Lakkakakku (Cloudberry Cake): Traditional Food from Lapland.

Dark Clouds Drift Away to Reveal Sunshine.

pop quiz: the lyric above is from what song and artist? clue: somewhere in the universe with eight legged creatures.

I must admit cloudberries are a new one on me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in the UK, but way up north in Finnish Lapland they seemed to garnish every dessert.

Cloudberries are like a yellowy/orange blackberry and grow wild on bramble like bushes in cool places like alpine forests and arctic tundra. I’ve looked, and I still don’t think you can buy them in the UK, but fear not, Amazon and Ocado sell cloudberry jam.

From what I can work out, Lakkakakku is a celebratory cake that involves the cloudberries being soaked in rum. Here is a simpler twist on the cake using cloudberry jam.

Ingredients for Cloudberry Cake

• 150g Sugar
• 150g Butter
• 3 Eggs
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• 150g Self-Raising Flour
• 3tblsp Dark Rum
• 6tblsp Cloudberry Jam
• 300ml Double Cream
• 3tblsp Icing Sugar

How to Make Cloudberry Cake

1. Grease and line three, 20cm sandwich cake tins.
2. Heat the oven to 180o or mark 4.
3. Cream the sugar and butter together using an electric mixer. Beat until the mixture is light in colour and a creamy texture.
4. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and vanilla extract.
5. Whilst continuing to beat vigorously, slowly add the egg mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. If the mixture starts to curdle add a small spoonful of the flour and beat extra-vigorously.
6. Once all the egg is incorporated, add all the remaining flour and gently fold it in using a metal spoon.
7. Divide the mixture between the three cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sponge is risen, springy to the touch, nice and brown and slightly shrunk from the side of the tin.
8. Leave cakes in the tin for a few minutes to cool a little and then turn them out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
9. Meanwhile whisk the double cream with 2tblsp of icing sugar until you have a firm, but not buttery, texture.
10. Beat the jam a little to soften it.
11. To assemble your cloudberry cake. Place the first cake layer on a plate and drizzle 1tblsp of rum even over it. Spread 3tblsp of jam and half of the cream evenly over the cake. Repeat with the second layer. Place the final cake on top, drizzle with rum and then sprinkle 1tblsp of icing sugar over the surface.

Serve a generous slice with a cup of tea.

Note: If you manage to find real cloudberries, save a small amount of the cream and pipe rosettes around the edge of the top layer. Fill the centre with cloudberries mixed in a little sugar syrup.

pop trivia: ‘Dark Clouds’ was released as a single by Liverpool band, ‘Space’. It was the final single off their debut album, ‘Spiders’ in 1997.