cimorene

Tosca cake is a classic Nordic dessert. Invented in Sweden in the early 20th century in a period when the opera Tosca was so famous that people were naming everything after it, Tosca cake is a buttery sponge cake topped with an almond caramel candied topping similar to nut brittle (but not as... brittle). It is widespread in prepackaged form, cafés and buffets, and a common homemade staple that can be easily purchased as a mix. (You can read about the classic Tosca cake here, if you want - I found an article and recipe in English with a video - but you can easily find recipes and pictures in English with a simple search.) Classic Tosca cake is also a great dessert which I also love, as are Tosca buns (cinnamon rolls topped with almond caramel), but you can read about them anywhere.

But this recipe for Apple Tosca Pie that we ripped out of the Sokos grocery coop's magazine Yhteishyvä last year is actually unique. A chef probably developed it for them, though it wasn't credited by name. We made it a couple of times last year, lost the recipe, and then recently when our apple trees started groaning beneath the weight of their apples we thought of it again and managed to find it online [Finnish]. Today we filled a little bucket with windfall apples and Wax made it this afternoon while I was running around doing dishes and laundry and changing bunny litter, and it's just as delicious as we remembered, maybe more so.

Therefore, for the benefit of others and also so we won't lose the recipe again, I have translated it and now offer in both metric and US measures:

Apple Tosca Pie

Apple Tosca Pie
Yhteishyvä, yhteishyva.fi, "Omenatoscakakku"
Time: about 1 hour
Servings: 12

Ingredients for 12 servings

Crust
100 g butter or margarine (7 US Tbsp or 3.5 oz)
3 deciliters flour (1 1/4 US cups)
½ tsp salt
1 egg

Filling
1 kilo apples (2.2 lb)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 deciliter sugar (6 US Tbsp + 2 US tsp or, if you prefer weight, 85 grams/2.9 oz)
2 tablespoons flour

Tosca topping
100 g butter (7 US Tbsp or 3.5 oz)
1 dl sugar (6 US Tbsp + 2 US tsp or, if you prefer weight, 85 grams/2.9 oz)
100 g sliced almonds or other nuts (3.5 oz)
1 tablespoon milk or cream
1 tablespoon flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200° C (392° F).

1. Prepare the pie dough: Blend softened butter or margarine with flour. Add salt and egg and blend into an even dough. Press the dough into a springform pan with baking paper in the bottom (22-24 cm or 8-9 in diameter), the bottom and up the sides. Place in the fridge while preparing the filling.

2. Prepare the apple filling: Wash apples and grate roughly with peels on. Blend lemon juice, sugar and flour into the grated apple. Pour the mixture over the dough in the pan.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes.

3. Prepare the topping: cook the ingredients for the topping in a saucepan for a few minutes, until the mixture thickens a little. Spoon the mixture over the cake and continue baking another 10-15 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Allow to cool completely.