Christmas
Gingerbread Kransecake
Popular on Food52
9 Reviews
lemons
December 29, 2018
My daughter moved to Norway many years ago, so I've had this in its native turf on a Christmas visit. She gave me the pans one year, but I hadn't tried it before. Feeling bold, I made this for a large holiday party a group I belong to was holding. Not so handsome as the ones online I've seen, given my lack of talent with piping icing - and a slight list to the tower - but overall still pretty impressive. Herewith, my notes on the procedure:
Let's call the day I made the batter Day 1. Wrapped and refrigerated it. On Day 3, rolled out and made the rings. It's a very forgiving dough and with almost no gluten (there may be some in the powdered sugar), you really can't make it tough with overhandling. After the rings cooled on racks, I put them in plastic bags in single layers; I wasn't sure if they'd stick if I put one atop another. Set them aside at room temp. Clear sunny day and our house here in the Midwest tends to be dry in the winter.
On Day 5, I made the royal icing - I used a version with meringue powder - and did my assembly, with a simple attempt at scallops on each ring. If you're a beginner, I'll add that as soon as I'd piped one ring, I put the next-smallest atop it, so that the icing acted as glue.
In Norway the traditional decoration is tiny Norwegian flags; I found picks meant to go on cupcakes that had snowflakes on them, and used that instead.
On Day 6, it acted as a table decoration. On Day 7, I transported it (carefully!) to the party. The traditional way of eating it is to eat it from the bottom up, tipping the whole thing and pulling the lowest ring off, but I wasn't about to try that - brave enough to offer a new-to-me recipe to a group that included strangers! So I started with the top ring, removing it and pulling it into pieces. The consistency is sort of almond macaroon, a crunchy outside and chewy interior. Norwegians, say my daughter, are quite happy to let it dry out further and dunk it in their omnipresent coffee.
It was a great hit, people loved it. The spices make it different from a traditional kransekake but I think it was part of the charm.
Let's call the day I made the batter Day 1. Wrapped and refrigerated it. On Day 3, rolled out and made the rings. It's a very forgiving dough and with almost no gluten (there may be some in the powdered sugar), you really can't make it tough with overhandling. After the rings cooled on racks, I put them in plastic bags in single layers; I wasn't sure if they'd stick if I put one atop another. Set them aside at room temp. Clear sunny day and our house here in the Midwest tends to be dry in the winter.
On Day 5, I made the royal icing - I used a version with meringue powder - and did my assembly, with a simple attempt at scallops on each ring. If you're a beginner, I'll add that as soon as I'd piped one ring, I put the next-smallest atop it, so that the icing acted as glue.
In Norway the traditional decoration is tiny Norwegian flags; I found picks meant to go on cupcakes that had snowflakes on them, and used that instead.
On Day 6, it acted as a table decoration. On Day 7, I transported it (carefully!) to the party. The traditional way of eating it is to eat it from the bottom up, tipping the whole thing and pulling the lowest ring off, but I wasn't about to try that - brave enough to offer a new-to-me recipe to a group that included strangers! So I started with the top ring, removing it and pulling it into pieces. The consistency is sort of almond macaroon, a crunchy outside and chewy interior. Norwegians, say my daughter, are quite happy to let it dry out further and dunk it in their omnipresent coffee.
It was a great hit, people loved it. The spices make it different from a traditional kransekake but I think it was part of the charm.
Andrea
July 30, 2018
Can anyone give me advise on storing the rings? I want to make it ahead of time and I'm just looking for some advise. Thank you!
Jan
November 11, 2018
The kransecake rings are quite hard but can not be exposed to high humidity. In In North Dakota winters the humidity in our homes is very low and we stored kransekake in a box or brown paper bag if large enough. We definitely kept them for more than a month without any stale taste. By the way, serve the kransekake by carefully tipping it enough to split the bottom ring off. When the kransekake is set back down, it looks complete although shorter.
ChefJune
December 7, 2017
Wow, Erin - that's a gorgeous dessert/centerpiece!
And congratulations on your book making Melissa Clark's NYTimes list of best baking books! It's a keeper.
And congratulations on your book making Melissa Clark's NYTimes list of best baking books! It's a keeper.
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