Comforting Swedish Nut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

After a big day on our farm, I love sitting down with my husband for a cuppa and a slice of homemade cake like this comforting and delectable Swedish Nut Cake. Laced with finely chopped walnuts and slathered in a luscious cream cheese frosting, this cake is just the thing to cheer the soul and give that final boost of energy you need to finish the day well.

Sometimes confused with the equally tasty but completely different Swedish Almond Cake, this cake can stand on its own feet. Swedish Nut Cake is similar to carrot cake except it uses crushed pineapple and walnuts to achieve that tender and earthy consistency. Swedish Almond Cake, on the other hand, relies on almonds, both ground and flaked, to create a light-as-air cake sandwiched with a velvety vanilla custard.

Swedish Nut Cake

This cake is unique in that it has no butter or oil in the batter. This is saved for the utterly decadent frosting that has both cream cheese and butter in it. Amazingly, you don't miss the fat in the cake itself. It is kept both moist and tender with a generous amount of crushed pineapple and pineapple juice.
Traditionally, the cake is flavored simply with vanilla, almonds, and the aforementioned pineapple, but I like to add a little something extra with a spoonful of fresh lemon or orange zest and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. These two enhance the other ingredients with their fragrance and flavor, elevating this cake to something even more scrumptious. If you don't have fresh zest on hand, dried will do fine; you'll just need to add more to get the flavor profile you want.
Swedish Nut Cake is usually made with two cups of sugar, but I cut mine back to one since it gets plenty of sweetness from the pineapple and frosting. But if you like your cake really sweet, by all means, add another cup of sugar.
This batter is so easy to whip up. Just mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, then stir both together until there is no flour visible. Don't over mix or your cake can be tough. While the cake is baking, mix up the frosting and you'll have a delicious dessert ready to eat within the hour.

Frosting

The traditional frosting for a Swedish Nut Cake is truly fabulous. Simply whisk together softened cream cheese, softened butter, a cup or two of powdered sugar, and a spoonful of fragrant vanilla extract. As with the batter, I also include grated fresh lemon or orange zest and a pinch or two of cinnamon. I think they make the frosting even nicer, but if you want to stick with the traditional recipe, leave them out.
Your cake can be frosted directly out of the oven, but I prefer to wait until it cools so the frosting doesn't melt and slide all over the place. It is not a pretty cake, but you can glam it up a bit with some walnut halves or a sprinkling of lemon zest and finely ground almonds. I like it just as it is, but my husband swears it's even better with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Tea and Swedish Nut Cake Pairings

This humble but delicious cake goes really well with nutty black teas. I had mine with Coconut Macaron Dessert Tea and it was a wonderful pairing, but I think it would also be good with Porch Sippin' Pecan Black Tea or Oregon Breakfast Black Tea with hazelnut and orange.