This cake should be well known by all Swiss people as it is a creation of our queen of the kitchen ‘Betty Bossi’. Betty should be something like the Swiss Martha Steward in her early years. I don’t think she’s ever been in jail though. Betty Bossi is present in every Swiss kitchen as all Swiss mum’s have at least one Betty Bossi cookbook (usually the cakes book) which then is passed on to the daughters. But in fact Betty Bossi is more about marketing than cooking. Betty is just a brand, though she is a Swiss icon. And she has some great recipes that always, always work out even if you have two left hands in the kitchen. One of those easy recipes is this childhood memory of mine and one of my favourite cakes ever.
Recipe adapted from Betty Bossi.
What you need:
150 gr margarine
175 gr sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
1 knife point baking powder
1 extra tablespoon sugar
125 gr ground almonds
200 gr poppy seeds
Stir the sugar, vanilla sugar and egg yolks into the margarine and continue stirring until the mix is light in colour. Put the egg whites in a bowl and whisk stiff with the pinch of salt and the baking powder. Add the extra tablespoon of sugar and continue whisking. Add a layer of poppy seed and a layer of ground almonds on the egg white. With a silicone scraper mix carefully under until the whole mix looks even. Line a rectangular baking tray with baking paper or distribute some butter and flour to prevent the cake from sticking to the tray. As I am a lazy person, I always go for the baking paper version. I used a tray of 25cm length and 7cm height.
Fill the batter into the tray and bake the cake in the preheated oven (180 degrees celsius) on the lowest level for 60 minutes. Stick in a knitting needle to check if it’s cooked enough. Let cool down in the tray and serve with vanilla ice cream, sour cream ice cream or just whipped cream.
Sorry that there is no picture of the baked cake…we cut it and it basically disappeared before I had a chance to take a picture (not that I was involved in this). And besides that I’m s*** in taking pictures. Note to self: improve photographic skills.
Recipe source: Betty Bossi
Recommended music while cooking this: The Twiglight Saga Eclipse (seriously, it’s a brilliant album)
