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Apricot & Rum Pastry Cream Soft Cake (Skilpaddekake / Turtle Cake)

Apricot and Rum Pastry Cream Soft Cake is a local treat from Ålesund, Norway, known as Skilpaddekake or Turtle Cake. It is a cake that melts in your mouth, it's so creamy and soft, with a subtle fresh flavor of apricot, perfumed and woody taste of aromatic vanilla, rum and a soft cake with a thin layer of sweet frosting. And traditionally topped with a cute jelly candy!

 

Soft cakes decorated with the traditional jelly candy. Flatlay.

 

I just couldn't tell you how excited I am about this one. This is a highly local cake, only a few bakeries here in tiny Ålesund make it. But it is popular. The secret really lies in the apricot, my friends, it makes the cake more fresh, more moist, more yummy. Ahh, can you tell how excited I am.

 

Soft cakes decorated with dried flowers.

 

How to Make the Soft Cake

 

This is super easy!

 

Start by lining baking sheets with parchment paper and pre-heat oven to 400F (200C). Then, we need to whip eggs and sugar into a really pale, thick and fluffy consistency (eggedosis). Whip it for around 10 minutes, or no less than 7 minutes (1). Carefully sift and fold in the dry ingredients; potato flour, flour, baking powder and salt (2).

 

Pour this batter into a piping bag (3-4). Form 4 inches (10cm) circles on the parchment lined baking sheets (5). You will get about 22 circles, or you can make 12 mega large ones! Bake for 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

 

Steps to make the soft cake batter.

 

Rum Pastry Cream

 

Vanilla pastry cream is my favorite way of eating cream. Regular whipped heavy cream has neverrr been my jam, but vanilla pastry cream or vanilla custard are completely different stories. Vanilla pastry cream is used in my Lemon Ricotta Cake with Dreamy Creamy Vanilla Pastry Cream and vanilla custard in these Vanilla Custard and Coconut Sweet Buns.

 

The vanilla pastry has another dimension to it by adding rum essence. You need a lot of rum cream in it, because that's a huge part of the cake. It is not supposed to be just a thin layer of filling as in a cake. This is the cake. I am not a huuuge frosting and filling kind of girl, it needs to balance nicely. So just bear in mind that - put more on than you think you want.

 

Soft cake with rum pastry cream oozing out the sides.

 

No, it's not regular rum

 

Yes, it's rum, but just the flavor of rum, it's rum essence (rum extract works too, but double the amount). It's different from just pouring rum into a cake - do not do that, because you will need a lot more just to get the right flavor, and then the rest will not be proportionate.

 

If you can't find rum essence or rum extract, just don't add anything in. It will be a tasty traditional vanilla custard, but it will lack that luxurious flavor and feeling of rum.

 

Three soft cakes with rum pastry cream inside. Decorated with dried flowers.

 

How to make it

Pour the milk, ⅓ of the heavy cream and ½ of the sugar into a saucepan. Cut open and scrape out the seeds of the vanilla beans. Place everything into the saucepan. Heat up to the point of boiling, while constantly stirring. Set aside to cool a little.

 

In another bowl, whisk together ⅓ of the heavy cream, egg yolks, cornstarch and the rest of the sugar. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the eggs while constantly whisking.

 

Step by step photos for vanilla pastry cream for Summer Berry Pavlova Recipe

Step by step photos for how to make vanilla pastry cream

 

Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, make sure you bring with you the vanilla seeds. Heat the mixture back up, until it is thickening, about 5-7 minutes. Remember to stir all the time.

 

To avoid cooking the eggs, cool the custard quickly in a tub of cold water. Add in the rum essence and give it a taste. You want it to taste a little stronger than you would like because we will fold in whipped cream later.

 

Take the last ⅓ of the heavy cream and whip it. Once the rum custard is cold, fold in the whipped cream. Keep in mind that doing so the custard will become more runny. The traditional rum pastry cream soft cake has the two creams as one, but you can separate the two to make it firmer. When you assemble, just use two piping bags instead of one.

