I grew up eating layer cake or as I grew up calling it, LAGKAGE, for my birthday. Lagkage is a common type of birthday cake in Denmark.
One year my mom surprised my brother and Michael with a lagkage to celebrate their birthdays (which is only a couple of weeks apart). This was Michael's first time tasting lagkage ... and he was hooked! He has talked about this lovely treat many times since then. I hadn't been brave enough to make the cake myself because I thought making the cake layers would be too difficult (in Denmark you can buy these layers pre-made). Knowing how much my husband loves this cake, I requested that my mom make it for Michael over Thanksgiving as a delayed birthday cake. Instead, she and I made it together and I realized that it isn't actually as difficult as I had imagined. SO, maybe I will start making this layer cake for my husband on his birthdays to come after all:)
Whole Wheat Layer Cake (Lagkage)
Ingredients
Cake Layers
3 eggs
150 g sugar
100 g whole wheat flour (2/3 soft wheat berries and 1/3 hard wheat berries)
50 g potato starch
2 tsp baking powder
this yields 3 layers
Cake Filling
Fruit Jam such as strawberry or apricot jam
Fruit such as bananas, pineapples, strawberries, and/or apple sauce
Chocolate chips and/or nuts
Half box vanilla pudding
Whipping cream or cool whip
These are only suggestions. You can put whatever you desire between the layers
Cake Frosting
100 g powdered sugar
30 g cocoa
Heavy whipping Cream
Sprinkles
Directions
Preheat your oven to 437F.
Wisk together the eggs really well with a hand mixer. Add the sugar a little at a time. Mix it well until it is fluffy and light.
If you mill your own flour, mill 75g soft wheat berries and 25g hard wheat berries (you may want to mill a little extra wheat berries since you will lose some when you sift the flour). I use the pastry setting on my WonderMill. Sift the freshly milled flour once to eliminate some of the bran to make the layers a little more light. Use a very fine sift to ensure as much of the bran as possible is left behind. I use this one.
Fold in the freshly milled flour, potato starch and baking powder to the egg and sugar mixture.
Pour the mixture into three round pans.
Bake the layers for about 5 min.
While they are baking get three sheets of parchment paper ready and drizzle some sugar on them. The sugar will keep the baked layer from sticking to the parchment paper.
When the layers are done, take them out of their pans and let them cool on the parchment paper.
Once the cake layers are done you are ready to add the filling. As mentioned above, you can add whatever you want as the filling. The suggestions you see in the ingredients list are ones we have used in the past.
Spread fruit jam on each layer (make sure to add the jam and toppings to the bottom side of the top layer so your top layer doesn't have anything on top side).
Then add fruit on top of the jam.
Mix together some vanilla pudding using the directions on the box. I only use half a box. Add some whipped heavy cream or cool whip to make the pudding mixture more fluffy and rich. Spread this mixture on each layer.
Finally add some chocolate chips and/or nuts.
This is one of those cakes that tastes better the longer it sits (well within reason:)) Cover the cake and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days for the jam and fruit to soak into the layers.
When you are ready to serve the layer cake add the frosting. Mix together the powdered sugar and cocoa using just a dash of water. Spread it over the layers.
Finally whip some heavy cream or use cool whip to decorate the sides of the cake however you see fit. We usually add some sprinkles and candles if it is for a birthday to make it even more festive.
And there you have it. A wonderful layer cake. Or as I call it lagkage and my husband calls it - the best birthday cake ever.
