Each year, in support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, OXO partners with talented chefs who share their favorite bake sale recipes to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Try all of their delicious cookie recipes and join in on the challenge by hosting your own bake sale.
Want even more cookie ideas? Learn how to make spritz cookies, check out our beginner's guide to decorating cookies, or make this safe-to-eat cookie dough.
Dorie’s Swedish Visiting Cake Bars Recipe
Dorie says: I have been a supporter of Cookies For Kids Cancer from before Day 1 and with good reason: It’s a targeted source of funding for research into pediatric cancer treatments. That pediatric cancer is so prevalent and so poorly funded is a terrible paradox. Cookies for Kids Cancer is changing this and I love helping them reach their goals.
These are a mash-up of two recipes I love: almond-meringue topping, which I usually use on fruit tarts and (a variation of the) Swedish Visiting Cake, which is usually unadorned. I can no longer remember when or why I married these two, but once I did, the knot was tied for life—the crisp almonds and chewy cake make a perfect couple.
The cake is supremely satisfying and the topping is unusual in that it bakes to a meringue finish, but there’s no whipping involved. You just mix egg whites and confectioners’ sugar together—I do it with my fingers—swish sliced almonds around in the mix and spread it over the batter. The oven does all the work.
Makes 9 squares or 18 triangles
Topping Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 1½ cups (150 grams) sliced almonds, blanched or unblanched
Cake Bar Ingredients
- ¾ cup (150 grams) sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup (136 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons; 4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)
Instructions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
To make the topping
Put the sugar in a medium bowl and pour over the egg whites. Using your fingers or a fork, mix until the sugar is moistened. If there are lumps, ignore them. Toss in the almonds and stir them around until they’re coated with the sugared whites. Set aside while you make the batter.
To make the bars
Working in a large bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs and salt together until the mixture lightens in color and thickens a little, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts. Switch to a flexible spatula and gently stir in the flour. When the flour is fully incorporated, gradually fold in the melted butter. You’ll have a thick batter with a lovely sheen. Scrape it into the pan and use the spatula to work the batter into the corners. The layer will be very thin.
Give the topping another stir, or a run-through with your fingers, and turn it out onto the batter. Use a spatula or your fingers to spread the almonds evenly over the mixture, making sure to get nuts into the corners too.
Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few crumbs stuck to it. The meringue topping will be pale golden brown. If you’d like a deeper color on the topping, run it under the broiler until you get the shade of gold you like best.
Transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the cake and unmold it onto the rack. Very gently peel away the parchment and invert the cake onto another rack to cool to room temperature.
Transfer the cake to a cutting board and, using a long, thin knife, slice it into nine 3-inch squares. For smaller portions, cut each square into two triangles. If you’d like, you can dust the bars with confectioners’ sugar just before you serve them.
Storing
Wrapped, the bars will keep at room temperature for 4 to 5 days.
Can't get enough dessert? Try these showstopping dessert recipes and easy no-bake desserts.
Dorie is a cookbook author—her books and food writing have won five James Beard Awards – a columnist for the New York Times Magazine and a member of the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. Her cookbooks include DORIE’S COOKIES(Opens in a new window) and EVERYDAY DORIE(Opens in a new window).