J.L. Runeberg's Day

Johan Ludvig Runeberg (February 5, 1804–May 6, 1877) was a master at describing Finnish patriotism in his work; one of his poems later became Finland’s national anthem. On the birthday of our national poet , we serve small crumb cakes topped with raspberry jam.

Despite its celebratory context, the Runeberg cake 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.

It was time to have our annual Runeberg cake tasting. This time we had candidates from three different bakeries. The results are:
1. Elonen
2. Laitilan Leipä (glutein free)
3. Fazer

2017

I tried to be clever and combined Tiny Tuesday challenge to Runeberg's cakes.


+0°C, cloudy and snowfall