Cinnamon buns might be the most famous pastry to come out of Sweden, but there's another pastry that the country is crazy about, semla.
This cardamom-spiced, wheat-flour bun is filled with almond paste and whipped cream, topped with a lid and dusted with icing sugar. People traditionally ate semlor (plural of semla) on Fat Tuesday, before Lent, but they have since become more widely available and come in many forms and flavours.
The origins of semlor
, semlor were originally plain buns eaten with warm milk, a last indulgence before Lent.
, King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died in 1770 after eating a big meal featuring 14 semlor among other dishes.
Josefin Zernell, the co-founder of hot chocolate shop Mörk Chocolate, says, "Whether it was the semlor that killed him or whether it was the enormous amounts of food that he ingested, I think that's hard to prove."
The semla we know today, made with cardamom, whipped cream and almond paste, is believed to have emerged .
Semlor were traditionally only available between Lent and Easter, but now they're more widely available. Credit: Supplied by Mörk Chocolate
"It sort of soaks up the milk and the bun gets a bit soggy. I always found it a little bit strange. Often, the bakeries would make them quite dry so it made sense to put them into milk."
The way they're made has since changed.
"Now bakeries are really making them in a beautiful artisan way and they don't need the milk; they are just delicious the way they are," she explains.
They are just delicious the way they are.
Stockholm-born Sophie Curl, the co-founder of Sydney’s Swedish Fika cafes and bakery, remembers her mum throwing big semla parties.
"She would bake 200 semla buns and she would have around 50 people over. She continued this tradition even when we were born so there were always lots of kids."
Now bakeries are really making them in a beautiful artisan way.
Once most Swedes stopped observing a strict Lent, , but bakeries were not allowed to sell them outside of that period. These days, semlor are available from after Christmas to Easter, with Fat Tuesday still considered "Semla Day". Approximately .
What makes a great semla
Swedes take their semlor seriously.
"There are semla competitions where all the newspapers on Fat Tuesday compare semlor to find out who makes the best one. They interview people about what makes a good semla, and people love talking about it," says Curl.
When asked the burning question, Zernell and Curl agree that a great semla is about a balance of taste and texture. The bun needs to be airy and light. The cardamon must be freshly ground and provide flavour without overpowering.
They are quite hard to execute to perfection.
Meanwhile, the almond paste can't be sticky, and the cream needs to be lightly whipped. You must also have the right ratio of bun to cream to almond paste.
"They sound so simple but they are quite hard to execute to perfection," says Zernell. The components are so important because there are only three, so you have to nail it."
Semlor being made at Fika. Credit: Supplied by Fika
Next-gen semlor
The Swedes have kept their semlor traditional for centuries, but there has been an explosion of new types of semlor in recent years.
Some have different flavours, like chocolate or raspberry. Others translate the semlor into different forms: , (inspired by the , a classic Swedish street food), , , and .
"It's gone quite wild, they're having fun with it," says Zernell.
Semlor in Australia
On our shores, some bakeries and cafes bake semla only around Fat Tuesday, while others offer them from early in the year until Easter.
In Sydney, semlor are available for several months at . It also creates variations, like cinnamon semla buns.
