Kransekake Norwegian Cake
A traditional Norwegian ring cake, Kransekake is a celebratory dessert often featured at weddings, birthdays, and holidays.
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Instructions
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Start boiling water in a large saucepan for blanching.
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Blanche half the almonds in the boiling water for 3 minutes until skins loosen. Drain, rinse in cold water, and remove the skins with towels; spread to dry completely.
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Grind unblanched almonds into a fine flour, then grind the blanched almonds. Combine both almond flours with confectioners' sugar, then grind the mixture a second time.
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Transfer the almond flour mixture to a large saucepan. Stir in egg whites and almond extract over low heat until the dough is smooth, pliable, and pulls away from the pan.
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Refrigerate the almond paste dough overnight.
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Preheat the oven to 400 F. Flour a pastry board with potato starch flour, then butter and dust kransekake forms (or line a baking sheet) with potato starch flour.
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Roll the almond paste into 18 "snakes," gradually decreasing in length from approximately 20 inches to 12 inches. Fit these into the prepared forms or shape them into rings on the baking sheet.
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Bake the rings in the oven for 15 minutes until lightly golden, monitoring closely to prevent burning.
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Remove forms from the oven and let rings cool in pans before carefully loosening and removing them.
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While rings cool, prepare the frosting by mixing confectioners' sugar, egg whites, almond extract, and lemon juice until thick. Transfer to a pastry bag.
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Invert the largest ring onto a serving plate. Pipe frosting in a wavy pattern around its circumference. Repeat this process for successive rings, stacking them from largest to smallest to form a tower.
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Decorate the assembled cake with flags, candies, ribbons, or edible flowers as desired.