Popular legend says that Runeberg's wife,
Fredrika Runeberg, created the dessert. Her recipe book from the 1850s has a recipe for the torte, believed to be a variation of an earlier recipe by confectioner Lars Astenius from Porvoo. The torte was popularized by Fredrik Edvard Ekberg, who began selling it at
Café Ekberg in Helsinki in 1865. ==In popular culture==