Swedish food highlights: Chokladboll and Prinsesstårta

Swedish food highlights: chokladboll and prinsesstårta

Hello everyone! Greetings from Stockholm, Sweden! Are you well today? I was smacked by a dreadful cold over the past week, and am finally starting to feel better. My head is finally feeling normal again - this emoji expresses how much pressure there was in my head over the last few days:

Anyway, if you haven’t recognized my patterns of posting about food highlights, most of the highlighted foods are baked goods or sweets. :) I eat healthily, and also have the rule that I can try a dessert if I have never had it before (assuming it looks appetizing), and if I could not reasonably find it in the US. I feel like it is my duty to try the unknown sweet - you know, sometimes you have to take one for the team! So, here are some of my highlights from Sweden.

Chokladboll, aka Chocolate + coconut heaven

When I first saw this delectable chocolate ball, which is slightly smaller than a baseball, I was in a mad dash to catch a train from Stockholm to Uppsala. However, I was also starving. And, hungry Erin = grumpy Erin. Haha, I wish I were joking.

So, I quickly stopped at a bakery to grab a sandwich, and splurged to purchase a chokladboll (they cost 25 swedish kroner, which is around $3 USD). Then I quickly boarded my train. After a brief moment to decompress, I bit into this chokladboll …

I was surprised by the texture; I expected the texture to be like American fudge, but the ball was more pliable and more moist. It was absolutely delicious. It is made of butter, chocolate, sugar, butter, oats, vanilla, butter, and is usually garnished with coconut or chocolate sprinkles (for all those coconut-haters out there). Instead of being baked, these balls are hand-made and then chilled before serving.

There doesn’t seem to be an extensive history behind chokladbollar, with the exception of a controversial name change in the 1990s. Now, with a more-inclusive name, this dessert is absolutely amazing!

Prinsesstårta

[It is hard to tell in this picture, but the princess cake is dome-shaped.]

When you see Prinsesstårta for the first time, the cake will undoubtedly put a smile on your face. The green color of the marzipan frosting could “theoretically” be off-putting, but it really just brings joy (and hunger) to those who see it in a bakery window.

The cake is made of alternating layers of sponge cake, pastry cream or jam, and a thick layer of whipped cream. The top of the cake is covered by the marzipan topping (marzipan = almonds + sugar) and powdered sugar. The marzipan makes it more cumbersome - and more fun - to eat, because the outside is a little gummy and gooey. Amazing.

Hehe. The cake first came into being in 1948 when Jenny Åkerström published her cookbook, Prinsessornas Kokbok. She taught Prince Carl’s (Duke of Västergötland) daughters, and this cake was their favorite. So, naturally, it became known as “princess cake” in Sweden.

This cake is time-intensive, it takes a lot of time to make the various layers, get the marzipan just right, and assemble it without it toppling over …

Wowza. Hope you enjoyed these pictures like I did - almost as much as the desserts themselves! ;)

Peace,
Erin