Kransekake (Norwegian Christmas Cake)
Ingredients
Kransekake - Norwegian Christmas Cake
- 5 cups almond flour, do not use almond meal as it is more coarse
- 4 3/4 cups Imperial Sugar Confectioners Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 large egg whites + 1 tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons butter for greasing forms
- 1 cup finely ground cornmeal (optional)
Directions
- Place almond flour in a machine bowl fitted with paddle attachment or bowl large enough to hold all remaining ingredients.
- Measure and sift powdered sugar directly into bowl. Add salt, almond extract, and egg whites. Mix until combined. Mixture will be very stiff.
- Cover bowl with plastic food wrap and keep in fridge overnight.
- Remove bowl from refrigerator. Brush barely melted butter onto Kransekake forms and place forms in fridge to re-solidify butter.
- You have two options for working with dough:
- A. Roll very cold dough to a thickness of AA batteries (almost 1/2 inch) and place in Kransekake forms. Only if needed to prevent excess sticking, use a light dusting of cornmeal.
- B. This is a professional pastry chef method. Remove dough from bowl and press/spread onto a plastic food film lined counter. After about 30 minutes dough should be softer. Occasionally sliding dough around on counter will speed softening (bringing to room temperature) process.
- Fill only a small amount at a time in a pastry bag (dough is still very firm to pipe) fitted with an Ateco 806 pastry tube.
- Pipe dough into tubes directly into molds. Dough can be reworked countless times if first attempts are unsatisfactory.
- It takes a while to get all forms filled, during process preheat oven to 375°F. Place forms directly onto oven wire racks. Bake for about 20 minutes or until pale golden on surface.
- Cool to lukewarm and then turn forms over to remove baked rings.
- For Royal Icing sift together powdered sugar and dried egg whites. Make certain that these are well blended. Add water and lemon juice and beat for 7 minutes until thick. Add food color if desired. Place in a small piping bag and cover remaining icing tightly with plastic food wrap.
- Using a small amount of royal icing adhere largest Kransekake ring onto a serving plate.
- Pipe a royal icing décor on ring and top with second largest ring. Repeat process until top is reached.
- Decorate as you desire.
