The recipe for Drømmekage is one of the most traditional and famous Danish cakes. Translated, Drømmekage simply means Dream cake probably because some people think it taste like a dream :-)
Read also: Recipe for traditional Danish Butter Cake (Dagmar tart)
The history for this cake originates from the small Danish town Hjallerup, Jutland which is located in the western part of Denmark. Back in 1960, a woman named Jytte Andersen participated in a cake baking contest held by a large food company in Denmark. In the contest she made the Drømmekage which turned out to be so good that it won. This was the beginning of a cake which later became probably the most famous cake in Denmark.
Also see: How to make a Danish Hotdog
We both remember having made, and eaten, countless amounts of this cake when we were kids. The cake is a simple cake based on flour, sugar, butter, eggs and milk. However, it’s the coconut topping that gives the cake its characteristic taste. If you like the topping you can easily make a double portion of it and give the cake a thicker layer. We both love this cake and we have never heard of anybody who don’t like it.
Ingredients
Cake
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 250 g sugar
- 50 g butter
- 3 eggs
- 2 dl milk
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanilla essence)
Topping
- 125 g butter
- 1/2 dl milk
- 200 g brown sugar
- 100 g coconut flakes
Instructions
- Whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy in a bowl.
- Melt the butter using a saucepan or microwave oven. Add the milk to the saucepan and stir. Add it to the bowl with eggs and sugar.
- In a separate bowl; mix together all-purpose flour, vanilla sugar (essence) and baking powder. Add to the other bowl, and mix it all together into a smooth batter.
- Line a baking pan (about 25x35 cm - 10x14 inch) with baking paper and pour the batter in it.
- Bake the cake at 200 C (400 F) for about 20-25 minutes. When the cake is in the oven, prepare the coconut topping.
- Coconut topping; melt the butter in a saucepan.
- Add the milk and the brown sugar and let it simmer for about a minute.
- Add the coconut flakes and mix it well.
- When the cake has been in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. Take it out and pour the coconut mixture over the it. Use a knife to spread the topping evenly.
- Bake the cake for another 10 minutes and it should be done. Let it cool off before serving it.
emm
I first had this cake with my Danish exchange friend, loved it so much I knew I had to bake it. Thanks for posting this, I baked it today for my family and they LOVED it! Thanks a bunch from Canada.
Kim Nielsen
Hi. We are happy that you liked it :-) Cheers from Denmark
Theo Alexander Jakobsen
I am a true Danish born and lived in kobehaven right om Theo midde og kobehaven. Jeg elsker din drømme kae
Kim Nielsen
Drømmekage is also one of my favorite cakes :-) Regards Kim (NordciFoodLiving.com)
Nikolas M
I’m pretty sure this is the cake my mother used to make for my birthday every year. Still probably my favorite cake. She did use a chopped nut topping of almonds, hazelnuts, and maybe walnuts in place of coconut. Seems like that is something that you can play with to suit your mood.
Louise Dam
Hi Nikolas,
Oh, it sounds divine with the nut topping – I really must try that some time.
Amy
The directions omit when to add the whisked egg and sugar mixture. Regardless, my daughter was successful at figuring it out and the cake was delicious! (side note, we made this Dream cake in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., birthday. “I have a dream…” speech very moving!).A
Louise Dam
Hi Amy
Actually it did say, but I have now changed a little in the directions.
Jennie
Do you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut? Thanks!
Louise Dam
Unsweetened :-)
Holly
Just wondering – my cake went down on the sides, pooling the topping more to the edges. Do you have any advise on how to prevent this?
Louise Dam
Well it does that a bit, but there should still be topping on the top?
Rosemary Bluhm
What is vanilla sugar ??
Kim Nielsen
Vanilla sugar might me a European thing – I did not know. However, it is similar to vanilla essence. Vanilla sugar is just vanilla seeds mixed with a little normal sugar. I have a small guide how to make your own vanilla sugar. Please see this link: https://nordicfoodliving.com/homemade-vanilla-cream/
Phillip
At a recent meeting of the Portland, OR, Danish Lodges there were 3 x 5″ recipe cards for the taking. I chose Tusik Kage. Do you know anything about this cake and what the name means? Hilsen,
Phillip
In the 1950s my Mother, now 96, was making this cake in Portland, OR, USA. It is nice to know that the popularity of this cake has gone to other countries as well.
Louise Dam
Oh, that sounds interesting. I was sure the cake originated from Denmark and the city Brovst.
J Nielsen
It is named “Drømmekage fra Brovst” (Dream cake from Brovst), so where does Hjallerup comes into the picture???
It is a recipie which goes all the way back to Danish Colonial times in the 1600 century.
Kim Nielsen
I understand the confusion. I haven’t been good enough explaining this part. They cake was originally made by a lady called Jytte Andersen and for a moment named after her grandmother from Hjallerup. The cake became popular after it won a competition in Brovst where it also got the name Drømmekage (Dream cake)
I hope this answers your question. And again, sorry that I haven’t explain myself good enough.
Louise
Hi Philip,
I’m not familiar with a ‘Tusik Cake’. Do you have a Picture of it you can e-mail me
Rubén
Thanks a lot for the recipe.. I tried the TIGER premix and went a little bit dissapointed. I will try this one
Kim Nielsen
Hi Robén. You are welcome I hope you have better success with this recipe :-)
Susanne
This cake tastes great using finely chopped almonds in place of the coconut as well. I made this cake as a kid…..I’m Danish and am now living in America. Thought the cake was called Tosca taerte.
