I’ll start by saying, I’m not a huge fan of dried fruit in baking. There are exceptions, of course- dried cranberries or apricots always have a spot in my heart. Maybe even the occasional dried cherry.
Still, I’ll always skip the raisins in my cinnamon buns or cookies, and don’t even get me started on fruit cake. A concentrated brick of dried… stuff. I will eat it out of politesse, or duty, but I really, really can’t muster many good feelings about a cake that could literally outlive me. (I assume this is why it used to be traditional at weddings- longevity and all that. My mother-in-law still has a slice from her own wedding almost 30 years ago! It is still edible. What.)
(Okay, it’s not the fact that fruit cake is impervious to age that freaks me out. I would gladly consume honey from Ancient Egypt or a centuries-old well-preserved wine. It’s the fruit. It’s all about the gnarly dried fruit.)
So, given my general weariness of dried fruit, it will likely surprise you how much I love this cake, as the sweet gooey layers pressed between the chewy cookie sheets you see here… dried plums.
Or… er… ah man, I really don’t like to use this word since it generally turns people right off.
Prunes.
Yeesh, it’s not a good word is it? It’s got such negative connotations, I never tell people I’m serving them a ‘prune cake.’ Nah, wait for them to dive in- and they do– and love it- and they always, always do. And then when they ask me what’s in it I coyly say… “dried plums.”
It’s not a lie. It’s just a different name for something (secretly delicious) that’s gotten a bad rap. Like calling something pâté instead of fatty spreadable meat or meringue instead of sugary brick of egg white. It’s a rebranding.
(Fun story about food rebranding- did you know that Rapeseed Oil and Canola Oil are the same thing? Rapeseed farmers saw people were weary of their… well, rapey sounding name. Can-ola is a portmanteau derived from ‘Canadian Oil.’ Thus, Canadian rapeseed farmers became canola farmers and lo and behold- look at all the recipes that call for canola these days!)
Vinarterta was originally invented in Iceland and was made as a treat for Christmas, weddings (hey! Just like our iffy fruit cake tradition but better) and other major celebrations. Nowadays, I understand the traditional dried plum vinarterta isn’t made all that often in Iceland, but it has been aggressively adopted by Icelandic immigrants to North America.
Now, I know some Icelanders. That’s actually how I discovered this beauty of a cake. And let me tell you, they all swear they have the best recipe for vinarterta.
All the recipes are different.
Some tell me just cardamom, no cinnamon or vanilla! Others add cinnamon only and spike the filling with vodka or wine. Some add buttercream frosting to the top of theirs. Others insist a proper vinarterta is never iced- ever. In my experience, if someone has an opinion about vinarterta, you can bet they feel very strongly it.
So, it appears the only thing all my Icelandic friends and their families can agree on, is that they will never agree on what consistences The Original Vinarterta. The Best Vinarterta.
Many a loud argument has started over this, I kid you not.
As someone who is not even a little bit Icelandic, it may seem odd to throw my recipe in the ring. But hey, I don’t have a horse in this race (oh no, she’s mixing metaphors!), this vinarterta recipe was made for my tastes.
I took my favourite parts of all the vinartertas I ever tried and recipe tested until I made one that fit my idea of a perfect vinarterta.
Cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon. No booze (I know, shocking). No icing. Almond extract in the cookie layers.
I have to add, after going on such a rant about how different this is from a traditional fruit cake- guess what- this cake is also meant to be made in advance. Make it a few days (or even a few weeks) before enjoying it! The longer it sits, the softer the cookie layers and more the flavours will meld.
| Vínarterta - Icelandic Celebration Cake | | Print |
- Filling:
- 2 cups water
- 1 kg pitted dried prunes
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- .
- Cookie:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp almond extract
- ½ cup milk
- Heat water and prunes in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the prunes are very soft and water is evaporated, stirring occasionally- approximately 30 minutes. Once the prunes are very soft, mash them with a potato masher or blitz them through a food processor. Add lemon juice, cardamom, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon and stir well. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time.
- In a small bowl, mix together the milk, vanilla extract and almond extract.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cardamom and baking powder.
- Add a third of your dry ingredients to the creamed butter bowl and mix well. Then, add a third of the milk mixture to the butter bowl and mix well. Continue to alternate adding dry ingredients and wet ingredients to the butter bowl until everything is mixed together.
