J.L. Runeberg's Day

On the birthday of our national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877), February 5, we serve small crumb cakes topped with raspberry jam.

Despite its celebratory context, the Runeberg muffin was in fact born as an exercise in frugality. Money was often tight in the Runeberg household, and faced with the added challenge of J.L.'s picky eating habits, his wife Fredrika (1807–1879) took creative license with her recipes. As the poet demanded, she flavoured his daily breakfast cakes with punch and topped them with homegrown fruit, but incorporated crumbs from leftover bread and cakes into the dough itself.

To this day, the recipe allows for flexibility, from the variety of alcohol to the kinds of crumbs used. There are lots of different kinds of muffins in the market. Our family has a tradition to taste a set of cakes and rate them. This year we had candidates from 4 different bakeries:

1. Elonen --- 17 points
2. Vaasan leipomo -- 19,5 points
3. Munkkimiehet -- 10,5 points
4. Makutuote -- 10,5 points

So the insuperable winner of our panel was the muffin from Vaasan leipomo (Isoäidin Runebergin torttu).


Some bake their Runeberg tortes by themselves (I haven't never tried). Here's a receipe:


Runeberg's muffins (for four - five persons)

Ingredients:

200 g margarine or butter
2 dl sugar
2 eggs
2 dl wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 dl sweet bread crumbs (e.g. crumbled biscuits)
2 dl ground almonds (appr. 80 g)
1 dl single cream
solid raspberry jam

To moisten:

2 dl water
1 dl sugar
2-3 tbsp arrack liqueur or rum

Topping:

solid raspberry jam or marmelade

Icing:

1 dl icing sugar
2 tsp water or lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Grind the almonds and combine them with the bread crumbs. Cream the butter or margarine and sugar together. Add one egg at a time, beating the mixture well after each egg. Combine the flour and baking powder and stir into the mixture.

Add the cardemom, bread crumbs and almonds and finally the cream. Mix lightly but do not unnecessarily stir the mixture. Grease a muffin mould and put a equal amount of the mixture into the hollows. Leave room for the mixture to raise in the hollows. Using a floured fingertip, press a hole in the middle of each muffin. Place about half a teaspoonful of jam or marmelade on each muffin. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes.

Boil the water and melt the sugar in it. Flavour with the alcohol. Moisten the baked muffins with the liquid. When the muffins are still hot, add another half a teaspoonful of jam in the middle. Let the muffins cool.

Combine the icing sugar and water or lemon juice in a small bowl. Pour the liquid icing around the jam.


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