How to Make a Kransekake

 It has been a fun week here at Lilly My Cat.  Thank you to those who entered the give away for the pin cushion.  Entries are still being accepted, so just comment below and sign up to follow this blog and you could be the lucky winner of this pin cushion!

So, here's what I made this week for my Daughters of Norway meeting:

It's called a Kransekake cake (or Norwegian Wedding Cake).  I say Norwegian, but I'm Danish and Danes too have this same cake.  In fact, when I googled the image, they all came up with Danish Flags!  But, anyway, this time lets call it Norwegian.  It takes 4 cans (7 ounces each) of almond paste.  NOT marzipan but PASTE.

Here's what you will need:
Kransekake cake forms
4 cans (7 ounces each) of almond paste
2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 egg whites

for icing:
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp almond flavoring

Empty almond paste onto a plate and cover with plastic.  Microwave in oven for 30 to 40 seconds - just until soft.

Placed softened paste in mixing bowl and add in powdered sugar.  Blend with mixer until sugar is almost incorporated.  With mixer going, add in two "slightly" beaten egg whites.  Mix until mixture comes together on the beater.  Remove dough from mixer and divide into six almost equal sizes.  You will have six cake pans in varying sizes that you will need to fill with dough.

Take one ball and divide into three pieces (large, medium, small).  Roll into a rope and place in greased kransekake cake pan.

You will repeat this until all six balls of dough have been used and all six cake pans are filled.

NOTE:  Although my picture doesn't show this, it's best to bake the dough with the OUTER and INNER rings of dough only leaving the middle ring EMPTY.  Because, as the dough rings bake, they have  a tenancy to bake onto each other.  But, don't attempt to remove the baked dough rings until they are COOL or else they will break.  After they are cooled and removed from the pans, you can then fill the six pans with the middle rings of dough and bake them.

My recipe says to bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.  It took longer than 20 minutes and more like 30 minutes.  You want the rings to be slightly browned.  But, as I mentioned, remove the baked ring pans from the oven and let cool completely before removing the cake rings.  

Now for the fun part!  You will need to join the rings together with the icing.  After baking the rings and letting them cool, I removed each ring from the pan and placed it on a counter.  Then, I placed the rings on top of each other since I wanted to make sure they were in the correct order (the size of the rings are only slighter bigger than the other so you can get mixed up easily)

**See the baked ring on the very left of the photo?  Well, as I was checking on the baking process, my hot pad accidently hit the dough and made a mess of it.  I didn't use it in the cake and no one could tell the difference!

 To make the icing, in a medium bowl place powdered sugar and add in one slightly beaten egg white along with almond flavoring and vinegar.  Blend by hand until icing comes together.  Place icing in a decorator tub with a small O fitting for the piping.

I then started with the bottom ring (the largest) and piped a ring of icing on the BOTTOM of this ring and placed the ring on the cake plate I was going to use.  This way, the cake will be "glued" to the cake plate and it won't slip off.

To ice the cake rings together, use a "v" shaped piping pattern and place one ring on top of the ring you just iced.  Repeat until all rings are used up.

 

Here's a picture of the finished kransekake.  You can decorate the top with anything you like.  More flags can be added to you liking.

It's a fun cake to make for any celebration.  My Daughters of Norway celebrated the 17th of May this week so that's why I made this special cake.

Please remember to stop by Handmade Monday and see some great craft ideas.  I hope each of you have a wonderful week!  And, don't forget to comment below to be entered in the giveaway!