page_title: Danish cuisine
section_title: Cakes
hierarchical_section_title: Danish cuisine / Other popular foods / Baked goods / Cakes
caption_attribution_description: Danish butter cookies in container with wrappers. Christmas spirit finally got to me..
context_page_description: Danish cuisine originated from the peasant population's own local produce and was enhanced by cooking techniques developed in the late 19th century and the wider availability of goods during and after the Industrial Revolution. Open sandwiches, known as smørrebrød, which in their basic form are the usual fare for lunch, can be considered a national speciality when prepared and decorated with a variety of fine ingredients. Hot meals are typically prepared with meat or fish. Substantial meat and fish dishes includes flæskesteg and kogt torsk with mustard sauce and trimmings. Ground meats became widespread during the industrial revolution and traditional dishes that are still popular includes frikadeller, karbonader and medisterpølse. Denmark is known for its Carlsberg and Tuborg beers and for its akvavit and bitters, but amongst the Danes themselves imported wine has gained steadily in popularity since the 1960s.
  Cooking in Denmark has always been inspired by foreign and continental practises and the use of imported tropical spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper can be traced to the Danish cuisine of the Middle Ages and some even to the Vikings.
context_section_description: Denmark has a large variety of cakes and in 1997, the bakers guild launched the now countrywide celebration of Kagens Dag (Day of the Cake) as an annual recurring event in April–May. The region of Sønderjylland has become known for its concept of Sønderjydsk kaffebord, serving copious amounts of coffee and regional cakes on gatherings and festive afternoons. Typical Danish cakes include:
  Wienerbrød (Danish pastry) – Denmark has a large variety of Danish pastries; most of the recipes are based on the same kind of dough.
  Kringle – a pretzel-shaped Danish pastry. It has symbolized bakers in Denmark since the early Middle Ages, and in the United States "kringle" is associated with the country of Denmark.
  Kagemand ("cake-man") – a Danish pastry in the shape of a man. Decorated with icing and candy. Traditionally served at children's birthday parties.
  Småkager ("small-cakes") – Cookies, usually baked hard and crusty in an oven, but both pan and deep fried versions exist. There is a large variety of småkager in Denmark. Most of the recipes came about when stoves became common property in the last part of the 1800s, but some recipes like Klejner and Pebernødder have been around since the Middle Ages. Quite a few recipes are associated with Christmas. Denmark has a significant export of quality butter cookies.
  Pebernødder – ("pepper nuts") – A small, spicy cookie associated with Christmas. Traditionally used in a number of games.
  Vaniljekranse – Vanilla-flavoured butter cookies in a ring-shape.
  Flødekager ("cream-cakes") – These cakes earn their name from the generous amounts of whipped cream used to make them and are served cold. The many varieties do not always include baked ingredients. They were largely introduced in the 1800s and 1900s when Konditorier became popular in larger towns. A Konditori is the Danish version of the French patisserie, and they were booming in the 1940s and 1950s.
  Lagkage (layer cake) – This cake has thin sponge cake layers, often with mashed berries and whipped cream or custard between the layers and decorated with fruit on top. Layer cakes are usually considered a flødekage in Denmark. They are often used to celebrate birthdays, on which occasion they will traditionally be decorated with as many lit candles as the age of the celebrated individual. He is then supposed to blow them all out in one try or he will be in bad luck. Some Danish layer cakes follow strict recipes like the Rugbrødslagkage made with crumbled and toasted rye bread or the Othellolagkage, made with marzipan and chocolate cream.
  Gåsebryst ("Goose breast") consists of a crisp puff pastry bottom with a generous spread of prune jam and a thick layer of whipped cream on top. The cake is wrapped in a thinly rolled layer of marzipan. Several slight variations exists and this particular cream cake is also popular in Norway.
  Tørkager ("dry-cakes") – As the name implies this kind of cake comprise dry cakes, as compared to the moist cream cakes and layer cakes, and they are often made with sweet shortcrust dough and served cold.
  Kransekage ("ringcake") is a marzipan-based cake, usually served at special celebrations and on New Year's Eve. It comes in various shapes and sizes. A popular arrangement consists of a stack of ring shaped cakes of increasingly smaller size, creating an upside down cone form. The cake rings are decorated with white icing, and the arrangement is decorated with small red-and-white Danish paper flags. On special occasions they will hide a bottle of champagne. Kransekage is typically served with champagne on New Year's Eve or to celebrate weddings, "round" birthdays and anniversaries.
  Studenterbrød ("graduates-bread") is a popular cold confectionery cake consisting of scratch-made thick cookie butter on a thin crispy crust of shortcrust dough with a spread of raspberry jam in-between. The cookie butter is flavoured with cocoa powder and rum, although the more inexpensive rum essence is normally used. Topped with chocolate icing and sprinkles.
  Hindbærsnitte ("raspberry-slice") consists of two thin and crusty baked pieces
caption: "Småkager". Denmark is a noted exporter of butter cookies.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 50D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:07 15:28:51", "Image Artist": "Photographer: Constantin Barbu", "Image Copyright": "Copyright: Constantin Barbu. All rights reserved.", "Image ExifOffset": "316", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "862", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8229", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:12:07 15:08:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:12:07 15:08:17", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "915241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "37/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "13", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "13", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5152", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3568", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "792000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1056000/199", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}