The “Runeberg cake” is a rather dry and cylindrically shaped sweet cake made out of wheat and crumbs spiced with almonds and a splash of rum. On top is a drop of jam surrounded with a ring of icing. Some prefer the cake soggy and soft, others fancy a drier version served with tea or coffee. (The cake in the picture was a soggy one and very good indeed.)
Named after the Finnish national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg (1804-1877), the Runeberg cake was introduced around 1850 in his hometown Borgå / Porvoo (a small picturesque Finnish city east of the capital Helsinki by the Gulf of Finland).
A common misconception is that the cake was named after his wife, Fredrika Runeberg. However the Runebergs did not make or even name the cake them self. It is said that Runeberg used to have breakfast consisting of a glass of schnapps and a dry cake with a drop of jam on top in a café in Borgå. Because of J.L. Runeberg's fancy to the cylindrical dry cake, the café owner named the cake after the popular poet, hence the “Runeberg cake”.
Finns today eat the cake every year as a part of the celebration of the “Runeberg day” on February 5th, the poet's birthday. The Runeberg day has been celebrated since the 1860's due to the poet's great popularity and influence in the spiritual movement and national awakening of Finns in the late 1800's. (Finland was a grand duchy of Russia since 1809 and became independent in 1917.) A poem by J.L. Runeberg (Vårt land / Maamme i.e. “Our land”) which was sung to a melody of composer Fredrik Pacius (1809-1891) was later chosen as the Finnish national anthem.
Naming cakes after famous persons has been a very common custom and has often been related to a level of persona-cults. Other examples are the famous cakes like the Napoleon cake and the Alexander cake. The latter named by the Finns after Russian emperor Alexander I (1777-1825) is a dry and crumbly flat rectangular cake with a layer of a mix of apple and raspberry jam topped with thick coating of pink glaze.