Kransekake or Wreath cake
Kransekake is like the ultimate party cake in Norway, great for all kinds of celebrations like Christmas, christenings, weddings, and anniversaries. It’s a bit of a project, taking over 60 minutes to make, so definitely not a beginner’s recipe!
Ingredients
- 500 g almonds
- 500 g icing sugar
- 4 pcs. egg white
Egg white glaze:
- 75 g icing sugar
- 0.5 pcs. egg white
- 0.5 tsp rum essence or lemon juice
Instructions
1. Blanch half of the almonds by boiling them for 3-4 minutes, then remove them from shells. Dry the blanched almonds well overnight on the kitchen counter or for 1 hour at 50 °C in the oven.
2. Grind almonds, with and without shell, in an almond grinder or high-speed blender.
3. Sift the icing sugar and mix it with the almonds. You can add 1/2 teaspoon of tragacanth for a smoother dough if desired.
4. Gradually mix in egg whites until the dough is just firm. Knead the dough until it holds together well and is easy to work with. Adjust the consistency by adding more egg white if it’s too dry, or a few drops of neutral cooking oil, and knead in more icing sugar if it’s too soft.
5. Could you refrigerate the dough, preferably overnight?
6. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
7. Roll out the dough into finger-thick sausages or grind it in a meat grinder with a suitable perforated disc. Grease the cake tins with oil, sprinkle them with semolina or flour, and fill them with sausage dough, starting with the smallest shape.
8. Place the wreath cake forms on baking sheets and bake for approximately 10 minutes in the middle of the oven. Allow them to cool down and remove the rings from the mold onto a wire rack when completely cold.
9. Mix icing sugar and egg white, then add cream essence or lemon juice to taste. The glaze needs to be thick enough to keep its shape. Pipe a zigzag pattern on each ring as you assemble the cake.
Notes
If you’re making a wreath cake basket, you need to create an arch for the handle and a base with the same circumference as the smallest/bottom ring in the basket.
You can totally freeze and store the wreath cake in a really tight box.
A cool wreath cake, big or small, will be all decked out with awesome pop bonbons and Norwegian flags.