I have a strange inclination to Scandinavian baking, with no particular reason. I’m always keen to learn baking from different parts of the world, and maybe I just have learnt more about Scandinavian baking a little more than other parts of the world. So I felt a special kind of joy making this Kransekake that is so native to Scandinavia but also so very simple to make, that it felt like quite an accomplishment but not as much work.
What is a Kransekake
Over the Christmas season, this was my best discovery and successful bake: a beautiful Kransekake. A Kransekake is a traditional Scandinavian confection, eaten on special occasions. Translated to English, it means a “Wreath Cake”, and you can easily see why.
I first read about a Kransekake in a beautiful Scandinavian Christmas book by Bronte Aurell. The recipe itself isn’t very demanding and needs very few ingredients. The only special equipment a Kransekake needs is a Kransekake mould that you can find on Amazon. If you’re looking to start a new Christmas tradition, or wow your guests, impress your kids (yes, I love scoring brownie points with them now and then) or have had terrible luck with making a gingerbread house, a Kransekake is the answer to all of the above. Moderate effort, impressive results.
Ingredients for this cake
When I say a Kransekake needs only a few ingredients, I really mean it. You only need 5 ingredients in total to make the cake and the icing. Icing sugar, almond flour, egg whites, and essence.
With almond flour, I use unblanched almond flour, which works perfectly fine
What does a Kransekake taste like
Delicious, obviously. Honestly, though, I didn’t know what to expect in terms of taste and texture with a kransekake, because I’ve never had one. But having made it a couple of times and having it turn out with the same texture twice, I can say it tastes like a chewy almond biscuit, and it’s definitely moreish
The origins of a Kransekake
This cake originated in Denmark and Norway. Typically a celebration cake, it’s commonly used as a centrepiece for many occasions and not just Christmas. It is often used as the celebratory cake at weddings, baptisms or even birthdays.
The mould for a Kransekake generally makes about 18 concentric circles in decreasing order that you stack one over the other. The “glue” to put the cake together is royal icing, made in a rather thick consistency that is also used to decorate each layer. Although known as a cake, in all ways, a Kransekake is a kind of cookie that is chewy and comes with a subtle taste of almond.
A delicious wreath cake made with rings of almond cookies
Ingredients
500 gms almond flour
500 gms icing sugar
4 egg whites
1 tsp almond extract
Oil for greasing
Semolina for dusting the moulds
- To assemble and decorate
1 cup royal icing
Dragee and edible glitter
Directions
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except the oil and semolina and make a dough
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm and keep the dough refrigerated for 2 hours or overnight
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Lightly oil the Kransekake mould and dust with semolina
- Use portions of dough and roll each piece into long ribbons, and place in each mould
- Squish the ends together when you place the dough in the mould
- Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Let the rings cool in the mould, and they will firm up
- Assemble the rings one over the other, starting with the largest ring at the bottom and the smallest one on the top
- Use dots of royal icing to make the rings stick to one another and to decorate the Kransekake once assembled
- You can use dragee, gold dust or sprinkles to decorate
