Icing on the Kake
Sydney-based wedding cake extraordinaire Faye Cahill and her sister Maree, share with us the Norwegian Kransekake (wreath cake) recipe they baked and decorated for Faye’s wedding
Faye: Growing up, my grandmother was like a second mother to myself and my six siblings. She often spoke of her father who was a Norwegian sailor and the Oslo branch of his family. Since then I have been fascinated with anything Norwegian. I decided I wanted a kransekake as one of my wedding sweets and my sister Maree found and adapted the recipe and baked it for me.
Faye & Andrew’s wedding Kransekake photographed here in July 2010. It really brings back sweet memories seeing this cake being recreated by the two sisters for this post. How very special!
Let’s start by separating the yolks, whisk, mix and knead!
Roll out dough to finger size sausages, put into kransekake forms sprayed with cooking oil
Keeping with the sisters’ tradition – Maree bakes and Faye decorates
Pablo and Kiko posing for the shot
It’s time to decorate the Kake! We headed downstairs to the working studio where all the creative works are done
To assemble, fill a piping bag with royal icing and use a number 4 round tip. Pipe a line of icing around the bottom side of the largest ring and secure it to your stand or base
Continue to pipe icing onto the underside of each successive ring until the tower is assembled
Using a number 2 round tip, pipe fine scalloping around each ring, starting at the top and finishing at the base
Faye chose the Australian native flowers and mini pears to decorate the Kransekake
- Who: Faye Cahill
- Home is: Below the flight path in Marrickville. The inner west has now been my home for over half of my life
- Family origin: Irish and Norwegian
- I can’t live without my: Cats. Home wouldn’t feel the same without them
- Occupation: Wedding cake maker of Faye Cahill Cake Design
- Dream Job: I love my job, but if I couldn’t do this I’d love to be an architect
- Currently I am obsessed with: My beautiful baby
- Childhood taste: Eating the cream off the top of a milk bottle. Porridge in winter with lots of milk and brown sugar
- I will always have in my pantry: Brown rice, chick peas and lentils
- I learnt to cook from: Necessity! In a big family everyone needs to pitch in
- The one place I must visit: Oslo
- Go to meal: Chilli beans
- 3 unforgettable meals: I’ve eaten at some amazing restaurants, and one highlight would be a birthday dinner at Quay. I also have happy travel memories of Mexican street food, especially the black corn tacos. In Paris we splurged on an afternoon tea at Laduree with beautiful fine teas and I fell in love with their canelles!
- Perfect Night In/Out: These days I can’t go past an early local dinner at a good bistro like The Union Hotel or Vic on the park, bedtime for Ramona and a lazy DVD on the couch curled up with Andrew and the cats
- My piece of Sydney: I love the vibrant community and diversity of the inner west
- I do my groceries at: Banana Joes in Marrickville
- Guilty Pleasure: Oreos
- Who does the dishes: Well, the dishwasher does the hard bit, but Andrew and I take turns stacking and unpacking it
Pictured here and below are just some of Faye’s latest exciting cake designs
Faye created this adorable mushroom cake for her baby Ramona’s 1st birthday – what a lucky girl!
If you are interested in creating Ramona’s bunny cake top (above), Faye runs workshops for this and other cake decorating projects. More details are available here.
Mav – one of Faye’s talented cake decorator assisting for the busy week ahead
Kransekake
Ingredients - Serves Up to 50 in petit fours pieces
- For Kransekake
- 500g almond meal
- 500g pure icing sugar
- 4 egg whites
- cornflour for dusting
- For Royal Icing
- 2 large egg whites
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice or 1 tsp acetic acid
- 3 cups (330 grams) confectionery (icing) sugar, sifted
- Lightly beat egg whites.
- Add almond meal and icing sugar and work into a pliable dough.
- Cool in fridge overnight.
- Next day preheat oven to 180˚C.
- Roll out dough to finger size sausages, put into kransekake forms sprayed with cooking oil.
- Butt and pinch ends to form a circle.
- Bake for 17 mins, when cool remove from forms and turn onto a cooling rack.
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In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until soft peaks form.
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Add lemon juice or acetic acid and mix through. The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.
- To assemble, fill a piping bag with royal icing and use a number 4 round tip. Pipe a line of icing around the bottom side of the largest ring and secure it to your stand or base.
- Continue to pipe icing onto the underside of each successive ring until the tower is assembled.
- Using a number 2 round tip, pipe fine scalloping around each ring, starting at the top and finishing at the base. Decorate with dusted icing sugar, fresh fruits and flowers or Norwegian flags.
5 Responses to Icing on the Kake
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Such a beautiful post! Made my heat sing:)
Love Faye and her amazing team… The best in the country:)
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Thanks so much for your lovely feature Lucy!
It’s really a delicious recipe and not too technical to approach.
I loved seeing the shots of my beautiful but eccentric cats who no doubt would drive most people crazy. I should point out that these cat shots were in my home kitchen which is completely separate from my cake business
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Mariano Nicolais
Every occasion has a cake to celebrate its festivity. Gourmet cakes come in a number of varieties and a large variety of usable ingredients. Gourmet cakes usually compliment special occasions like weddings, farewells, anniversaries, ceremonies, birthdays, etc. This is not the only use a cake can be put to. Cakes can be served with everyday meals as tasty deserts. But cake making is not an easy thing. People are always puzzled on how to make a cake that looks perfect and tastes great whether it’s have had as an everyday desert or gourmet cake. If you are still wondering on how to make a cake, simply take our experienced suggestion. Different recipe of cake are available online on different food related websites or blogs for free. You can also take advice on how to make a cake from an experienced source like your mother or grandmother or whosoever has been an expert in recipe of cake.^
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Gorgeous! I’ve never heard of a Kransekake before. The native flowers and pears are so pretty!