 

Assemble the Rum Pastry Soft Cake

 

To assemble, first find 2 cakes that are similar in shape and size (6). Turn one upside down, so the bottom is facing up. Spread apricot jam* on it (7), then a super generous amount of rum pastry cream (8). If you separated the whipped cream and the rum custard, then add them in two separate layers.

 

* You can use whatever jam you like, apricot is my favorite but a delicious fall twist could be this cardamom fig jam!

 

Steps to assemble the rum pastry cream soft cakes.

 

Mix powdered sugar with water to make a simple icing. Decorate the other cake with the icing and then decorations while it's still wet (9). Top the rum pastry cream bottom with the icing cake top.

 

This turtle cake was traditionally served with jelly candy on top, it was always some kind of highlight. I served with rose petals because it's pretty, but also the traditional way - because of the jelly candy. We wouldn't want to miss it. So here you'll see two different kinds of decorations. You can decorate it however you like, but I recommend at least trying one with a jelly candy.

 

Three bowls with different toppings; yellow flowers, pink flowers and jelly candy.

 

The turtle cake is supposed to be very soft, so the first day the cake is not at its best (by far). The cake is a little crispy and hard, but the second day - ooooh man! Soft, creamy, indulgent. Please enjoy!

 

Fork taking a bite from one soft cake.

 

Did you like this Rum Pastry Cream Soft Cake? Here's more party cakes:

 

 

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below or tag me @thegingerwithspice on Instagram. And don’t forget to Pin it for later! To make sure you’re never missing another recipe, please feel free to subscribe to my newsletter. As a thanks you will receive a free e-cookbook Travels Through the Seasons, with many delicious recipes from around the world that suit different seasons of the year. 

 

 

In order to keep the blog up and running this post may contain affiliate links, it will be at no extra cost to you, please read the disclosure for more information.

 

This recipe was originally published on May 8th 2018, but updated on June 1st 2020 for better photos and content.

 

Fork holding a bite of rum pastry soft cake.

📖 Recipe

Close up of the soft cake with rum cream oozing out the sides.

Apricot and Rum Pastry Cream Soft Cake (Skilpaddekake)

Yield: 11 cakes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Apricot and Rum Pastry Cream Soft Cake is a local dessert from Ålesund, Norway, known as Skilpaddekake (Turtle Cake). It melts in your mouth, it's so soft!

Ingredients

Soft Cakes

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 ¼ cups sugar, 250g
  • 1 ¼ cups potato flour, 200g, cornstarch can be used*
  • 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour, 175g
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Rum Pastry Cream

  • ¾ cup sugar, 150g. Divided!
  • 1 ½ cups milk, 360ml.
  • 1 ½ cups heavy cream, 360ml. Divided!
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 5 tablespoon cornstarch
  • rum essence/extract, to taste. I had a teaspoon of essence

Assembly

  • 11 teaspoon apricot jam
  • 2 cups powdered sugar, 220g + water to desired consistency, about 6-7 tbsp
  • jelly candy/rose petals, for decoration, optional

Instructions

Soft Cakes

  1. Whisk eggs and sugar until it's white and airy (eggedosis). Around 10 minutes, not less than 7. Sift in the rest of the ingredients. Fold it in until you get a lump free batter.
  2. Add parchment paper to a baking tray. Preferably use a piping bag (or a spoon) and distribute a thin layer of cake batter. Form a circle of about 4in (10 cm) in diameter. You'll get around 22 circles of batter, 2 for each cake.
  3. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 400F (200C) for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. They will be crispy with soft centers, pale and with a little brown edges. They will soften once filled and chilled overnight.

