Try ten of the best Danish pastries.
The humble Danish pastry. Arguably the best known delicacy of Scandinavian food culture.
When you think of Denmark, alongside Smørrebrød, Carlsberg and probably The Little Mermaid, the chances are that you’ll think about Danish pastries.
But what actually constitutes a ‘Danish pastry’? And more importantly, which one tastes best?
Called Wienerbrød in Danish and Norwegian (Wienerbröd in Swedish), which means ‘Viennese Bread’, these pastries are characterised by a yeast dough which is rolled out thinly and covered with thin slices of butter between the layers of dough.
After this, the dough is folded and rolled to create 27 delicious layers.
The result of the extremely long-winded rolling and folding process (any Great British Bake Off fans will remember how long this takes) is to create a pastry which is light and crispy on the outside, but also rich and buttery inside.
A short history of the Danish pastry.
The origin of the Danish pastry is most often put down to a strike amongst bakery workers in Denmark in 1850.
The strike caused bakery owners in Copenhagen to hire foreign workers, among them several Austrian bakers, who brought with them new baking traditions and techniques.
After the strike was settled, bakers in Denmark began to adopt and adapt the Austrian recipes, increasing the quantities of ingredients like egg and fat. This development and the range of delicacies it created, resulted in what is now known as the Danish pastry.
Danish pastries soon firmly established themselves as a national tradition and by the 20th century the 27-layer technique was crossing the Atlantic.
As more Scandinavians emigrated to the US and Canada, they brought their baking skills with them. Pastries like Cinnamon buns and Cherry Danish are commonplace across the US nowadays - and there is one man who deserves special thanks for that:
Lauritz C. Klitteng of Læsø popularized "Danish pastry" in the US around 1915–1920.
He made Danish pastry for the wedding of President Woodrow Wilson in December 1915, toured the world to promote his product and was featured in such 1920s periodicals as the National Baker, the Bakers' Helper, and the Bakers' Weekly.
The best Danish pastries.
In this article, we’re taking a look at 10 of the best Danish pastries (in my opinion) available in Scandinavia.
Disclaimer: The line between pastry and ‘cake’ is thin, and delicious. You will see that my list contains some more traditional Danish cakes (Studenterbrød, hindbærsnitte) as opposed exclusively to just pastries in the Viennese style.
It’s taken detailed research and a real dedication to sample the delicacies on offer. Without further ado, here is the list you never knew you needed:
The Spandauer
It’s a classic. The spandauer is probably what comes to a non-Dane’s mind when you mention a ‘Danish pastry’.
Also known in Denmark as the unappetisingly named ‘Baker’s Bad Eye’, the spandauer is a circle of light pastry, which encloses delicious ingredients like chopped hazelnuts, cream, fruit (e.g. ‘Apricot Danish’) or jam with icing on top. Most often eaten in Scandinavia for breakfast, it is also a delicious afternoon snack to accompany a pot of coffee or tea.
The pastry takes its name from the former Spandau prison in Berlin. Between 1876-1987, the prison’s famous four towers became a landmark of the city, which the four pastry walls of the spandauer are supposed to mimic, locking the criminally tasty cream and jam inside.
2. The Brunsviger
The most mouth-watering of all Danish delicacies, the brunsviger is a cake of crater-filled dough, drizzled by a thick layer of brown sugar and butter. This delicious concoction of sugar and fat soaks into the spongey cake, making for a delicious, moreish and sticky teatime snack.
The word brunsviger actually comes from the German word Braunschweig , a city in central Germany (a so-called ‘Braunschweiger’ also refers to a kind of beer and sausage from the city).
The city still serves a cake called Braunschweiger Dickkuchen, using a 19th century recipe. According to food historian and former museum director at Copenhagen City Museum, Bi Skaarup, this Braunschweiger Dickkuchen resembles the Danish Brunsviger so much that it must be the same delicious pastry.
3. The Romsnegl
The romsnegl (or ‘rum snail’ in English) is another classic Wienerbrød. There would have been national outcry had it not made the list.
Following in the footsteps of its more popular cousin, the cinnamon snail (aka cinnamon roll) the romsnegl is made of a spiral of flaky pastry, with rum-soaked sweet filling and sugar icing.
They are a favourite of the Danish royal family, with the wife of King Frederick IX, Queen Ingrid (1910-2000), having a regular supplier of romsnegls who delivered fresh batches to the castle.
