Braided almond and poppy seed cake with wild lingonberries

Ingredients

For the leavened dough:

1 cube of fresh yeast

250 ml lukewarm milk

500 g flour

1 egg

1 generous dash of salt

80 g melted butter

50 g sugar

some orange or lemon zest (alternatively, orange or lemon extract)

For the filling:

250 g ready-to-bake poppy seed mixture

200 g almonds

50 g sugar

400 g Darbo wild lingonberry sauce

Also:

powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Leave the mixture for ten minutes. After ten minutes, add the remaining ingredients and knead the mixture into a smooth dough. Leave the dough to rise in a warm spot (e.g., near the heating or in a warm oven with the door slightly ajar) until it doubles in volume.

Pre-heat your oven to 160 °C (fan) or 180 °C (conventional).

To make the filling, add the almonds, sugar and Darbo wild lingonberry sauce to the poppy seed mixture until you have a smooth paste.

Gently knead the leavened dough and spread it onto a flour-dusted work surface. Make a 40 cm x 60 cm rectangle.

Evenly spread the poppy seed and almond mixture onto the dough rectangle. Roll the rectangle up from the longer side. Cut the roll in half lengthwise. Wrap the two halves around each other to create the braid pattern you see in the picture.

Cover a baking tray with baking paper and carefully place the braided cake onto the paper. Bake in the pre-heated oven for a little under 40 minutes until the cake browns very slightly. If the surface darkens, cover the cake with aluminium foil. After the baking time is up, leave the cake to cool.

Dust the braided almond and poppy seed cake with powdered sugar. Decorate it with fresh lingonberries and enjoy!