Kim Nielsen
Hi Susanne. I happy that you like the recipe – this is absolutely one of my favorite Danish cakes :-)
Allison
Hi! This looks great and I can’t wait to try it! Question – when you add the coconut, do you keep the saucepan on the stove with the heat on or do you remove it from the heat while waiting for the cake to finish baking? Thank you!
Kim Nielsen
Hi Allison. Thanks :) I normally make it just before I’m going to pour it on the cake. However, I would just take off the heat if it is done before you need it for the cake. I hope that answered your question. Regards Kim
Allison
Hi Kim! Thank you, yes this answers my question! Allison
A'ndrea Rogers
So happy to have found this recipe. I’m searching for Danish recipes. My great grandparents came to america from Denmark. Just wanting to have a little taste of Denmark in my home.
Drew Dencker
Hi there I made this last night and it turned out amazing :) thanks for sharing the recipe. One question. Would it be ok to not use the baking paper and instead lightly grease the bottom of the baking dish? It was a bit difficult for me to get an even distribution of the batter in the pan because my baking paper was being stubborn. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Kim Nielsen
Hi. Yes you can just use a greased baking pan. I actually do that from time to time. Regards Kim
ann
The first time I tasted this cake is when I lived in Denmark a few years back and since then it became my favorite. I definitely try this recipe.
Golden Pravina
Can we used cream instead of milk for the topping
Kim Nielsen
HI. That’s a good question. I actually think you can use cream. However, I would always recommend milk.
Hollie
The cup/tbsp conversions seem off when I looked at up. Can anyone help please?
Kim Nielsen
Hi. I’ve chekced the conversions and I can’t find the mistake. Which conversion do you think is wrong? I would be happy to update my mistakes.
Per Asmussen
Great to see a recipe for the tradional Danish cake in English :-)
Really, really great pictures btw.
Keep up the good work.
Kim Nielsen
Thanks for your comment. I’m happy that you like the recipe. It’s absolutely one of the most traditional Danish cakes that you can make :-)
Roisin Ratican
Hi :)
I’ve just used a light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar will is still be ok? I just noticed the colour of the sugar in the pics!
Kim Nielsen
Hi Roisin. That should not be a problem. Then you just have a light colored topping :-)
Joost W. Kers
For the second time I baked denne kage.
Again a lovely taste.
Brenda (Sorensen) Hernandez
Wow. My dad was half Danish and my mom German. She baked a cake just like this a lot when I was a kid and we all loved it. I never knew it was a recipe from my dad’s side of the family.
Chris
Hello. We are having a tray bake competition. Do you think this can be categorised as a tray bake?
Kim Nielsen
Hi. Yes I would say this is a tray cake :-) This is was I call it in Danish.
Mae
Can you use vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar?
Kim Nielsen
Yes you can do that.
Restauranter Fredericia
Tak for en herlig opskrift!
Sahar
It’s sahar form Iran. I felt in love with this super awesome cake yesterday when i tried it for the first time in the canteen. As its name, “dream cake”, it tastes so dreamy :)
Kim Nielsen
Hi Sahar. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad that you like the recipe and the cake. :-)
Pook
Greeting from Thailand. I just wanted to say “thank you” to you for posting the recipe. I was in Denmark for a month this year and I fell in love with pretty much everything there. I made this cake today :) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1I4e2X8CClE2TOAXOpKWNZgo7rsCXv0py
Kim Nielsen
You are very welcome. I’m just happy that you like Denmark and the recipe. I looked at your picture – it looks fantastic :-) I was in Thailand last year and I fell in love with the Thai kitchen – it’s fantastic.
Pook
Thank you :) What’s your favorite Thai food?
Kim Nielsen
My favorite dish is something I call Chaing Mai Curry Noodles. You can see the recipe on my Danish Food Blog site: https://madrejsen.dk/chiang-mai-curry-noodles-kao-soi/
Pook
That looks good. It’s interesting that you made it before you visited Thailand for the first time, right? Did you have a chance to eat that here too? Was it different than the one served there? I love that they usually put deep-fried egg noodle on top of it. It adds some texture to the dish :)
Kim Nielsen
Yes I actually made it before I came to Thailand. I was one of the reason I picked Thailand. One of my personal favorite parts of the trip was all the delicious fruit that you can get. It is just soo much better compared to the fruits that you can buy in Denmark.
I’ve never tried deep-fried noodles. I’ll add that to my list :-)
Pook
That’s quite a passion. I think we usually like what we don’t have. I love berries. I ate a lot of strawberries when I was in Denmark. They’re so expensive here.
http://www.foodtravel.tv/datastore/recfood/4576/Picture14576_normal.jpg Fried noodles are on the left side. I like the crunchiness. It’s like crispy fried onions on smørrebrød :)
Tarun
Hi kim,
Your recipe looks delectable …i have a question, if i want to make it without egg, what change do i have to make in the recipe.
Kim Nielsen
I’m not sure if this recipe can be made without eggs. I’m not aware of any good substitutes for regular eggs. If you find a good substitute then I would like to hear from you.