{"id":8375,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8375"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:05","slug":"runebergintorttu","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/runebergintorttu\/","title":{"rendered":"Runeberg Tart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A small, tall cake is topped with red raspberry jam, and a ring of white icing surrounds it. Runebergintorttu is a baked sweet made with almonds and crumbs of baked goods mixed in, and it commemorates a Finnish poet. It is known as the sweet eaten on February 5, the birthday of Johan Ludvig Runeberg. In earlier times, however, it was also a Christmas product at bakeries, and recipes for it also survive in household cookbooks.<\/p>\n

A Porvoo Bakery’s Pastry and Fredrika’s Household Recipe<\/h2>\n

In 1840s Porvoo, Lars Henrik Astenius, who ran an inn and a bakery, made a tall, cylindrical pastry. One theory traces the origin of its recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method) to Saint Petersburg, but neither the recipe nor the route by which it arrived is certain. The name of the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who was fond of this pastry, became attached to it. His wife, the writer Fredrika, also recorded “Runeberg’s cake” in her handwritten cookbook. It is not known whether this household recipe, which used butter, flour, sugar, almonds and eggs, was the same as the shop’s pastry.<\/p>\n

A story also circulates that his wife made it overnight from leftovers. However, both the pastry that had been sold in a town shop before that time and the recipe recorded in his wife’s cookbook are known.<\/p>\n

From Christmas Advertisements to a February Commemoration<\/h2>\n

In a newspaper advertisement dated December 23, 1857, the Helsinki baker Fredrik Edvard Ekberg listed a cake bearing Runeberg’s name alongside saffron bread and gingerbread. It was a Christmas product first, and it took time before it became the sweet of February 5, the poet’s birthday. In 1865, when Ekberg moved to larger premises, his range of products grew further.<\/p>\n

In the late 19th century, it was also sold in shops in various places, and at first it was a sweet for the wealthy. Its link with February 5 became prominent from the 1910s onward, and it became widely known in the 1950s and 1960s. Today it appears in shops from mid-January and has become a seasonal sweet that announces the poet’s birthday. Schools in Porvoo serve it on the anniversary, and some caf\u00e9s in the city offer it year-round. A sweet that was made at home in an era when sugar and almonds were expensive spread through the sales and advertising of urban bakeries and came to be eaten throughout the country on the day commemorating the poet.<\/p>\n

Mixing Crumbs and Nuts and Baking in a Cylinder<\/h2>\n

The batter is made by mixing softened butter and sugar, then adding eggs, almond flour, and finely crushed biscuits or wheat flour. In a recipe published by the dairy company Valio, which uses chopped almonds and oat cookie crumbs, dairy cream is also added. Unlike a batter made with wheat flour alone, it gains the fat of the nuts and the aroma of the baked goods mixed into it.<\/p>\n

When the batter is packed into cylindrical molds and baked, the cake has a similar round cross-section from top to bottom. It can also be made in small cup-shaped molds, but a tall cylinder makes the small dab of jam on top stand out. Rather than having tart pastry lining the bottom, it is a sweet made by baking a single mixed batter into a tall shape.<\/p>\n

\n\"Coffee\n
A Runeberg torte served with coffee at a caf\u00e9 in Helsinki (February 8, 2023). The cup and the pastry are arranged on a patterned tray. Photo: Ypsilon from Finland \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Finishing with Jam and Icing, and Soaking with Liquor or Serving It Alongside<\/h2>\n

Once the cake has cooled, raspberry jam is placed on top, and powdered-sugar icing is piped around it. The white ring is not a thick coating covering the whole cake but a thin line encircling the red center. Because the intensely flavored jam is placed in a single spot, choosing where to take a bite also lets you vary the ratio of cake to jam in each mouthful.<\/p>\n

Today, the cake is sometimes made by soaking it with a syrup containing liquor. On the other hand, Fredrika’s recipe preserved by the Runeberg household does not add liquor to the cake itself. The custom was to drink a small amount of punsch alongside the cake. Both the modern method of moistening the cake and the household record of serving liquor separately have been handed down as ways of eating the sweet of the same name.<\/p>\n

\"Runeberg<\/p>\n

Runeberg tarts baked in paper muffin cups, with the jam encircled by white icing. Photo: Tuisku9, 2024-02-02, location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Original size, no additional processing.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A Runeberg torte from the Finnish confectioner Ekberg (February 4, 2021). The top of the cylinder has red jam and a white ring of icing. Photo: JIP \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Raspberry Jam and White Icing Remain Even When the Ingredients Change<\/h2>\n

