Talkage (roughly TAL-kay-eh) is the Danish name for a number cake: two layers of cake cut into the shape of a number, with cream piped between and on top in neat dots, and berries, meringues and flowers on top. This version uses a Danish marzipan base, mazarin, under a vanilla mascarpone cream. It serves about 24 and needs around 20 minutes of work before baking.
What makes the Danish version different from the number cakes you may have seen elsewhere is the base. Danish home bakers often use mazarin, a dense, moist marzipan cake that cuts cleanly and keeps for days, where the original used crisp shortcrust. It is a birthday cake, and the number is the age.
Last updated
Recipe
Talkage (Danish Number Cake)
Ingredients
Mazarin base
Chocolate layer
Mascarpone cream
To decorate
Method
- Heat the oven to 180 °C fan (350 °F) and line two large oven trays with baking paper.
- Beat the grated marzipan, soft butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 3 to 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy with no lumps of marzipan left.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, letting each one disappear before you add the next.
- Sift in the flour and fold it through with a spatula, only until no dry flour shows.
- Divide the batter between the trays, spread it level and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until golden. A skewer should come out with only moist crumbs.
- Scatter the chopped chocolate over the hot cakes, wait two minutes, then spread it thinly. Leave the cakes to cool completely.
- Lay a paper template of each digit on the cake and cut around it with a sharp knife, twice per digit, so every number has a bottom and a top layer.
- Whip the cold mascarpone, cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds until the cream just holds a soft peak. It firms up further in the piping bag.
- Set the bottom layers on a board, pipe round dots of cream over them with a round nozzle, lay the top layers on and pipe a second layer of dots.
- Decorate with berries, meringues, macarons and flowers just before serving, and keep the cake in the fridge until then.
What is a talkage?
A talkage is a celebration cake cut into the shape of a number, from the Danish tal (number) and kage (cake). The same cake cut as a letter is a bogstavkage.
According to the Danish baking blog Bagvrk, the cake was created by the Israeli baker Adi Klinghofer, and her original has shortcrust bases, two layers of cake and cream piped as small dots. Fines called it the big trend of the moment in March 2018 and noted that variations soon followed, with sponge and choux bases among them.
It is a birthday and celebration cake, cut at the table. A child turning five gets one digit; a 40th birthday gets two.
Where the numbers in this recipe come from
Every quantity on the card is one that at least two independent Danish recipes agree on, once they are scaled to the same 500 g of marzipan. No two talkage recipes use the same base, so the base was checked against Danish mazarin recipes and the cream against Danish mascarpone cream recipes, as well as the talkage recipes that rank for the name.
- Butter equal in weight to the marzipan: Mummum, Julie Bruun, Maria Lottes and Camilla Drabo.
- Sugar at four fifths of the weight of the marzipan: Mummum and Julie Bruun. Maria Lottes and Camilla Drabo use equal weights, which gives a sweeter base.
- Two eggs per 100 g of marzipan: Julie Bruun, Maria Lottes and Camilla Drabo. Mummum uses slightly fewer.
- Flour at 30 g per 100 g of marzipan: Mummum and Maria Lottes. Others range from 25 to 45 g.
- Chocolate at 50 g per 100 g of marzipan: Maria Lottes and Mummum.
- Cream: 250 g mascarpone to 2.5 dl whipping cream in Webopskrifter, Falch-Grønlund and Mandekogebogen, with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar in the first two. The card doubles it.
The yield of 24 is the median of five sourced talkage and tray-cake recipes. The 20 minutes of preparation and the 30 minutes of baking are medians as well. There is no total time on the card, because cooling and decorating depend on you; Julie Bruun allows two hours for the whole job.
Ingredients, and what is hard to find
Marzipan is the ingredient that matters. Use a firm block of baking marzipan and grate it coarsely so it beats smoothly into the butter. A soft almond filling from a tube is a different product and will not give the same dense, sliceable cake.
