Fluden – flat layered cake (vegan)

Fluden – from the German fladen (flat cake), a word related to the French flan (open-face tart). It is a flat layered cake that is served by being cut into sections. There’s also another version of fluden made with a strudel-like dough and rolled like a strudel.
My mum made it vegan and added preserved cherries. The original recipe included eggs, and dried fruit instead of preserved cherries (to increase longevity). Fluden stores well at room and higher temperature conditions for a few weeks (if it’s made of dried cherries/fruit instead of fresh ones).

I’ll add from my experience, that fluden is fantastic fuel to have during any energy-consuming trips, especially whilst cycling or hiking:)

       Ingredients

Dough
300 g wheat flour
100 g corn/sunflower/vegetable oil
5 tablespoons warm water
pinch of salt
Jam and nut filling
2 cups finely chopped toasted walnuts
2 cups sugar
2 cups dry bread crumbs
finely grated zest and juice from 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons rose petal jam
1/2 cup preserved/frozen pitted cherries
4 tablespoons oil (to sprinkle the layers)

       Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a large rectangle baking dish.
• To make the dough: in a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Mix in oil. Stir in water until the dough just holds together. Form into a ball. Set aside.
  To make the filling: combine together walnuts, sugar, bread crumbs, lemon zest and lemon juice until the mixture looks like a coarse meal with nut bits in it.
• Divide the dough into 5 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of the dough into rectangle. Fit into the prepared baking dish so that it reaches up the sides. Spread evenly a tablespoon of rose petal jam over the dough. Spread with one-forth of the filling. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of oil. Roll out the second dough piece into rectangle, place it over the filling. Cover the 2^nd dough layer with cherries, 1/3 of the filling and sprinkle with some oil. Roll out the remaining 3 dough pieces into rectangles and repeat layering the dough and filling (leave some filling for topping), ending with a dough rectangle. Moisten the top with water and lightly sprinkle with the remaining filling. Cut into square sections. Bake until the top is lightly golden, about 45-50 minutes. Let cool. Recut the squares. Cover well and leave to settle for a few days, then fluden becomes more moist and softer. Decorate with dried ginger, if desirable.

           Bon Appétit!

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