. Decorate with cream and berries.
  • Serve immediately after decorating

Notes

You can even use two round cake pans instead of a sheet pan. 
The base can be made ahead of time. Fill and decorate before serving.
For a milk-free cake, use margarine, plant-based milk, and plant-based whip. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 457kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 6.7gFat: 36.8gSaturated Fat: 15.7gFiber: 1.9gSugar: 30g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More Finnish recipes

  • brown dessert in blue flower bowl with white heavy cream.
    Mämmi-Finnish malted rye pudding
  • three white bowls with strawberry soup
    Finnish Strawberry soup-Mansikkakiisseli
  • rice porridge on blue plate with milk and cinnamon.
    Finnish rice porridge
  • salmon filet in aluminium sheet with dill, onion, lemon, pepper, salt and wine.
    Individual Salmon Foil Packets with Dill

Please share this content!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Cecilia. I want to share Scandinavian and Nordic recipes for you who want to connect with your Nordic heritage and learn to make delicious, simple Scandinavian food and learn about the food culture.

More about me →

Popular

  • flatbreads with cheese and butter.
    Typical Finnish breakfast
  • a large beer in glass in sauna
    Finnish beers
  • three beer bottles cooling and grill in background.
    Finnish alcohol culture
  • a part of the finnish food triangle recommendations.
    Do Finnish people eat healthy?

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact Cecilia at [email protected]

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2022 Scandicuisine

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Scandicuisine
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!