Fika is a very important Swedish tradition: a cozy coffee-and-cake break you can either take home, at the office or in cafes/bakeries perfectly equipped for it. All that matters is that you relax, drink and eat something. Fika=reversed version of ka-fi (kaffe/coffee).
Common ingredients are cardamom, cinnamon, almonds and marzipan are also pretty popular, and fillings as custard and berry jams.
Anything called tosca in Sweden means it has almonds. You will see kola, which has nothing to do with coca cola as I used to think – that would be something caramel flavored.
fikabröd: sweet buns
Bullar, buns are everywhere to be found in Sweden, and belong to the category of Fikabröd, fika breadstuff. The most common sweet bun is the iconic kanelbulle – the Swedish cinnamon bun: with pearl sugar on top and no icing, less fatty than American ones. There is even a cinnamon bun day in Sweden!
| Swedish bun | contains | topping |
| kanelbulle (cinnamon bun) | cinnamon | pearl sugar |
| kardemummabulle (cardamom bun) | cardamom | – |
| toscasnäcka ‘tosca shell’ | often cardamom | almonds |
| vaniljbulle/solbulle (vanilla/sun bun) | custard cream | sometimes chocolate-coated |
A Längd is basically a big and long bun, that can have various fillings, often custard cream, with toppings as icing, pear sugar, almonds or coconut flakes.
Kafferep cookies and small treats
| pastry | description | variations | name origin |
| chokladboll | no-bake small chocolate balls usually covered in shredded coconut. | can have colorful sprinkles instead of coconut | |
| dammsugare | green marzipan and chocolate coated ends | also known as punschrullar (punch rolls) if they contain punsch liqueur. In Denmark and Holland they are white instead of green | The name means ‘hoover’ probably due to using leftover biscuit crumbs to make them. |
| biskvi | Chocolate covered cones with buttercream and an almond cookie base | Also known as Sarah Bernhardt in other Nordic countries, called tree trunk and marrowbone | Swedish adaption of biscuit (cookie, biscuit) in French. Sarah Bernhardt is named after a French actress. |
| Mazarin | small, round shortcrust pastry, filled with almond paste and has icing on top. | white or pink icing | Maybe named after Cardinal Jules Mazarin’s (chief minister to the King of France Louis XIV), in association with his name sounding like marzipan |
| Napoleon | whipped cream between two puff pastry layers and red icing on top | Similar to French Mille Feuille, Dutch Tompouce is very similar and has pink icing (or orange for national days) | Named after Napoleon, whose cook perfectioned the mille-feuille. Or maybe name either from Napolitain (French for ‘neapolitan’) |
| Vaniljhjärta | tender heart-shaped shortcrust pastry filled with vanilla cream | ||
| Jitterbug | buttery spiral-shaped cookie with merengue | Jitterbug was from a swing dance from the US |
Some pastries are quite old: Mazarin originated in the 17th-18th century, and Napoleon Swedish version is from the 1800s by Johan Broqvist, made as his journeyman’s piece in Austria The Bronqvist confectionery he opened in Växjö is still active!
kafferep was a tradition which developed in the 19th century, before Fika name and concept emerged. There are IKEA cookies called Kafferep! It consisted in gatherings that included eating cookies, kakor – seven types to be precise, called sju sorters kakor. Baking seven types of cookies is actually also a Norwegian Christmas tradition. They include:
| name | name meaning | description |
| Hallongrottor | raspberry caves | vanilla cookies where the ‘cave’ in the middle is filled with raspberry jam. |
| Chokladsnittar | chocolate slices | rectangular chocolate cookies |
| Brysselkakor | Brussels cookies | round vanilla cookies circled by a pink coating |
| Drömmar | dreams | meringue-like vanilla round cookies, melting in your mouth like ..’dreams’. |
| Havrekakor | oat cookies | crunchy oat biscuits |
| Nötkakor | nut cookies | little balls with a whole hazelnut |
| Schackrutor | chessboards | chocolate-vanilla square cookies |
You also have Delicato mini versions of fika favourites: Chokladboll, kanelbullekaka, hallongrotta, punschrulle and also havreboll, biskvi, mazarin… You also find single-packed ones at Pressbyrån among other places.
Swedish classic Cakes
in Sweden you have Tårtor, kakor and paj. A tårta typically has whipped cream and looks fancier than a basic kaka, while a paj is.. a pie.
| Tårta | kaka | paj (typically served with vanilla sauce) |
| Prinsesstårta ‘princess cake’: a green dome with a pink rose on top. Made of layers of sponge, whipped cream and raspberry jam, covered by green marzipan. can also be made as a roll and served in slices. | kladdkaka ‘sticky cake‘, (mud cake): gooey chocolate cake | Blåbärspaj (blueberry pie) |
| Jordgubbstårta (strawberry cake): a classic Swedish summer cake | Toscakaka (see above, tosca = almonds): moist cake with crispy caramel almonds on top. | Smulpaj (crumble cake), Typical fillings are rhabarber, apples and blueberries |
| Rulltårta (rollcake), Budapest: roll with whipped cream and (usually) mandarin, coated in an almond crumble with a chocolate swirl | Morotkaka (carrot cake) | |
| Oscarstårta: almond and cream cake | Silviakaka: a sponge cake with coconut on top |
Prinsesstårta is the princess of Swedish cakes, often served for birthdays! First featured in the early 20th century Princesses’ cookbook Prinsessornas kokbok, it is very recognizable by being a green dome with a pink rose on top. There are variations with other colors (and meanings): yellow –prinstårta (prince cake), pink – operatårta (opera cake).
Budapest can also have variations, I tried a pear version the first time actually. And I’ve seen a white version with raspberry inside, or chocolate and banana.
savory fika ‘ sandwiches
Sweet fika is great, but sometimes you cannot risk a sugar crash: there are plenty of nice options for a savory fika, with open Sandwich (macka) options! The most iconic ones are the shrimp sandwich (räkmacka, often accompanied by eggs) and meatballs on redbeet salad (kötbullemacka). It is quite easy to make these Swedish sandwiches at home too.
A round, closed sandwich is called Fralla.
Sources:
- Pictures from: Conditori Norpolen (Vara), Mormor (Lund), Lejlas (Uddevalla), Nordfelts (Vänersborg), Kakeria (Trollhättan)
- visitsweden.com
- fikatrail.com
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