Looking for a delicious, juicy and seasonal cake?

This is the ultimative December cake, an Austrian Linzer Torte. The name “Linzer” comes from the city Linz in Austria, where the recipe was born in the year 1696, it’s said to be the oldest cake in the world. Simple and comforting in cold Winter days. The smell it gives, when you open the oven after backing is heavenly.

Here our recipe for vegetarians and vegans:

For the pastry:

• 200g flour of your choice ( we use wholegrain rye flour/ you could use any gluten free pastry flour as well )
• 200g of ground hazelnuts or walnuts ( we use hazelnuts )
• 200g unsalted butter / vegan butter / coconut oil
• 200g of any honey / vegan option = date syrup / maple syrup / coconut blossom syrup
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, dash of ground clove and ground star anise ( sometimes we just use the cinnamon )
• 2 egg yolks / vegan option = one flax egg / one chia egg ( 1/2 a cup of warm water mixed with 3-4 table spoons of seeds )

FILLING – How to make plum butter or raspberry jam at home from scratch:

• PLUM BUTTER: Buy juicy dried and pitted plums approximately 200g. Put them in your food processor or blender, add warm water (100ml) and start blending until you get a nice smooth consistency. Sometimes you’ll need much more water…You’ve got to feel it. It’s better to have it not too thick as the backing with evaporate some of the liquid.
• RASPBERRY JAM: Buy a pack of frozen organic raspberries, place them in a sauce pan, add some water, cook on low heat to unfreeze fruits. Once all is unfrozen and you have a raspberry sauce, add some teaspoons of apple pectin / or chia seeds / or agar agar powder depending on what you’ve got in your kitchen shelfs. Boil until it thickens up and you’ll get a smooth jam like consistency. Add sweetener if you like, as the frozen raspberries tend to be very sour, so we usually add some honey or coconut blossom sugar.

Mix all ingredients for the pastry in one bowl, start kneading and you’ll get a nice ball of pastry. Don’t worry if your pastry seems juicy its good, it just shouln’d be wet, if you have this case add some ground nuts or flour. Divide the pastry so that you can form a nice grid on top after. Take your tin and grease it generously with butter, flour it and place the rest of the pastry ball into the tin. Start from the center and press your pastry gently outwards. Make sure to have the sides of your pastry as high as your filling will be. Once your pastry is evenly spread, top it up with your plum butter and decorate with remaining pastry. Preheat your oven on 180° and bake the tart for 35 – 45min. We usually take it out after 35min as we like it juicy…depends on your oven.

Enjoy and leave us a comment if you’ve tried it…We’d be happy to hear your results…