- Roll dough out on to a floured surface until roughly ¼ inch thick (or rather, thin!). Using an inverted 9 inch round springform pan OR an inverted 8 inch rectangular brownie pan, trace a square/circle with a knife. Gently place your dough square/circle on to a baking sheet (I like to roll it on to a rolling pin and then roll it off on the sheet). If you have two baking sheets, you can bake two layers at once, cutting down your cooking time. You should end up with 5-7 'cookie' layers in total, depending on the width of each layer and the size your are cutting them to.
- Bake each layer of dough for 10-12 minutes, until firm, but not browned. As they are baked, gently transfer each to a wire rack to cool completely. The baked and cooled squares/circles should have a firm, cookie-like consistency.
- Once all your dough layers are baked and fully cooked you can start to put them all together! Place one cookie layer down on a piece of wax paper. Using a spatula, gently spread a layer of the prune mixture over the cookie, getting as close to the edges as possible. Place the second cookie layer overtop and do the same. Repeat this until you have one cookie layer left and place that on top but do not cover your top layer with the prune mix.
- Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and/or tinfoil and store in a cool, dry place for at least 3 days or up to 4 weeks, until ready to serve. The longer you let it sit, the softer your cookie layers will be. I like to wait at least a week buuuut... sometimes I just can't resist and break into it early. 🙂 To serve, slice into slices or squares.
Loved your write-up of this magical cake! What temperature do I bake it? And, how long did it take? It sounds like it would take a while to wait for the cookie layers to cool. I only have two cooling racks. 🙁
Hi Sam! Thanks for bringing this to my attention, it’s 350 degrees. I used two baking sheets at the same time so for all 6 layers I ended up baking in three rounds at 15 minutes each (45 minutes total). As for the cooling racks, I wouldn’t worry about it- I only had 2 at the time as well but the cookie layers are so thin they cool really quickly! By the time the second batch is done, the first batch is totally cooled and can be gently stacked on top of each other and set aside.
This recipe is most like the one that my grandmother and my mother always baked. The filling didn’t have lemon juice, but did include a tablespoon of cinnamon and after the prunes were puréed, a stick of butter was thrown in and mixed into the hot prunes. I’ve been making it without adding the butter since this cake is rich enough.
Another funny thing we always did was to use an electric mixer/beater to process the prunes. My mother would set the timer for five minutes and you had to beat the heck out of the prunes and their liquid, plus sugar, for 5 FULL minutes. I like the texture it leaves in the prunes. The dough was always portioned and patted into the bottom of greased and floured cake pans. That may be because nobody in my family like rolling out any kind of do. Ha ha! But it seems easier as well. And I like the way it looks.
We also only sliced them in thin slices not in blocks, and it slices beautifully that way. Easier to eat with a fork.
KI think your recipe is the most authentic I’ve seen. Thanks for sharing!
Great story, Barbara! I love hearing everyone’s personal vinarterta recipe quirks- it really is one of THOSE recipes, everyone’s got a secret trick 🙂 I’ve started slicing mine thinly as well, since it eats so much easier than way and the cake is so wonderfully rich. Of course, that just means I have more than one slice haha 🙂
As a kid I remember my mom making this cake every Christmas. I cannot find her old recipe but this one is most like hers, so I’m going to try it. My mom passed away three years ago and my daughter and I have decided to make this cake and think of her as we bake together. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the secret hints Barbara!
I’m sure they will immensely improve the recipe so that my husband Chris and I can send my sister a delicious version of this family recipe.
Ha ha.
Stephen
Hi Finn,
Thank you for posting this recipe. My grandmother used to make this every Christmas, until she passed away 23 years ago. I had almost forgotten this tradition, when my aunt made the Icelandic cake this past Christmas-it’s amazing how a familiar taste can flood your mind with memories.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe this year to continue the family tradition.
Nostalgically,
Michelle
Sense memory is amazing, isn’t it? I hope this recipe lives up to your grandmother’s standards, Michelle 🙂 Every good Icelander has their own secret blend, so I encourage you to taste the filling and adjust the seasonings as needed to as closely emulate your grandmothers as possible.
I was surprised to learn that residents of Iceland had never heard of vinarterta until North American transplanted started bringing some, ‘home,’ when they visited. Some folks believe it actually has a Ukrainian origin,although a friend reports having eaten a similar food in the Middle East, making the cardamom more unbderstandable. I have heard of it made with date filling, too. Whereever, whatever, nummy yummy…
Just a funfact. I took some agriculture at the University of Manitoba – the place where Canola Oil was engineered. Just wanted to politely correct your write up. Canola is “Canada Oil Low Acid” and it’s actually a GMO derived from rapeseed, rather than just a quick name change. A lot of people refer to rape as canola now, but there is a difference.
