The Local's Fika Calendar walks you through a whole year of Sweden's coffee-and-cake tradition, with information on the pastries and the history behind them. Today: save some space in your tummy for the indulgent, cream-filled semla.
Semlor are traditional Swedish cardamom buns filled with whipped cream and almond paste. But what should you look for in a good semla, and what should you avoid?
Isabelle Fredborg, editor of Swedish Spoon, takes a bite out of historic versions of the Swedish Lenten bun 'semla' – which you may know by its more sinister name: Kingslayer.
On Fat Tuesday Swedes will gorge themselves on these fantastic cream buns, but they're usually available in stores right after Christmas. Food writer John Duxbury shares his best recipe with The Local.
In the weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday, Swedes gorge themselves on these scrumptious cream buns. But do you know the answer to these five trivia questions?
Swedes are expected to gorge on 132 tonnes of almond paste and 211 tonnes of cream today, as the country consumes in total six million 'semlor' – the traditional bun eaten on Shrove Tuesday.
A group of Swedes have successfully made the world's biggest ever semla bun, which weighed in at 300 kilos – more than twice as much as they had planned.
A Swedish pastry chef has combined two culinary traditions in his latest sweet creation: a bizarre-sounding, but apparently delicious, ‘nacho semla bun’.
A Swedish pastry chef has made the controversial move of taking two of the most sacred baked goods in the country and combining them to create a provocative hybrid.
While many Swedes are spending this week on half term ski trips with their children, a bakery at Stockholm's Arlanda airport is looking after their other prized possession: sour dough.
How much would you be prepared to pay for a traditional Swedish cream pastry? One Swedish baker is hoping customers will splash out a lot of dough on his gold-covered roll.
A bakery's unusual twist on two of Sweden's best loved sweet treats has been causing a stir in the cake-loving Nordic country known for its fondness of annual traditions.
A Swedish bakery which thought it would be a good idea to name a smaller and cheaper version of the country's traditional pre-Lent period cream bun “the girl semla” has been forced to rename its invention after it whipped up a furious storm on social media.
One of Sweden's best loved sweet treats, the semla bun, has been given a revamp in Stockholm, with huge queues outside a cafe selling the new flat, wrapped version of the snack, designed to be eaten on the go.