The wheat-free version uses a specified flour blend and is designed so that it can also be baked in muffin tins. This version brings the batter together with melted butter; after baking, it is soaked with sugar syrup and liquor and left to rest for several hours to overnight. Both the mixing method and the resting time after baking differ from the basic method of creaming the butter.<\/p>\n

The dairy- and egg-free version soaks flaxseed in boiling water and uses olive oil and oat drink. The eggs and butter are replaced with other ingredients, while almonds, crumbs and cardamom are used. For the finish, raspberry jam is encircled by a ring of white icing. These versions keep this distinctive appearance while being adapted to the ingredients and molds available at home.<\/p>\n

\n\"Takeaway\n
Runeberg tortes bought at a Helsinki bakery and eaten at home after dinner (January 23, 2024). An example of takeaway based on the photographer’s description; the pastries are served still in their paper box. Photo: JIP \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Johan Ludvig Runeberg<\/strong>: Finland’s 19th-century national poet. He is commemorated with this sweet on his birthday, February 5.<\/p>

Fredrika Runeberg<\/strong>: A writer and the wife of the poet Runeberg. She recorded the recipe for the sweet in the household cookbook.<\/p>

Punsch<\/strong>: A type of sweet liquor popular in the Nordic countries.<\/p>

Lars Henrik Astenius<\/strong>: A craftsman who ran a bakery in Porvoo and sold the pastry Runeberg was fond of.<\/p>

Fredrik Edvard Ekberg<\/strong>: A craftsman who ran a bakery in Helsinki in the 19th century and featured a cake bearing Runeberg’s name in an 1857 advertisement.<\/p>

Valio<\/strong>: A Finnish dairy company. It also provides publicly available recipes for home cooks.<\/p>

Flaxseed<\/strong>: The seed of the flax plant. Crushed and soaked in liquid, it is used in plant-based doughs and batters, among other things.<\/p>

Cardamom<\/strong>: A spice whose seeds have a fresh aroma, also used in confectionery.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. Svenska litteraturs\u00e4llskapet i Finland, “Stora finlandssvenska festboken”<\/a> \u2014 Published 2020; pp. 125\u2013126 and p. 430, notes 9\u201312. The publication year was checked against the title page and colophon of the saved PDF and against the bibliographic record<\/a> of the publisher, SLS. Covers the 1840s Porvoo pastry, the handwritten household book, the advertisement of December 23, 1857, and sales and the establishment of the commemorative day. The date and products of the 1857 advertisement were confirmed through the transcription in this study; the original advertisement has not been seen. This is distinguished from secondary accounts that give 1865 as the start of sales.<\/li>
  2. Porvoo \/ Runebergin koti, “Runebergintorttu”<\/a> \u2014 The relationship between the shop and the household, no liquor, the discovery of the book during the 2004 restoration, schools and year-round sales. The museum presents the household cookbook as the oldest recipe and also handles a facsimile edition and cake molds. The publication year of the facsimile is not to be taken as the date of the handwritten book or of the sweet’s origin.<\/li>
  3. Valio, “Runebergin tortut”<\/a> \u2014 The creamed-butter type, dairy and crumbs, molds and finishing.<\/li>
  4. Valio, “Gluteeniton runebergin torttu”<\/a> \u2014 Melted butter and a flour blend; the type that is moistened and left to rest.<\/li>
  5. Valio, “Vegaaninen runebergin torttu”<\/a> \u2014 Flaxseed, olive oil, oat drink, and the red-and-white finish.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Runebergintorttu is a Finnish baked sweet in which almonds and crumbs of baked goods are mixed into the batter, and raspberry jam and a ring of white icing are placed on top. The top of the slender cylinder bears a red-and-white mark. Named after the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, it appears in shops in many places around his birthday on February 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7332,"menu_order":146,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Runebergintorttu","subtitle":"A small cylinder bearing a poet's name, crowned with red jam and a white ring","topics":"Returning nuts and crumbs to the batter\uff0fA red circle and a white ring, added after baking\uff0fA bakery favorite, recorded in a household cookbook\uff0fFebruary 5, and year-round in the town","country":"Finland","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["fruit","nuts","butter","egg"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":["year-round"]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8375","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t