Recipe: Norwegian Kransekake Grain Free Cake

For the last few years whenever my family celebrates a special event we have made a Kransekake, a traditional Danish and Norwegian celebration ‘cake’ made with ground almonds. Although we love normal sponge cake the Kransekake is something very different and always seems to create a stir when we present it to our guests or friends. The Kransekake is perfect for our family as it is grain-free which means my husband can eat it without worrying!

You can decorate the Kransekake anyway you like. Usually, it is decorated with delicate piped white icing but we tend to go a bit off piste with colourful icing, flowers, butterflies etc to make it a bit more fun! It might look fiddly but once you get the hang of making and stacking the rings you’ll be able to whip up a Kransekake in no time.

Ingredients:

• 500g of ground almonds
• 500g of icing sugar
• 4 free-range egg whites, lightly whisked
• 1 tsp almond extract
• vegetable oil, for greasing
• Plain flour, for dusting

For the decorations:

• 3 free-range egg whites
• 600g/1lb 5oz icing sugar
• Food colouring
• Edible glitter
• Premade edible decorations.

Method

1. Put the ground almonds and icing sugar in an electric mixer (or by hand), add the egg whites and almond extract and mix with a dough hook.
2. Cover the bowl with cling film and chill in the fridge overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C.
4. Lightly grease the Kransekake moulds with vegetable oil.
5. Divide the dough into six pieces, then divide each one into three: one small, one medium and one large.
6. Dust a surface lightly with flour and roll each piece out into finger-width lengths (like a sausage) which fit into the moulds.
7. Fit the longest piece of dough inside the largest kransekake ring, pressing the ends together to seal. Repeat this process with the remaining dough.
8. Bake the rings in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown. Then leave to cool completely.
9. To make the icing whisk up the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy then slowly whisk in the icing sugar a bit at a time until you have stiff, glossy peaks.
10. If you want to colour your icing now is the time to add a few drops of food colouring.
11. Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle.
12. To construct the Kransekake sort the rings into size order, biggest to smallest.
13. Pipe a few dots of white icing onto the bottom of the largest ring and stick it to a plate or cake board.
14. Pipe zig-zag icing patterns onto the ring and then place the second-largest ring on top. Repeat the icing and decorating process until you have a tower.
15. Now you can add any extra decorations. We always shower the Kransekake in edible glitter for some added sparkle!
16. Allow the icing to set, then serve. It’s perfect to accompany a cup of tea or coffee.