Iceland – Happy Marriage pie

This cake/pie is relatively similar to the Canadian matrimonial cake that I featured earlier this year but it features rhubarb jam instead of dates and I found that for the first time ever I enjoyed rhubarb as the tanginess of it contrasted really well with the sweet dough. Known as Hjónabandssæla in Iceland this delicious cake is very simple to make – especially if like me you buy the jam! My only word of caution is don’t buy a jam that’s overly sweet, if you can’t find one you may be better off stewing some rhubarb with just a little sugar.

I used this recipe here – and you can also watch it instead here!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup (whole) wheat

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 2 cups oats

• 200 g butter (softened)

• 3 tbsp good oil

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 jar of Rhubarb jam

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C, and grease a pie or tart tin (9-10 inches in diameter should be ok and if you have loose bottomed one that will be even better)

2. Add all the ingredients bar the jam to a mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a dough – it may be a little crumbly and that’s ok. If it looks more like a paste add some more oats!

3. Separate the dough, reserving 1/3 for later. Add 2/3 of the dough to the pie tin and then press down with a spoon. Then add around 1 cup of jam and spread evenly over the dough – you want a layer that’s around 5mm thick. Then crumble the remaining third of the dough on top and bake for around 20-25 minutes until it’s golden brown.

4. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool slightly, remove from the tin and serve with some whipped cream or ice cream and a good cup of coffee!