Kransekake Norwegian Almond Ring Cake Food

KRANSEKAKE

Steps:

• Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees F.
• Add the almond flour and 1 pound of the confectioners' sugar to a food processor. Pulse about 10 times to combine. Add the egg whites and vanilla extract. Run the processor for about 20 seconds until the dough forms into a ball; it will be slightly sticky. Remove the dough from the food processor and form it into a disc. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
• Spray the kransekake molds with nonstick spray and sprinkle with semolina, tapping off any excess.
• Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, roll it out into a rope long enough to wrap into each mold. The width should be even and no thicker than 1/2 inch. (Keep the unused dough covered with plastic wrap.) Repeat the process until all the molds are filled. Transfer the molds to 2 baking sheets.
• Bake until lightly golden, about 20 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the molds. Carefully remove each ring from the molds onto cooling racks for 10 minutes.
• To make the royal icing, add the remaining 1/2 pound confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 4 tablespoons water to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk until stiff peaks form. If desired, stir a few drops of food coloring into the icing with a rubber spatula. Put the royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe icing onto each ring and stack them, largest to smallest. Dust with confectioners' sugar right before serving.

PAUL'S KRANSEKAKE

Steps:

• Place the ground almonds and icing sugar in a large electric mixer. Add the egg whites and almond extract and mix with a dough hook. This could be done by hand but is easier with a mixer due to the large quantities. Cover the bowl with cling film and chill in the fridge for a minimum of two hours, or preferably overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/400G/Gas 6.
• Lightly brush the insides of the kransekake moulds with vegetable oil. Sprinkle a little semolina into each mould and tip the moulds to distribute the semolina evenly around the inside, shaking out any excess.
• Divide the chilled dough into six equal-sized pieces.
• Divide one of the pieces of dough into three different-sized pieces: one small, one medium and one large. Dust a work surface lightly with flour and roll each piece out into finger-width lengths that are long enough to wrap round the kransekake moulds.
• Fit the longest piece of dough inside the largest kransekake ring, pressing the ends together to seal. Do the same with the medium-sized and smallest pieces of dough. Repeat this process with the remaining five pieces of dough.
• Bake the kransekakes in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool in their moulds until hardened. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, for the icing, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar a spoonful at a time, until stiff, glossy peaks form when the whisk is removed.
• Spoon half of the icing into a separate bowl and add the red food colouring. Whisk until the icing is bright red, then spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small plain writing nozzle. Spoon the white icing into a separate piping bag fitted with a small plain writing nozzle.
• To assemble the kransekake, sort the cooked rings into size order.
• Pipe a few dots of white icing onto the base of the largest ring and stick it to a large serving plate.
• Pipe zig-zag patterns onto the largest ring using first the white, then the red icing, overlapping the two. Sprinkle with red, green and silver edible glitter.
• Place the second-largest ring on top of the largest ring and repeat the icing and decorating process.
• Continue to stack the rings in decreasing size order until you have a tower of 18 iced and glittery rings. Allow the icing to set (this will stick the rings to each other), then serve.

KRANSEKAKE (18-LAYER NORWEGIAN WEDDING CAKE)

Steps:

• Mix almond meal and powdered sugar until there are no lumps.
• In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. (A stand mixer works best for this.).
• Whites should stand straight in a peak when you lift out the beater.
• Reserve 2/3 cup of the egg whites, and mix remaining egg whites into almond flour/powdered sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or with your fingers.
• The dough will be thick and should have the texture of cookie dough.
• Place the dough into a cookie press.
• Using a star-shaped disk, press the dough into kransekake rings that have been greased and coated with bread crumbs or white corn meal.
• Test one ring by baking at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.
• If this sample has tunnels, you may need to add a little more powdered sugar.
• If the dough doesn't rise, you may need to add a little more of the egg white.
• Do not over bake.
• After baking all the cake rings, cool to nearly cold before removing the cake from the rings.
• The cake should be only be slightly brown on the tips of the dough.
• After baking all the cake rings, cool to nearly cold before removing the cake from the rings.
• Use a thin knife to start lifting each ring out gently.
• If a ring breaks, save it and serve it in little pieces around the bottom of the cake.
• You can either stack the rings into a cone shape and lightly drizzle icing in a scallop pattern or v-pattern around each ring, or you can drizzle the rings with icing first and then stack them into a cone.
• If you would like to freeze the kransekake, fill empty ice cream buckets with the unfrosted rings layered between sheets of waxed paper.
• Icing:.
• Mix powered sugar with a little melted butter.

RING CAKE (KRANSEKAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C.
• Grind the almonds into fine powder. I used an old fashioned nut grinder. You can use the regular grinder.
• Add in the sugar and baking powder to the almonds and mix.
• Now keep on adding the egg whites one by one and kneading the Almond mixture with the whites with gentle hands until a dough is formed.
• Once the dough is formed time to shape the rings. roll out the dough into sausage shape. Thickness should be about 1/4 inch.
• Fill in the kransekake pans to form the rings. There will be a total of 18 rings.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the oven and pull out and completely cool before take out of the molds.
• While the rings are cooling off you can prepare the icing.
• Instructions for the icing: Lightly beat 1 large egg white in a bowl. Now keep on adding icing sugar to the egg white little by little (1 tablespoon at a time) until you attain the desired consistency (It should be at a pouring consistency but not runny).
• Once the rings are completely cooled and the icing is ready its time to form the tower.
• starting from the larger ring to the smallest build up a tower.
• Place the largest ring on the plate and with the icing create a zigzag pattern on the ring and when the icing is still wet place the next size ring over it. The icing acts like a glue holding the rings together.
• Continue until you reach to the smallest ring.
• Decorate as desired with ribbons, toothpick flags with personal messages and flowers.

KRANSEKAKE (NORWEGIAN ALMOND RING CAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line 2 sheets with parchment paper.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, ground almonds, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add unbeaten egg whites one at a time, mixing until a firm dough forms. Knead dough for 2 minutes until it holds together and doesn't fall apart easily.
• Roll dough into 18 ropes the thickness of your index finger, each rope a little longer than the next. Shape each rope into a ring. Arrange rings on the baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Watch smaller circles carefully, as they may finish baking before the larger ones. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Mix confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract together to make icing. Pour icing into a piping bag fitted with a small tip.
• Place a doily on a serving plate. Pipe a ring of icing as large as the largest cake ring. Place the largest cake ring on the icing. Pipe icing in a zig-zag pattern over the ring. Stack remaining cake rings on top, from largest to smallest, piping icing between each ring.

SCANDIA KRANSEKAKE/KRANSAKAKE

Steps:

• Break almond paste into small pieces.
• Mix in well 3/4 cup of sugar.
• Add unbeaten egg whites, mix.
• Add rest of sugar, mix.
• Grease rings and flour heavily.
• Bake at 325 for 13-15 minutes.