Spiced Lingonberry Cake -- Obachan's Version

Jams from Finland :) I don’t know how many times I have repeated this on my blog, but blogging has truly broadened my horizons. Not only it has increased my culinary knowledge, but it gave me chances to taste some foods that I can never buy in this rural city in Japan, even by ordering online. This time it was these jams. I got these jams several weeks ago from someone in Finland who I came to know through blogging. Spiced Lingonberry Cake - Obachan's Version - Actually we do have lingonberries in northern part of Japan, and I have tasted lingonberry jam once before when a friend of mine gave me a tiny jar of it as a souvenir. I loved the jam very much, but it was such a small amount and it looked obviously expensive, so all I could do was spreading it very thinly on my toast several mornings. Using it for cooking/baking was totally out of question. But this time, given this large jar of much tastier lingonberry jam from Finland, I felt no hesitation. ;) The night I received these jams, I made a dish which was sort of like mock “Swedish meatballs” and enjoyed it with generous amount of this lingonberry jam. (Sorry, no photos.) Maybe it was a strange idea to choose a Swedish dish to use the berry jam from Finland, but I really wanted to try the jam with some kind of meat, and when I googled for an idea, the combination of Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam looked like a must-have. Of course I didn’t have enough ingredients to make “real” Swedish meatballs, but even with my “mock” dish, I was able to find out how the jam goes well with meat. Mmmmmm..... And this is my second attempt with the lingonberry jam. I adopted the recipe from this site (scroll down), and reduced it to half. I didn’t have sour cream and it was raining outside (meaning that I didn’t feel like going grocery shopping), I substituted it with yogurt and cottage cheese. So, again, my cake must have been pretty different from what it should be – perhaps much softer, fluffier and lighter-tasting. But I’m happy to say that I do love my “mock” spiced lingonberry cake very much. This sweet-n-tart cake was perfect for the tea time on this dull, rainy afternoon. ... Now what should I use the other kind of jam: cloudberry jam for? That is something I've never ever had before, and sooooooooo tasty! :D Categories: Sweets