Lazy people, this cake is for you
Also called Danish dream cake (drømmekage), this vintage recipe has a tender cake topped with a “lazy” frosting of butter, brown sugar and coconut.
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By Melissa Clark, The New York Times
My new favorite cake has a judgy name.
“It’s called lazy daisy cake,” my friend Ursula Reshoft-Hegewisch said as she handed me a slice at a barbecue last summer.
Ursula is a highly skilled baker, but this cake, which her mother used to make, was utterly unlike her elaborate meringue-topped tortes or fancy nut dacquoises. It was so plain it verged on homely: a flat wedge with a speckled brown top, unevenly blackened.
Yet its inner beauty shone forth. Beneath that dowdy exterior was a refined crumb, lighter than butter cake, more tender than spongecake. It was covered with a brown sugar frosting that managed to be both brittle and candylike at the top, and soft and fudgy where it met the cake. The speckles turned out to be shreds of coconut, which added a nubby chew and a toasted marshmallow flavor on the bits that had singed beneath the broiler’s fierce heat.
The titular laziness of this vintage recipe from the 1930s, as Ursula informed me, refers to the icing — a basic broiled topping, as opposed to the painstaking festoons of buttercream or seven-minute frosting that were the standard back then.
What seemed lazy for bakers of yore looks like an inspired hack today. Just stir together melted butter, brown sugar and coconut, pour it on the cake, then broil until the sugar bubbles. If the lazy road leads to something this delicious, who’s going to judge you for taking it?
Beneath that easy icing, the cake itself is equally retro and simple to make. A Depression-era favorite known as hot milk cake, it calls for minimal butter and only two eggs, which, with egg prices the way they are, feels very 2025.
The cake’s ethereal texture comes from the air beaten into the eggs, which are stabilized with baking powder. Melted butter and hot milk whisked in give the crumb a fine, velvety texture. Some bakers add vanilla for warm floral notes, and I’ve swapped in cardamom, which gives a spicy perfume that’s lovely with the molasses-y topping.
Lazy daisy cake has an overseas cousin called drømmekage, or dream cake, that’s traditional in Denmark. Drømmekage has the same hot milk sponge base topped with a brown sugar-coconut frosting, but it goes by a less disparaging name. I like “lazy daisy,” though. After all, the journey to dreamland begins on a pillow.
Recipe: Lazy Daisy Cake
Also called Danish dream cake (drømmekage), this vintage recipe has a tender cake topped with a “lazy” frosting of butter, brown sugar and coconut. Then the whole cake, still in its pan, is run under the broiler until the brown sugar melts, turning fudgy, and the coconut toasts and singes in spots. It makes for a lovely treat that keeps well, too. The topping, brittle and crunchy on the day it’s baked, gets softer and creamier after sitting at room temperature overnight, where it will last for three days.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 8 to 12 servings
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
- 1 cup (128 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
- 1/2 cup (118 milliliters) whole milk
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (165 grams) packed dark or light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 milliliters) whole milk
- Pinch of fine sea or table salt
- 1 1/4 cups (105 grams) shredded coconut (either unsweetened or sweetened)
Preparation
1. Prepare the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square or round baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter the paper.
2. Using an electric mixer or beaters, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. (You can also do this with a wire whisk, though it will take some time and effort.) Beat in flour, baking powder and salt. Beat in vanilla or cardamom, if using.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and 2 tablespoons butter, stirring until the butter melts and the milk steams, but don’t let the mixture boil (a gentle simmer at the edges of the pan is fine). Pour the hot mixture into the eggs, beating briefly until you have a smooth, runny batter. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 22 to 32 minutes, until the surface is pale golden and the top springs back when lightly pressed with your finger.
5. While the cake is baking, prepare the topping: In a small saucepan (you can use the same one you used for the milk, and you don’t have to wash it), melt the butter. Add brown sugar, milk and salt, and stir until the mixture comes to a simmer. Turn off the heat and stir in coconut.
6. When the cake is done, pour the coconut mixture evenly on top and place it under the broiler for 1 to 4 minutes, until the topping is bubbling and browned. Watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn (a few singed coconut shreds are nice).
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving. If not serving on the same day, store at room temperature and serve within 2 days.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
