This recipe became a true baking phenomenon throughout Finland in spring 2015. It has fascinated home bakers for two reasons, I believe. Firstly it contains a candy taste which Finns absolutely love – salty liquorice called ’salmiakki’. Secondly, people were inspired by the technique which creates circular zebra stripes inside the filling.

In order to get the lovely salty liquorice taste, the recipe contains a ready made liquorice liquid (sold under the name ”Apteekin salmiakki mixer” in Finland). For some historic reason, many liquorice products are sold at pharmacies in Finland. When this recipe became popular, Finnish pharmacies were baffled to discover that this particular product was suddenly sold out across the country. Through the press and social media, they figured out the reason. Fortunately, the same product can be purchased at grocery stores, as well.

In recent months, many people have contacted me with the wish of getting an English translation. Your wish is now fulfilled. 🙂

Note: the recipe is presented in American units.

Bottom:
9 oz Domino or Oreo biscuits
2 oz butter
1 tbsp ”Apteekin salmiakki mixer” (a salty liquorice liquid)
0,2 cup cocoa powder

The salty liquorice mixture:
5 gelatin leaves
1 cup ”Apteekin salmiakki mixer” (a salty liquorice liquid)
1 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
0,2 cup corn starch

Vanilla filling:
8 gelatin leaves
1 ½ lb rich (full-bodied) vanilla yogurt
1 ½ lb vanilla pudding or vanilla flavoured quark
0,2 cup sugar
0,4 cup water


Line the base of a spring form tin (∅ 24 cm) with a baking parchment. Grease the sides of the tin with oil.

Shake the mixture in the bottle carefully in order to mix the colour evenly.

Crush the biscuits in a blender. Melt the butter and stir in the crushed biscuits, salty liquorice mixture and cocoa powder. Press the mixture firmly on the bottom of the spring form.

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water (5 + 8) to soften it.

Combine the liquorice mix and water in a pan. Combine sugar and cornstarch and add the mix into the pan. Gently bring the mixture to simmer but do not continue boiling. Mix in the gelatine leaves (5). Place the pan again to the stove and let it simmer once more to the boiling point. Place the pan into a bowl filled with cold water until the mixture has cooled off to room temperature. Keep stirring the mixture – this will prevent it from getting lumpy and will even out the texture.

Beat the vanilla yogurt and quark until creamy. Add sugar.

Once the liquorice mix has cooled down, bring the water for the vanilla filling to a boil and mix 8 gelatine leaves. Combine the gelatine liquid to the vanilla filling.

In turns gently pour vanilla filling and liquorice mixture to the middle of the spring form. The amount of vanilla filling can be slightly greater. In order to create a more frequent pattern of circles to the middle, you can reduce the amount of vanilla filling when nearing the end. Take note that the height of the pouring will also affect the pattern. If the filling sinks to the bottom, pour it closer to the surface. If the filling remains floating on the surface, pour it from higher up.

Place the cake into the fridge to chill until the next day. Remove the tin and slide onto a plate.

You can find the zebra cake instruction video in Youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=38DUTCmNmO8.