Tower Cake (Kransekage in Danish or Kransekake in Norwegian) is basically a marzipan cake shaped in rings, decorated with icing and assembled on top of each other. This cake has a long tradition in both countries and mainly eaten during special occasions such as New Year’s Eve.
The cake only consist of five ingredients; almonds, dates, water, confectioner’s sugar and egg whites (means, it’s also gluten free). You can for sure find more beautiful cakes than my cake, but more delicious? No, this recipe soooo delicious. It is chewy and at the same time melting in your mouth. It is sweet, but not too sweet so you want to grab another ring when you have finished the first one. Good that New Year’s Eve normally is a quite long evening and that this cake consist of at least eight rings. 😉
Ingredients (1 cake ∼ 10 pers.):
- 2 1/3 cups slices almonds (or peeled whole almonds)
- 4-5 pitted dates
- 1 tbsp water (might not be needed if you use fresh dates)
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 egg white
Frosting
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 egg white
If baking with whole almonds, start with peeling the whole almonds. That is easy done by heating water until boiling point. Remove from heat. Add the almonds into the sauce pan and let the almonds soak in the hot water for approximately 5 minutes. Remove the peel by squeezing the almond between two fingers. The peel will then easily come off. Place the peeled almonds in a food processor and run on high speed until the almonds become almond flour. Add the pitted dates and run the food processor on high speed again until the marzipan looks like a sticky dough. If needed (still a bit dry), add water.
Mix (with hands or mixer) the almond paste together with confectioner’s sugar in a bowl. Then slowly add the egg white and mix everything together. Wrap the dough into plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator for one day.
Pre heat the oven to 375ºF.
Divide the dough in two equal pieces. Roll out each piece to a 26” long roll. Now cut the rolls in 3”, 4”, 5”, 6”, 7”, 8”, 9”, 10” long rolls. Shape each piece to a circle and place on an oven tray covered with parchment paper. Shape a small ball, that later will be place on the top of the tower cake, and place it on together with the circles on the parchment paper. Press carefully with the hand on each circle.
Place the tray in the oven for bake for 10-12 minutes. Let them all cool down.
Prepare the frosting with mixing confectioner’s sugar and egg white until airy and totally white.
Build a tower with the biggest circle first and the smallest last. Place the little ball on top and decorate with the frosting as prefer.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Scandinavian Simple Eating 