Kransekage

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 kgmarzipan, 60% almond
• 500 gicing sugar
• 3egg whites

Icing

• 1egg white
• 250 gicing sugar
• 1 tsplemon juice

To decorate

• small paper flags
• crackers or bonbons

Equipment

• kransekage ring moulds, or a template

Directions

1. Use marzipan with a high almond content, at least 60 per cent. Cheap marzipan is mostly sugar and it slumps in the oven instead of holding its ring.
2. Grate or break up the marzipan and work it with the icing sugar and egg whites into a firm, smooth paste.
3. Knead it well, then wrap it and rest it overnight at room temperature.
4. The overnight rest matters. It lets the paste hydrate evenly and stops the rings cracking as they bake.
5. Roll the paste into ropes about 1.5 cm thick, keeping them even along their length.
6. Roll them under flat palms, not fingers, or you get a lumpy rope and the finished ring shows every bump.
7. Cut the ropes into lengths, each one about 2 cm longer than the last.
8. Join each into a ring, pressing the ends together and smoothing the join.
9. Work out your sizes first, from largest to smallest, either with proper ring moulds or a paper template.
10. Consistency of thickness matters more than exact diameter. Uneven ropes give a tower that leans and eventually falls.
11. Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 10 to 12 minutes, until pale gold with a slightly darker edge.
12. Take them out while still soft in the middle. They firm as they cool, and a fully baked kransekage is rock hard rather than chewy.
13. Cool the rings completely on the trays.
14. Beat the icing to a stiff, pipeable royal icing and put it in a bag with a small plain nozzle.
15. Stack the rings largest to smallest, piping a zigzag of icing around each one as you go.
16. The icing is the mortar as well as the decoration, so pipe it where the next ring will sit rather than only on the outer face.
17. Decorate with small paper flags, which is not optional at a Danish celebration.
18. At New Year it is broken open rather than sliced, and at weddings the couple lift the top and count the rings that come away.
19. It is eaten by breaking off pieces of ring, and it keeps for weeks in a tin.

Technique

• The Norwegian kransekake is the same tower and the two countries dispute its origin amicably.
• The texture should be chewy and dense rather than crisp.
• A bottle of champagne is often hidden inside the completed tower.

Substitutions

• Homemade marzipan of ground almonds, icing sugar and egg white.
• Baking the rings free-form on a lined tray with a drawn template underneath.

Variations

• Made flat as a single large ring, as a smaller celebration cake.
• Overflødighedshorn, the horn of plenty shape.
• With a chocolate coating instead of icing.

History

A Danish celebration cake of almond rings stacked into a cone and dressed with flags and crackers.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kransekage?

Kransekage is a dessert from Denmark: tower of marzipan rings cracked open at New Year and weddings. A Danish celebration cake of almond rings stacked into a cone and dressed with flags and crackers.

How long does Kransekage take to make?

Kransekage takes 1 hr plus overnight resting of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 tower of about 18 rings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Kransekage?

Yes, within limits. Homemade marzipan of ground almonds, icing sugar and egg white. Baking the rings free-form on a lined tray with a drawn template underneath.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kransekage?

Use marzipan with a high almond content, at least 60 per cent. Cheap marzipan is mostly sugar and it slumps in the oven instead of holding its ring.