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 cup 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.
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.
Hi. We are happy that you liked it :-) Cheers from Denmark
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.
Hi Nikolas,
Oh, it sounds divine with the nut topping – I really must try that some time.
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
Hi Amy
Actually it did say, but I have now changed a little in the directions.
Do you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut? Thanks!
Unsweetened :-)
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?
Well it does that a bit, but there should still be topping on the top?
What is vanilla sugar ??
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/
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,
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.
Oh, that sounds interesting. I was sure the cake originated from Denmark and the city Brovst.
Hi Philip,
I’m not familiar with a ‘Tusik Cake’. Do you have a Picture of it you can e-mail me
Thanks a lot for the recipe.. I tried the TIGER premix and went a little bit dissapointed. I will try this one
Hi Robén. You are welcome I hope you have better success with this recipe :-)
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.
Hi Susanne. I happy that you like the recipe – this is absolutely one of my favorite Danish cakes :-)
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!
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
Hi Kim! Thank you, yes this answers my question! Allison
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.
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!
Hi. Yes you can just use a greased baking pan. I actually do that from time to time. Regards Kim
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.
Can we used cream instead of milk for the topping
HI. That’s a good question. I actually think you can use cream. However, I would always recommend milk.
The cup/tbsp conversions seem off when I looked at up. Can anyone help please?
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.
Great to see a recipe for the tradional Danish cake in English :-)
Really, really great pictures btw.
Keep up the good work.
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 :-)
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!
Hi Roisin. That should not be a problem. Then you just have a light colored topping :-)
For the second time I baked denne kage.
Again a lovely taste.
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.
Hello. We are having a tray bake competition. Do you think this can be categorised as a tray bake?
Hi. Yes I would say this is a tray cake :-) This is was I call it in Danish.
Can you use vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar?
Yes you can do that.
Tak for en herlig opskrift!
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 :)
Hi Sahar. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad that you like the recipe and the cake. :-)