4. Studenterbrød
The first on our list to not be a traditional wienerbrød delicacy, studenterbrød is nonetheless a delicious and popular treat which it would be a shame to overlook.
The ‘student-bread’ takes its name from the fact it is made up of leftover, stale pastries which are mixed together to form a heavy cake batter. Cheap and cheerful maybe, but it’s a really tasty cake too.
This reformed dough base is accompanied by a rum-flavouring, layered with raspberry jam and decorated with fruit crumbs and icing on top.
5. The Hindbærsnitte
The hindbærsnitte (raspberry slice) does exactly what it says on the tin.
Two thin layers of shortbread-style biscuit sandwich a thick layer of raspberry jam, topped with icing and more of the fruit crumbs we saw with the studenterbrød.
Food historians have traced the hindbærsnitte recipe back to 18th century Skagen, but there are mentions of the Danes feasting on raspberry slices for several centuries before then.
They are also an easy snack to make yourself. To check out the best recipe for Hindbærsnitter head to Madens Verden to get the details.
6. The Kanelsnurre
It would have been a travesty if no cinnamon-flavoured pastries had made it onto this list.
Let me present to you: the kanelsnurre.
Known in English-speaking countries as cinnamon knots, rolls or swirl buns, these combine cinnamon, sugar and butter into a swirl of cardamom-spiced light buttery doughy deliciousness.
Varying slightly from the cinnamon snail’s spiral form, the kanelsnurre is made from intricately weaving thin strips of the outer-layer of the pastry over one another to form perfect-looking knots.
7. The Kringle
The Kringle is a Nordic variety of the German pretzel. Introduced by Roman Catholic monks in the 13th century in Denmark, from there they spread throughout Scandinavia.
This expansion of the kringle led it to evolve into several kinds of sweet, salty or filled pastries, in a ‘Kringle shape’, (kringla in Old Norse means circle) from which the pastry takes its name.
With variations of the kringle making it to Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Iceland, the Kringle is a classic teatime pastry across northern Europe.
8. The Berliner with jam
Okay, I know. A berliner is definitely not a Danish pastry.
But the jam-filled doughnut is such a popular treat in Danish bakeries that it wouldn’t make sense not to include it on this list.
The Berliner Pfannkuchen is a doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat, with a jam filling, and usually served with powdered sugar on top.
Nowadays they are filled with things like chocolate, custard, mocha, or even advocaat.
Back in the 16th-century though, the early berliners had mainly savoury fillings like cheese, meat and mushroom. When imports from Caribbean sugar plantations made sugar more practical, fruit preserves gained in popularity.
9. Tebirkes
Tebirkes (also called københavnerbirkes on Jutland and Fyn) are a common sight on a Danish breakfast table.
From the heavy dough of the berliner, we’re returning to delicate, flaky layers of Wienerbrød wtih the tebirke. The pastry encloses a sweet, almondy filling called remonce, giving the centre a gooey, caramel-like consistency.
The tebirkes are most often topped with poppy seeds and the masterpiece is complete.
Fortunately, these fastelavnsboller are now eaten year-round, so you don’t need to wait until Lent to try them out!
10. Fastelavnsboller
The final place on a hotly-contested list. A fastelavnsbolle (Shrovetide bun) is a type of pastry that was originally eaten in the days leading up to Lent, which lasted 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
The ‘faste’ bit in the name refers to the traditional fast which Christians followed in lent. Fastelavnsboller come in a lot of varieties, from closed buns with filling (seen in the image), split buns with filling, buns with remonce for filling or baked in muffin tins.
The modern recipe is cardamon-dough yeast buns made of wheat flour, filled with cake cream, remonce, fruit compote, jam or whipped cream - and often garnished with icing sugar or icing .
There you have it. Ten of the best Danish pastries. If you want to know where to find these delicious pastries in the Danish capital, check out my latest article on The Best Bakeries in Copenhagen.
Want to explore more of what Scandi Culture has to offer? Check out my guide to spending 24 hours in Aarhus.
Or have a look at my guide to the best swimming spots in Copenhagen
Want to get the recipes to some of those delicious delicacies mentioned above? Check out the amazing madensverden.dk! (All images are courtesy of madensverden.dk or author’s own unless otherwise stated)
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