Swedish Flop

Have you ever had swedish flop?  It’s a coffee cake with a crumble top, powdered sugar and cream filling.  If you’re lucky, you can find it with a fruit layer added to the cream filling, usually strawberry.  When I was a girl, it was one of our favorite desserts.  Our local grocery store sold it in the bakery section.  It always reminds me of my younger brother because he always requested it for his birthday.

I had forgotten about it until recently when I saw it at the grocery store.  I’m not sure how I came across it because I rarely go into the bakery section, but there I was and I bought it.  I thought that Meeshie would enjoy the crumbly filled goodness of this dessert, and she did.  Then once I got it home and ate it, I knew that I had to make it.

Except I had a hard time finding a recipe.  Apparently swedish flop is a regional thing.   Every where I looked, people were looking for the recipe but not many out of the Chicagoland area had heard of it.  In my quest, I found a recipe that sounded close to what I wanted so I used it as a starting point.  I don’t even remember where I found the recipe, so I can’t even link you back to the page.  The crumb topping smelled heavenly, but wasn’t quite what I was looking for.  No recipe mentioned fruit, and since I didn’t go to the store for this, I used some strawberry jam.

The filling reminded me of a frosting from my childhood.  Have you ever made frosting which requires you to cook some flour and milk on the stove to form a paste before adding sugar and butter?  I have.  We call it French Cream and I’ve made so many times I’ve lost count.  It’s a denser frosting that when whipped properly tastes light but works well for decorating instead of buttercream.  It was always our go to way to frost any cake and was super easy to adapt for other flavors.  I’m talking orange or strawberry Wyler’s instead of sugar for a flavorful frosting.

Well this filling incorporates that method.  The key to the filling (or frosting) is to make sure that the flour and milk mixture incorporates itself into a paste, much like mashed potatoes.  Then you must make sure that the paste is cold, stick it in the fridge or freezer if needed before incorporating it into the rest of butter mixture.

Swedish Flop

• Cake
• 1 package Dry Yeast (2 1/4 t)
• 1/2 C Milk
• 1/2 C Butter, cold
• 2 C Flour
• 1/2 t Salt
• 2 Egg Yolks, beaten
• 1 t Vanilla
• Topping
• 1/4 C Butter, cold
• 1/3 C Brown Sugar
• 1 t Cinnamon
• Filling
• 3 T Flour
• 1/4 t Salt
• 1/2 C Milk
• 1/2 C Butter, softened
• 1/2 C Powdered Sugar
• 1 t Vanilla
• Additional Powdered Sugar for dusting

In a small sauce pan, scald the milk and set aside for 20 minutes to cool.  While the milk is cooling, sift the flour and salt and then cut the butter into small pieces.  Cut the butter and flour mixture together until incorporated into pea sized pieces.  Add the yeast to the milk and let sit for 5 minutes or until frothy.  Mix the eggs and vanilla together.  Add the yeast mixture to the eggs and then combine that into to the flour mixture.  Form into a ball, leave in the bowl, cover and refrigerate for one hour.

While the dough is resting, combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together until crumbly.  After an hour, remove the dough from the bowl and spread into a well-greased pan.  I used a 10×7 inch pan, but you the recipe called for a 8×8 inch one.  I’ve always had sweedish flop in the shape of a long coffee cake not a square one so that’s why I used the longer pan.  Spread the topping over the dough.  Cover and let rest in a warm place for one hour.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.  Remove and cool.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the topping. Mix together the flour and salt in a small sauce pan over low heat.  Add the milk and stir constantly until the flour mixture has thickened to a paste.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.  Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the cooled flour mixture.  Mix until creamy.  Split the cake in half length-wise and spread the filling on the one layer.  Add the top layer and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  You can add a layer of fruit such as jam on top of the filling before adding the top layer if you like.

Enjoy!