Teeny tiny cardamom cakes with lemony drizzle
Salmon burgers frying in a pan
It has come to my attention that I haven’t posted any new recipes on the site in quite some time, so I decided to share two at once! These are quite different from one another, but are equally delicious. The nice thing is one could theoretically make lohipihvit (salmon burgers) for dinner and minikardemummakakut (teeny tiny cardamom cakes) for desert. Why not both?
Jorma and Leena in front of their home in Haukipudas, Finland
Salmon burgers have a special place in my memories of living in Finland. My friendship family would make these frequently. We would usually get the ingredients from the fishermen along the coast in Haukipudas. Their point of sale was simple, clearly made for storing fish and fishing equipment first and foremost, and as a result filled with the strong scent of fish. Since I didn’t grow up eating much fish — Mom is not a fan, it took me a while to get comfortable breathing there, but the fact that we were getting fish right from a fisherman (in Finland!!!) was enough to keep me there.
Hailuoto, October 2013 — one of many wind turbines and small fishing boats on the island
Hailuoto — near Oulu, Finland October 2013
Although this recipe does not use fresh fish from the icy waters off the coast of Finland, these do the trick for me as a land-bound American. I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.
kardemumma
The other recipe for this week started with receiving a free cake pop maker in the spring of 2022. I found it in the community swap space in my apartment building and my thriftiness and curiosity encouraged me to try it out — I could always return it to the space if I ended up not getting into it. I had never had a cake pop maker, but I am really good at joining a trend after it stops being trendy (hello, first smart watch in 2021 — and yes, it is a Suunto). I knew I could make something kind of Finnish using it. The first thing to pop into my head was to develop a recipe for tiny cardamom cakes. It also popped into my head that adding a lemony frosting drizzle to them, once they cooled. I got to work searching for plain cake pop recipes and adapted it from there to add the Finnishing touches. Cooking them was fast and easy and the frosting was delicious on its own! I popped them into a plastic truffle container with round wells that allowed these to fit just perfectly into the spaces, so as not to roll around while in motion.
I encourage you to give these recipes a try and let me know how it goes! Happy making and baking!
View from a good thinking place during a recent vacation in the Keweenaw Penninsula, looking out to Lake Superior
