Kladdkaka: Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake, and What to Serve With It
How kladdkaka works, the classic one-bowl recipe, how to tell when to pull it from the oven, and the coffee and candy that pair with it.
Kladdkaka is Swedish sticky chocolate cake: one bowl, no leavening, deliberately underbaked so the middle stays fudgy. Melted butter, sugar, eggs, cocoa and a little flour, fifteen to twenty minutes at 350 F. It is served cold with whipped cream and berries, alongside filter coffee.
What makes a kladdkaka a kladdkaka
Three things, and all of them are deliberate.
No leavening. No baking powder, no soda, no whipped egg whites. Nothing lifts the batter, so the cake stays dense and low.
Cocoa, not melted chocolate. The chocolate flavour comes from cocoa powder against a lot of butter and sugar, which is why kladdkaka tastes darker than its ingredient list suggests.
It comes out early. Kladdig is Swedish for sticky or gooey. The cake is pulled while the centre is still moving, and it sets as it cools rather than in the oven. If a toothpick comes out clean, you have baked a perfectly nice chocolate cake, but it is no longer a kladdkaka.
That last point is the whole recipe. Everything else is arithmetic.
The recipe
Swedish measures are in deciliters, where one dl is 100 ml. Both versions below.
Ingredient: Metric: US
Butter, melted: 100 g: 7 tbsp, just under one stick
Granulated sugar: 2.5 dl: about 1 cup
Eggs: 2: 2
All purpose flour: 1.5 dl: about 2/3 cup
Cocoa powder: 4 tbsp: 4 tbsp
Vanilla sugar: 1 tsp: 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Salt: a pinch: a pinch
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 or 9 inch springform tin and dust it with cocoa rather than flour, so the sides stay dark.
2. Melt the butter and let it cool for a couple of minutes.
3. Whisk the sugar and eggs together briefly. Briefly matters. Beating air in works against the dense texture you want.
4. Stir in the flour, cocoa, vanilla and salt, then the melted butter. Stop as soon as it is combined.
5. Pour into the tin and bake fifteen to twenty minutes.
6. Cool completely in the tin. Chill it if you want clean slices.
Knowing when to pull it out
This is the only decision that matters, and pan size changes it more than oven temperature does. A wider tin gives you a thinner cake that sets faster, so check a 9 inch at fourteen minutes and a smaller one at eighteen.
What you are looking for: the top has gone matte and slightly cracked, the outer inch or so looks set, and the middle still wobbles when you nudge the tin. It will look underdone. It is supposed to.
The eggs do cook in that time, but the centre stays soft by design. If a very soft centre is not what you want, another two or three minutes gives you a firmer cake that still eats well.
Cooling is not optional. Warm kladdkaka is soup. Cold kladdkaka slices cleanly and tastes twice as chocolatey, which is why Swedish cafes keep it in the fridge and serve it straight from there.
What to drink with it
Plain filter coffee, black. Swedish bryggkaffe is a lighter roast than the American diner default, and the acidity is what cuts through all that butter. Espresso works but doubles down on the bitterness instead of balancing it, and milky coffee flattens the whole thing. Cold milk is the version children get, and it is genuinely good.
If the ritual around all of this is new to you, fika and candy explains why the pause matters as much as the cake. For the no-oven equivalent that Swedes make on a weeknight, see chokladbollar.
What candy to put next to it
Kladdkaka is fat, sugar and bitterness in a single dense slice. The pairing rule follows from that: contrast beats agreement, and more chocolate is the one thing that does not work.
What the cake gives you: What it needs next to it: Where to look
Heavy fat and sweetness: Sharp acid to reset the palate: Sour gummies, sour pacifiers
Dark, slightly bitter cocoa: Bright berry fruit: Raspberry and strawberry lines
Dense, sticky texture: Something light and aerated: Skum, the Swedish foam category
Warm caramel notes: Caramel, if you want to lean in: Toffee and bon bon chews
In practice, the sour route is the one that surprises people. A tart apple or blackcurrant piece after a forkful of kladdkaka does the same job a raspberry coulis does on a restaurant plate. S Marke Sour Apple from S-Marke is vegan and halal, and it does contain wheat and gluten, so sign it accordingly on an event table. Sura Melonnappar sour melon pacifiers are softer, also vegan and halal, and also contain wheat.
For the berry route, Grahns Raspberry Twins from Grahns echo the berries you already put on the plate. For lightness against the density, Franssons Foam Strawberries from Franssons weigh almost nothing in the mouth, and BUBS Raspberry Cool Hallonskalle skum is the gelatin-free, vegan and halal version of the same idea in 90 g bags.
If you would rather lean into the caramel than fight it, Lonka Caramel Soft Bites Bon Bon from Lonka is the obvious partner.
A four-way pairing set for a kladdkaka service
Serving it in a cafe or at an event
A 9 inch kladdkaka cuts into eight generous or twelve tidy slices, and it holds in the fridge for several days without drying out, which makes it a better counter item than most cakes. Plate it cold with unsweetened whipped cream and berries, and put a small bowl of sour candy on the table rather than on the plate, so guests self-serve between bites. Our guides to Swedish candy for coffee shops and cafes and wedding and event candy bars cover how to scale that up.
Frequently asked questions
What is kladdkaka?+
A Swedish sticky chocolate cake made from melted butter, sugar, eggs, cocoa and a small amount of flour, with no baking powder. It is baked for only fifteen to twenty minutes so the centre stays fudgy, then cooled completely and served cold, usually with whipped cream.
Is kladdkaka the same as a brownie?+
No. A brownie is baked through and is meant to be chewy at the edges and cakey in the middle. Kladdkaka is pulled from the oven while the centre is still liquid and sets as it cools, so it eats closer to a cold chocolate truffle than to a bar.
How do I know when kladdkaka is done?+
The top is matte and slightly cracked, the outer inch looks set, and the middle still wobbles when you move the tin. Do not use the toothpick test. If the toothpick comes out clean you have overbaked it, though it will still taste good.
Do you serve kladdkaka warm or cold?+
Cold, or at most barely cool. Swedish cafes keep it refrigerated and serve it straight from the fridge, because a chilled slice holds its shape and the chocolate flavour reads stronger. Warm from the oven it will not hold together on a plate.
What coffee goes with kladdkaka?+
Plain black filter coffee, on the lighter roast side. The acidity cuts the butter and sugar. Espresso works but reinforces the bitterness instead of balancing it, and milky drinks flatten the cake. This one is a matter of taste, so try both.
What candy pairs with kladdkaka?+
Sour and berry, ahead of anything chocolate. A tart apple or blackcurrant piece resets the palate between forkfuls, raspberry candy echoes the berries on the plate, and light foam candy contrasts the density. Caramel chews work if you want to reinforce the cake rather than cut it.
Gustav Lindqvist · Candy Master
Gustav grew up in Sweden on a strict Saturday-candy schedule, mixing his lördagsgodis bag at the lösgodis wall before he could spell salmiak. He has spent years tasting his way across Scandinavian candy, and now curates the range at TheSweetsTruck, from BUBS sour skulls to the saltiest licorice most people cannot finish.
Last updated 8/23/2026