Anyways, as for the recipe, lemon juice? I’ve never used that in my family recipe, but I am intrigued. Does it affect the flavour much?
Interesting to see other takes on this awesome treat!
Very cool! Thanks for letting me know, Jesselyn. It’s such a random fact to know but I love having trivia like that in my back pocket (especially when I know it’s actually correct this time 😉
I only add a bit of lemon, which doesn’t really give it a ‘lemony’ flavour, but I find a touch of acid brightens up the prune mixture just enough. Which reminds me… it’s almost time to start this year’s Vinarterta!
Prunes, prunes, prunes! They’re magical, moist and magnificent! Unless they are abused… They are moist, and moisturizing! This recipe is the bomb! I must pluck up the courage to try it… I’m always daunted by the cookie baking thing!
Oh, and as for dried fruit… Reconstituted in cognac, brandy or calvados they’re no longer dried fruit! But jewels of great price! Sometimes fresh fruit is just too fresh and poached fruit too wet… And if you live in Iceland in the winter the only fresh veggies might be potatoes!
Finn! Embrace the prune it will love you back… Plus if you pronounce it in French, it means plum! Love your post!
Thanks for the message, Rod! I hear you on the cookie baking thing- that is by far the most challenging part of this entire recipe (aside from, you know, not eating it right away 😉 ). That being said, it’s more labour-intensive that tricky. I say put on a good movie, put on a pot of tea/coffee/crack a beer and make an afternoon of it!
I definitely embrace the prune now. As you say, jewels at a great price! Love it.
I marinate dry fruit for my Christmas cake in the “cocktail” of whisky, rum and home made sour cherry liquer. Next morning… well, my husband says it’s a pity to put them in batter.
And I’ll definitely try this recipe! Thanks, Finn!
I mean, booze does make just about any dessert more exciting, right? 😉
Thanks for this! My wife’s family is Icelandic and pretty much her whole family (Icelandic and non-Icelandic sides) loves this. Every year, she buys some from a couple old ladies at the local Farmer’s Market and it’s pretty much the most in-demand thing at our Xmas gift exchanges. I’ve got a few days off prior to Xmas and I was looking for a recipe to make to surprise her. Let me just say if you don’t know how to spell this, it’s extremely hard to Google! I will be trying this recipe!
Awesome, Sean- that will be such a great surprise!! Mega husband brownie-points! 🙂
can you please tell me the best way to slice a round vinetarta, i prefer a square or rectangle but do not have a proper pan.
Thank you
We always slice it just like a regular round cake, in wedges. You can slice it really thin and it holds its shape very well. It is easier to eat with a fork that way and looks beautiful on a plate.
If you want the vinerterta more square, there are a couple of suggestions. The first is to bake it in the round, and after it has been assembled, cut off the rounded sides so it is square. The benefit of this is that you can snack on these bits… yum! The other suggestion I have is to roll the dough out onto a cookie sheet (not a huge one, just average size), bake, then cut in half. Then stack, with prune filling, and, voila, square vinerterta! I have seen my Mom do this, and it worked just fine
Hi Audrey, I agree with Barbara! The layers look just as lovely sliced into very thin slices from a round cake.
We always sliced ours in diamond shapes. Don’t ask me why? But it gives thin corners and one thick part in the middle of each slice. And the way the circle works, edge pieces end up being a triangle, perfect for smaller appetites!
My mother-in-law always made this, but when she passed away several years ago we just never picked up on it. I’m hoping to surprise my husband and brother with it this year. Is 5-6 days enough? I know she did it at least a week in advance.
Also, what type of butter do you generally use? Salted or unsalted?
5/6 days should still work, Debbie. You are such a sweetheart to do that for them!
I use salted butter, despite unsalted being standard in most baking. This is for two reasons- first, because the old Icelandic recipe I was given used standard salted, and second because there is no salt added to the prune mixture, so there is little hazard of the finished cake being overly salty. I hope it lives up to your late mother-in-law’s standards 🙂
When I was growing up, the first Saturday after my birthday (mid-November) was vinaterta making day. It was wrapped in layers of waxed paper, tucked into spring-form pans, and then stored in the attic to age. To mash the prunes, we fed them through a meat grinder using the insert with the smallest holes. Once when I was old enough to know that cardamom came from India, I questioned the validity of its use as an ingredient. I was told that the Vikings in their travels discovered the spices of the Middle East and became big fans of cardamom and cinnamon, and did their best to maintain trade withthe Middle East and India.
