Vinarterta: Iceland #173

 Vinarterta: Iceland #173

Vinarterta is an Icelandic celebration cake. It has multi-layers consisting of cookies and filled with an almond, cardamom, cinnamon and smashed prunes filling. Heads up - A Vinarterta needs to be stored in a cool place for at least 3 days or up to 4 weeks before serving. This is not a last minute dessert.

Filling:

• 2 c. Water
• 2 lb. pitted dried prunes
• 1 T. Lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Ground cardamom
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Cookie:

• 1 c. Softened butter
• 1-1/2 c. Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 c. Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Ground cardamom
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1 T. Almond extract 
• 1/2 c. Milk

1. Filling:  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.  
2. Add lemon juice, cardamom, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon and stir well.  Set aside.
3. Preheat oven 350F.
4. Cookie: In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time.
6. In a small bowl, mix together the milk, vanilla extract and almond extract.
7. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cardamom and baking powder.
8. 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.
9. Roll dough out on to a floured surface until roughly 1/4” thick. Using an inverted 9” round springform pan or an inverted 8” rectangular brownie pan, trace a square/circle with a knife. Gently place the dough square/circle on to a baking sheet. If you have 2 baking sheets, you can bake 2 layers at once. You should end up with 5-7 layers in total.
10. Bake each layer of dough for 10-12 minutes, until firm but not browned. 
11. Gently transfer each to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. Once all dough layers are baked and fully cooled you can start to put them together. Place 1 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 an do the same. Repeat Thais until you have one cookie layer left and place that on top but do not cover the top layer with the prune mix.
13. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and foil and store in a cool, dry place for at least 3 days or up to 4 weeks. The longer it sits  the softer the cookie layers become.
14. To serve, slice into squares.

Results: Very good! Next time, if there is a next time, I will add chopped walnuts and use dates instead of prunes.

Bottom Line: Maybe I’ll make this again. A taster, whose family is from Ukraine, said she had something similar when she was a child but with dates and nuts. The 6 tasters liked it but didn’t go crazy over it. I think the prunes may have scared them off. 

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