Danish whipping cream, piskefløde, is 38 percent fat. Use the richest whipping or heavy cream you can buy, because a lighter cream will not hold a piped dot. The mascarpone should go in cold, straight from the fridge.
The butter has to be properly soft, so take it out of the fridge well before you start. Cold butter leaves small lumps of marzipan that show as pale spots in the baked cake.
Talkage, step by step
Beat grated marzipan, soft butter and sugar until pale and smooth.- Beat in the eggs one at a time.
- Fold in the flour and spread the batter in lined trays.
- Spread chocolate over the hot cake and let it cool.
- Whip the cream with icing sugar and vanilla until it holds a dot.
- Pipe dots between and on top of the layers, then decorate.
How do you cut the numbers?
Cut the numbers with a paper template and a sharp knife. Print each digit large on A4 paper, as Dansukker suggests, or draw it freehand, then cut the paper out, lay it on the cooled cake and cut straight down around the edge.
Each digit needs two identical pieces, one for the bottom layer and one for the top. Size the template so that both copies of a digit fit on one tray.
Keep the strokes of the number at least a hand wide. Narrow strokes break when you lift them, and they leave no room for two rows of cream dots.
The offcuts are not waste. Cut them into squares and serve them alongside, or freeze them.
What goes wrong, and what it looks like
The cream slumps. Either it was not whipped long enough or the cake was still warm. Whip only until it holds a soft peak on the whisk, because it firms up further in the piping bag, and pipe only onto a cake that is cold right through.
The cream turns grainy. Mascarpone splits if it is whipped too long. Stop as soon as it holds its shape; if it starts to look like cottage cheese, fold in a spoonful or two of unwhipped cream.
The top layer slides. The dots underneath are too large or too soft. Pipe smaller dots on the bottom layer and chill the assembled cake for half an hour before you decorate.
The digits crack when lifted. Mazarin is soft while it is warm. Let it cool completely in the tray, then lift each piece with a wide spatula or the loose base of a tart tin.
Other versions you will meet
The base changes from recipe to recipe, and that is the main difference between them.
- Shortcrust (mørdej): the original, and the crispest. It is also the most fragile to cut.
- Brownie: Arla and Det Glade Køkken both use a chocolate brownie base, which is a common choice for children.
- Sponge (lagkagebund): lighter, closer to a layer cake.
- Single layer: Dansukker cuts a single layer of mazarin and pipes the cream only on top, which halves the cutting.
The cream varies as much as the base: buttercream, white chocolate cream, vanilla cream and lemon curd all appear in the Danish recipes that rank for talkage. If marzipan is the Danish flavour you are after, kransekage is the marzipan ring cake for New Year and weddings, and brunsviger is the other Danish tray cake for a birthday, baked with yeast and brown sugar.
Making it ahead and storing it
Bake the base the day before and assemble on the day. Julie Bruun notes that the bases can be frozen for up to a month and that the finished cake keeps for two to three days in the fridge.
The cream can be made the day before as well, according to Webopskrifter, but it firms up in the fridge, so stir it smooth before it goes into the piping bag. Put the berries and flowers on at the last moment, and keep the cake cold until it is served, because it is mostly cream.
Questions people ask
What is a talkage?
A talkage is a Danish number cake: two layers of cake cut into the shape of a number, with cream piped in dots between and on top, decorated with berries, meringues and flowers.
Where do I get a template for the numbers?
Print the digit as large as it fits on an A4 sheet, or draw it freehand, cut it out and use it as a stencil on the cooled cake.
Which cream is best for a talkage?
A vanilla mascarpone cream holds a piped dot and stays firm in the fridge. Buttercream and white chocolate cream are the common alternatives.
Can I make a talkage with brownie instead?
Yes. A brownie base is one of the most common variations. Cut and assemble it the same way.
How far ahead can I make a talkage?
Bake the base a day ahead, or freeze it for up to a month. Assemble on the day and add the berries and flowers just before serving.
How many people does a talkage serve?
This recipe serves about 24, from two digits of two layers each.