This cake was a regular, in my life, every Christmas. Growing up in Seattle, my Grandmother ‘Amma’ (Icelandic for Grandmother – born 1899), would make a Vinarterta every Christmas for the Family. Amma’s parents & 6 siblings, my Great Grandparents, emigrated from Iceland in the 1890’s. They settled first in Manitoba then onto Washington State in 1902.
I enjoyed her Vinarterta so much that it was my requested Birthday Cake every March.
The Vinarterta was NEVER iced – perhaps some dusted power sugar on top – and sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces from an 8 or 9 inch diameter 7 layer round cake.
Great memories…
Thank you,
Richard
I love hearing stories like this, Richard. Vinarterta might not be commonplace where I live but, for those lucky enough to know it, it certainly touches a lot of hearts and lingers in a lot of sweet memories! Thank you
My daughter and I made our first vina with the careful guide of my Aunt, who has been baking them since my nana (Amma) passed on. We made it for my daughters wedding and we had so many compliments! Most liked it better than the other wedding cake! I am
Excited to try it again at Christmas!
What a great story, Kristen! I love recipes that are passed on from generation to generation. Did you Aunt know it from feel and taste instead of actual measurements? I feel like people who really, really know their family recipes always default to that technique 🙂
I was fixing stewed prunes for hubby tonight and started checking out recipes using prunes and found your recipe that is now on my Must Try list! I googled “Vínarterta” and found ALL kinds of variations! Some with nothing on top, powdered sugar (plain and some decorative), chocolate drizzles, caramel, Turbinado sugar, a thick layer of butter cream, even a glaze made of confectioners sugar and coffee. There were some that had rhubarb, raspberry or strawberry filling. My favorites were the rectangular cake with star cookie cutouts on top with a dusting of confectioners sugar and the ones that were just two cookies with prune filling between (perfect for a finger food only celebration!). I love prunes myself but if I was having a party I might make a raspberry version for the dyed in the woolprune haters. Thank you for posting this recipe, can’t wait to make it.
Are you sure there is a tablespoon of almond extract in the cookie dough? That seems like an awful lot.
Thanks
Hi Linda, it is a lot but keep in mind, it’s spread out over 5-7 layers of cookie (and 4-6 layers of filling). If you’re not a fan of almond-forward flavouring, you could certainly reduce it to a teaspoon or omit it altogether
Thanks for responding. I do like almond flavouring a lot. Wasn’t sure whether the 1 tblsp was perhaps a typo. I made this cake once years ago for a party but didn’t let it ripen enough and it was pretty hard in texture! The ripening period is so important. Cheers
I am in the process of making this. I made the filling today but refrigerated it so I can make the pastry tomorrow. Hope that’s ok. Making the whole thing in one day seemed too much work! I didn’t find the filling nearly sweet enough. Other recipes seem to add up to 1 1/2 cups of sugar so I increased mine to 1 cup. There is an added tartness with the lemon juice after all. Is there anything stickier than blitzed prunes! I think I had prune on everything in my kitchen by the time I finished.
I am of Icelandic descent and grew up having vinarterta on holidays. I am away from home this year and didn’t have my recipe with me so I thought I would google it. This recipe is very similar to my family recipe but we add rum to ours. The funny thing is that I traveled to Iceland a few years ago and was looking forward to having vinarterta in Iseland. After looking for it in 5 different cities/villages and not finding it, I asked about it at a local restaurant. The waitress laughed and said “Nobody makes that here anymore! Only you crazy Americans still eat it!” Now I want to teach my daughter how to make it so the tradition continues.
Val, same thing happened to me when I was in Iceland, except I was told “only Canadian and American Icelandic people made it now. In Iceland, we prefer Chocolate Torte!” Now that was only one fun baker, but I didn’t see vinarterta anywhere in my trips to the bigger cities and the tiny towns. My daughters and I just finished making our 2021 vinarterta. In 2019 I converted the recipe to vegan. It was still delicious!
This is close to my grandmothers recipe. No lemon juice and I add s bit of almond extract to prunes. Her recipe calls for cream and not milk. Everybody who has ever tried it likes it very much. Mom used to make it in September or October (a couple of cakes at least) and freeze them until the holidays that way Dad always had his cake at Christmas. So glad others are sharining this old recipe. Some also use Strawberries or dates instead of prunes. I prefer prunes. I have passed it on to my daughter and granddaughters to carry on the tradition. I would really love to try this version, I think I will stick to mine.
I actually gaffawed at this. As an Icelandic Noth American myself… I totally got what you meant about them all fighting about it… but lets face it, is that really a huge surprise being its Viking?! Our ancenstors fought just as much amungst ourselves as they did other people lol – here’s to keeping tradition alive! Sköll!
