This wreath cake is called a kransekake. It’s a Norwegian and Danish cake that you have at big celebrations like weddings, Christmas and Syttende Mai (Norwegian Constitution Day). I made my first one for Chrismukkah last year and the reaction was insane—people loved it and it looked so impressive but [whispers] it’s actually easy to make.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 5 hr |
| Active: | 55 min |
| Yield: | makes 1 large kransekake |
Ingredients
- 500 grams (4 cups plus 7 tablespoons) almond meal, plus more for dusting
- 500 grams (4 cups 3 tablespoons) powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water or rosewater, optional
- Softened butter or coconut oil, for greasing
- Royal icing, for decorating (I just bought meringue powder from my local grocery store and followed the recipe on the back!)
- Sprinkles, for decorating
Instructions
- Whisk together the almond meal, powdered sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the egg whites, almond extract and orange blossom water or rosewater, if using, and stir with a spatula to combine. At first it will seem like there is not enough liquid to hold everything together, but just keep on mixing and it will eventually form a dough. Pat the dough into 2 discs, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and position two racks in the center of the oven. Use your hands to grease the kransekake molds liberally with butter or coconut oil, then set aside. (I prefer to set the molds on large baking sheets so that they’re easier to move around.)
- Working with one dough disc at a time, chop off a piece of dough and roll it into a rope that’s a generous 1/2-inch thick (or, if you’re pulling your kitchen ruler out, just go with 5/8-inch thick), dusting with additional almond flour if the dough is sticky. Coil the rope into the molds, then pinch off any excess dough and pinch the ends to seal them together. Continue the process, re-rolling scraps as needed, until all of the molds are filled. Don’t worry about overworking the dough!
- Bake until golden; begin checking for doneness at 9 minutes. You’ll likely need to bake these layers in batches, which is totally fine; just keep any dough that you’re not working with covered and in the refrigerator.
- Let the rings cool in the pans, then carefully pop them out (a small offset spatula or butter knife will help) and transfer to a baking sheet or wire rack.
- Stack the rings up using dots of the royal icing as “glue” (I do dots at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock). Decorate with sprinkles. Let the icing dry, 30 minutes to 1 hour, then decorate with paper chains, flags or other decor as desired. This is good for at least a few days uncovered at room temperature, so feel free to make it in advance!
Reviews
My dough came out a little sticky and I think because of this everything went wrong. I am guessing I needed to add a little more almond flour. I also used butter to grease my pans but the dough got stuck in the pans and would not come out easily. The cake actually collapsed before we finished assembling it. The taste was delicious but just not a masterpiece. I want to try this recipe again but next time I will make sure I add a little more flour so the dough is not sticky and will use cooking spray in the pans instead of butter.
What a wonderful tasty surprise. I did not have the ring mold so I made cookies! I rolled them the same thickness and cut them into 3 inch pieces. They baked about the same time and OH MY! Very addicting if you love almond flavor and a slight chewy textured cookie. This will be put in my family recipe book.
I saw the show, purchased the pans and made my own masterpiece! I liked the idea of making it at first because it’s so unique but we all enjoyed the flavor and texture so much, I’ll definitely make this again! I reviewed other recipes and yours was the easiest to follow so thank you!! It’s simple to make~ a little time involved but totally worth it!!
I made this for my best friend who is a Norwegian/ U.S. dual citizen. The look on her face when she saw it was priceless. She also seemed to enjoy the taste. I omitted the orange blossom water because I wanted to go more traditional, but I plan to play around with different flavored waters. Thanks!
I just ordered the spiral pans I love almond sweets so I am totally excited to make this cake! Thank you Molly! I love how genuine and real you are on your show Please do not lose that 🙂