Kransekake is a traditional Norwegian celebration cake made with ground almonds, egg whites, and icing sugar. It has a light texture and nutty flavour, quite similar to marzipan.
Christmas traditions
This recipe comes from my children’s Norwegian grandmother, and every few Christmases, I make one for the family.
It’s a bit of a laborious procedure but well worth it. The leftovers freeze really well, so you don’t have to worry about eating the whole thing right away.
Traditionally, small Norwegian flags are used to decorate this cake, which is made for any celebration (weddings, birthdays, Norwegian Independence Day, etc.).
There is also a tradition of filling the hollow centre of the cake with a nice bottle of something or sweets.
Ingredients for kranskake
- Almonds
- Icing/confectioners’ sugar
- Egg whites
- Lemon juice
How to make kransekake
- Blanch raw almonds in hot water, remove skins and leave to dry overnight.
- Grind almonds and mix with icing sugar and egg white. Heat in a small saucepan, add the remaining egg whites to form a soft dough, and chill overnight.
- Roll dough into rings, bake, cool and decorate.
Recipe Difficulty Levels
Easy
Requires basic cooking skills and ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Moderate
Requires more experience, preparation and/or cooking time. You may have to source special ingredients.
Challenging
Recipes requiring more advanced skills and experience and maybe some special equipment.
Kransekake Recipe
Ingredients
for the kransekake dough
- 500 grams raw almonds
- 500 grams icing sugar
- 3-4 egg whites
for the icing
- 75 grams icing sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 egg white
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Equipment
Instructions
- Day 1: Bring a pan of water to the boil. Blanch 500 grams raw almonds for 60 seconds only. Drain and plunge into cold water. Drain and remove skins. Spread out on a baking tray covered with a tea towel and leave overnight to dry.
- Day 2: Grind almonds and mix with 500 grams icing sugar and one egg white. Transfer to a large saucepan and heat over a low heat. Slowly add two more egg whites, stirring until the dough is hot to touch. Add enough of the remaining 3-4 egg whites, if needed, to make a not too sticky dough. Place in a bowl, cover in clingfilm and chill in the fridge overnight.
- Day 3: Roll dough into finger thick circles, place into a kransekake ring pan and bake at 180 C for 12-14 minutes, until very light golden. Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Make icing with 75 grams icing sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 egg white and drizzle or pipe in a zig zag pattern over each ring. Assemble, starting with the largest ring first on the bottom and finishing with the smallest while icing is still wet. Fill kransekake with sweets, if desired.
Pepperkaker – Norwegian Gingerbread Cookies
Very interesting. My mother-in-law’s recipe uses almond paste. Hers and other one’s I’ve run across mix the almond paste and slightly fluffy egg-whites cold to make a dough which is chilled before forming and baking. Your approach sounds likely to get some structure in the dough before the baking, keeping the rings more circular in cross section. Ours tend to flatten and often flow to adjacent pan ring. I may need to try your approach for comparison.
Lovely!! We have blanched ground alomnd flour available here in stores. I imagine we could use that to save time? Would you agree?
That is what I used. It seems good. It was my first time making it.
Wow this is amazing…I’ve always admired these but have never been brave enough to try making one! This looks great…really impressive. Thanks also for entering this month’s Calendar Cakes 🙂 P.S I want one of those counter top grinders!
I so know these as I am half Danish and had 2 as my wedding cakes, my husband called them Madonna’s bra! I have never made Kransakake but if I did I would just use shop bought ground almonds even though I’m sure your’s would taste far better! You’ve spurred me on to make this now – if people don’t want to make such a huge quantity you can just make individual bars and keep them in a cake tin too!
I love this! It’s beautiful and sounds so tasty. And while I’m sure it’s quite a pain to make, the end result looks fantastic. Maybe that’s why it’s for special occasions 🙂 I’m so glad you were able to share!
Good grief this looks like a labour of love!