Very interesting comments. My experience was that I had a best freind in Manitoba who had an Icelandic immigrant grandfather who married a woman from Syria. Funny about the middle east thing. I always hated fruitcake because of the rum and when I tried her wedding cake I was in love. Best wedding cake ever! When we went to visit in Victoria Beach it was a great mix of Icelandic and middle east food. But the really funny thing is the recipe I got from them had no cardamon and only 1 tsp almond . I you want to impress all your friends at xmas try this recipe. Oh and this might cause a big fight (lol) but some people use dates instead of prunes.
So look delicious! Well worth the time to make and wait the 2 weeks.
I used to make vinarterta with my Great Grandmother, my Grandmother (Amma), my Mom and for the past few years my son Kristján has joined me and his Amma (my Mom). Unfortunately we were not able to get together this year due to COVID so my son and I will be making this as a surprise. For some reason in my family it was stressed from my Great Grandmother and my Aunties that the terta has to be eight (8) layers of the cookie/cake for some reason… no idea why, but that’s the tradition I carry son
This is as close to my families recipe that I could find online. I sent it to my daughters so we could make it virtual this year. My Great Grandmother learned this from the Icleanders in Bella Bella British Columbia when she married a widower with 3 kids and lived there until moving to Blaine Washington where my Grandfather was raised. GG gave the recipe to my Grandma when she married Grandpa. I called them Ommie and Bompa. I grew up watching my Ommie and Mom make this every year for Christmas. We cook the prunes down with water and brandy. I just add cinnamon, clove and cardamom to the prune mixture and omit the sugar. We’ve always made it in a rectangle shape and then cut into 4 chunks wrap, and freeze. Our family is on the no frosting team, but it is always sliced thin and eaten cold. You didn’t want to be the one that got a soggy warm slice. It was fun to make again last night, I hadn’t done it for about 6 years. But those memories come right back as soon as you stick a finger in the prune goo!!!
My husband is making Vinarterta upstairs as I type. I came online to research how to prepare the prunes as he was calling downstairs for some direction. His mother has made Vinarterta all of his life at Christmas. She passed away three years ago and several members of the family – my husband, my sister in law, my father in law, my husband’s aunt…. have taken matters into their own hands. I have no interest in the production of it but will gladly eat it once someone has gone to all of the trouble. Its been neat to read other’s comments on their family history and tradition of vinarterta!
I found the dough incredibly sticky. What I did was measure parchment paper and rolled/pressed by hand, until I had the dough the right size, then just lifted the parchment paper and dough together, laid it on the pan, and into the oven. Worked like a charm, and then iI still had the paper to help lift it out of the pan when done. My first attempt does not look at all as ‘clean’ as in the photos, but will see how it looks when time to eat it. I remember my mom making this but not often.
??? Tawnya, not sure if you meant this reply for me of someone else?
mmmm. I got bored one year and tried it with dried apricots. then another with rhubarb, both were delicious. My granny always made these up in the fall and her 6 kids always got a cake of their own for Christmas. Always a treat. I was thinking of trying it with Lingonberry Jam this year.
I didn’t have enough pans the same size, so what i do is cut out shapes either square or round with parchment paper, roll out on a slightly larger sheet of parchment paper, use the cutouts, cut around it, and then place on a baking sheet. I made multiple sizes of cakes and as many layers as i can manage. Also the thinner the layer the better.
With the parchment paper cutout, i was able to transfer to the baking sheets easier as well. I also had a uniform size and depth.
Yes, the thinner layer of cake the better! Excellent tips, Linda!
What is with these rectangular cakes? Pie are squared, vinaterta are round. 🙂
We have been baking vinaterta since before I was born in 1950. We use the recipe our Gramma Sigrudur used.
My family makes vinaterta the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, (most years) this year it will be on December 3rd.
One of the grandchildren forgot the tradition and accepted an invitation for a trip on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She was too embarrassed to tell me, so her mom relayed the message.
All is forgiven 🙂 and off to the baking! Good family fellowship and a lot of laughter.
Fantastic recipe. Instead of almond extract, I added 1 tbsp of amaretto. I also decreased the amount of sugar by four tablespoons. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Can you use a jar of Lekvar instead of cooking up the prunes?
Found this recipe so I’m trying it for the first time. My mother in law always made the vinarterta but now unable to.
Not sure how it’s going to turn out but very easy to make. Have not read all the reviews but I portioned out the prunes on each cookie disc before staking. Much easier to spread !
Will be tasting in a few weeks.