Rum Pastry Cream

  1. Pour the milk, ⅓ of the heavy cream and ½ of the sugar into a saucepan. Cut open and scrape out the seeds of the vanilla beans. Place everything into the saucepan. Heat up to the point of boiling, constantly stirring.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together ⅓ of the heavy cream, egg yolks, cornstarch and the rest of the sugar.
  3. Cool the milk mixture a little bit before slowly pouring it into the egg mixture while constantly whisking.
  4. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, make sure you bring with you the vanilla seeds. Heat the mixture back up, whisk constantly until it is thickening to a pudding-like consistency. Once you see a few bubbles pop, remove from the heat.
  5. Place the saucepan into a tub of cold water. Add in the rum essence and give it a taste. You want it to taste a little stronger than you would like (see next step).
  6. Take the last ⅓ of the heavy cream and whip it. Once the rum custard is cold, fold in the whipped cream.**

Assembly

  1. Once the cakes are cold, take two cakes that are similar in shape and place them together. Turn one the other way around (so the bottom is showing) and spread 1 heaping teaspoon of apricot jam on it. Do this on half of the cakes.
  2. Take the rum cream into a piping bag and spread rum cream over the apricot jam, generously. Do this on half of the cakes. If you separated the whipped cream and the rum custard, you need to pipe two separate layers of cream onto the cakes.
  3. Mix powdered sugar with a little bit of water to make a glazing. Take the other half of the cakes and spread this glazing thinly over. Decorate while still wet. I decorate with either dried flowers or jelly candy.
  4. Assemble today and serve tomorrow, as the cakes need time to soften. Keep covered in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Notes

* Using cornstarch will make it taste a little less, but the texture will be the same. 

** You can also separately make whipped cream and rum custard. Combining the two can make the cream really runny, so if you want to make a picture perfect cake, maybe the best option is to separate the two (but serve both on all cakes of course!).

Soft cake adapted from: Den lille blogg

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 11 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or tag @thegingerwithspice on Instagram, I'd love to see!

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Effie

Monday 26th of September 2022

I have a question cause I followed all the ingredients with the soft cakes the batter was more of a dry dough are the 4 eggs the only moisture in it? and after being baked and assembled then, I soaked them overnight and they're still dry any advice?

Stine Mari | Ginger with Spice

Wednesday 28th of September 2022

Hi Effie! Did the batter not look like the image numbered (3) under "How to Make the Soft Cake"? It is correct that the eggs are the only liquid, but perhaps your eggs were smaller than mine. I realize now that I should have specified large eggs, I'm sorry. After they bake they turn out hard, but soften due to the cream filling soaking into the cakes over time. Did you fill them and then leave them for overnight, or did you leave them overnight and then fill them? They should turn out really, really soft and moist, so it is quite surprising. Please let me know if you need any more troubleshooting!

Siv

Wednesday 3rd of June 2020

Hello. I was trying to make these today, but the cakes got very crispy. Are they supposed to be soft when they come out of the oven?

Stine Mari | Ginger with Spice

Thursday 4th of June 2020

Great question, Siv! They are crisp when they get out of the oven, with a little soft centers. They soften up because of the rum pastry cream inside (that is why you assemble them today, but serve them tomorrow). The potato flour helps to make them soft as well, when in contact with the creamy filling. However, I notice now that you asked me yesterday, so I hope they turned out great today. :)

sondria Harp

Saturday 12th of May 2018

This sounds like such a fun time in Norway and these cakes looks so good. I can't wait to give it a try.

Stine Mari | Ginger with Spice

Saturday 12th of May 2018

Thank you! Yes, it's a great time. The trees are finally green and the sun is back out - and then there's cake too!

Stephanie

Saturday 12th of May 2018

These look so incredibly delicious! I can't wait to try them

Stine Mari | Ginger with Spice

Saturday 12th of May 2018

Thank you so much, Stephanie!

Jacqueline Debono

Thursday 10th of May 2018

These cakes look fabulous. I'd love to try them. May sounds like a fun month to visit Norway!

Stine Mari | Ginger with Spice

Thursday 10th of May 2018

Thank you! Yes, it would be, and also around June 20th as it doesn't get dark at all at night.

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