Drømmekage (Danish Dream Cake)

Danish Dream Cake – Easy Coconut Caramel Cake – is a light, springy cake with decadent coconut caramel topping, is an easy, good dessert that is a crowd pleaser!

This easy Coconut Caramel Cake is so good – it's like a dream! Based off a traditional Danish Cream Cake recipe as tasted on our travels to Copenhagen Denmark.

This post is sponsored by Princess Cruise Line. All opinions are our own.

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

We were recently in Copenhagen Denmark for the beginning of an epic trip of a lifetime – an 11 day cruise around the Baltic Sea with Princess Cruises.

Want to head to Copenhagen to try your own Danish Dream Cake?

check out the good cruise lineup around the Baltic Princess offers!

We're hitting Germany, Norway, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden – such a dream!

Copenhagen was one of our favorite stops though – the city is dotted with lovely streets full of pretty pastels and solid cobblestones. It's like a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale come to life – we can see why he was so inspired having lived in Copenhagen!

What is a Dream Cake?

Denmark is FULL of amazingly good baked goods and pastries – but none more enjoyable with a nice cup of coffee as the Danish Dream Cake, in our opinion.

This light and springy sponge cake topped with a coconut caramel sauce is sweet – but not overly sweet – and is solid as a coffee cake alternative when you're looking for a unique treat!

Drømmekage

The Danish name for this coconut caramel cake is drømmekage – which translates to “dream cake” – and is a simple sponge cake that is “sealed” with a coconut caramel topping.

This cake is so simple, you probably already have all of the ingredients on hand – no trip to Denmark for exotic supplies needed.

Though really, why wouldn't you want to head to Denmark to sample some of this good cake along one of Copenhagen's fabulously beautiful canals?

We are ready to go back immediately – everything in Denmark (dream cake included) was an absolute dream. The food is spectacular, everyone is incredibly nice and warm, and the views are breathtaking.

And – the pastries.

Everything we ate was good in Denmark…. We're so glad this easy cake is a solid way to get back in a Danish state of mind, at least for a moment!

Dream Cake Recipe Tips

This light and airy sponge-like cake is a solid treat on it's own – but the coconut caramel topping on a Danish Dream Cake is to die for!

While the caramel topping can seem intimidating, it is easy to make with a couple tips and tricks:

• Let caramel sauce get a lovely deep brown color.
  • For the best caramel sauce, give it time to develop a nice deep brown color.
• Turn off heat when adding milk.
  • To prevent your sauce from seizing up later, we find its best to turn heat off when adding milk (return to heat the second it's mixed in.)
• Add milk slowly to prevent scalding.
  • To prevent your milk from scalding, stir it in slowly and stir vigorously.
• Stir the caramel often to prevent burning.
  • Don't let your caramel sit on the stove the whole time – or it will be a burnt sticky mess! Stir often to help encourage the sugar to break down and keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
• Don't add coconut until caramel sauce is formed.
  • To prevent the coconut's sugar from burning, AND to keep the coconut's flavor and texture, don't add until the sauce is already caramelized and thick.

Check out our favorite highlights from our trip here:

You can see more from our Princess Cruise around Scandinavia here – please click the links below to see each spot we stopped at on our trip!

Paper Island, Copenhagen

Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Oslo, Norway Travel Diary

Berlin City Guide

Tallinn, Estonia Travel Diary

Saint Petersburg Russia; Ultimate Saint Petersburg Shore Excursion Guide

Helsinki Finland Travel Diary

Ingredients

• 250 g flour
• 250 g sugar
• 4 tbsp butter
• 3 eggs
• 2 dl milk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 8 tbsp butter
• ½ dl milk
• 200 g brown sugar
• 100 g coconut flakes, sweetened

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix flour and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Melt butter in a small saucepan and remove from heat, adding milk in as you pull it off the stove.
5. Add milk and butter to egg and sugar, whisk to incorporate fully.
6. Add vanilla.
7. Add flour and baking soda, and fold.
8. Pour into parchment lined 9 x 13 baking pan or silicone cake pan.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. While cake is baking make the topping, melt butter in saucepan.
11. Stir in milk and brown sugar and let boil about 1 minute.
12. Remove from heat and stir in coconut.
13. Remove cake from oven (it should be lightly browned and firmed up.)
14. Pour topping over cake and return to oven to bake another 10 minutes.
15. Let cool slightly and serve.