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      Celebrations Norwegian style

      Traditional celebration cake for Constitutional Day
      in Norway today
      17 mai ~ 17th May



      Hip hip hurrah for i dag er det 17 mai!

      Today is Norwegian Constitutional Day, the day Norway became independent and began with their own royal family in 1814.

      It's a national holiday and parades through out each town and village across the whole country takes place today.  From early morning brass bands march and celebrational breakfasts are eaten.  Norwegians party all day long with friends and family.

      Gathering all the decorations the night before is
      somewhat of a late night tradition in our household
        
      One of the 'must' have on the food list is the celebration cake known as kransekake, I have written about it several times before but it is so special, I thought you would not mind indulging me again this year.

      Kransekake
      You will need:
      500g almonds with skin on , you can bought ready ground
      500g icing sugar
      3-4 egg whites
      butter for melting
      semolina or fine breadcrumbs
      icing sugar for decoration


      Grind the almonds

      Mix with the icing sugar and add egg whites
      one at a time, do not make the
      dough overly sticky, be careful

      It should be a consistency between
      crumbly and slightly sticky

      Melt butter and brush over rings, add
      semolina or breadcrumbs, this helps
       to avoid dough sticking to the rings

      Pipe or hand roll (to about a finger width)
      mixture to fill the rings

      Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes
      at 180 degrees Celsius

      Gently remove from rings, this can be quite
      precarious and build up into a tower stack

      You can either pipe icing sugar on individual rings
      before completing the stack or you can drizzle
      icing sugar over the tower once formed

      Decorating the tower really brings it alive


      Decorate with celebratory paraphernalia

      I must confess to not creating the perfect kransekake this year, I was too impatient this morning, having meant to make it last night but was not feeling well.  I awoke early this morning to make it.  Taking it out of the oven too early and stacking it before it had cooled properly it began to collapse with the weight of the top rings once I had turned my back on it.  So how to save the day... I simply removed the lower rings, iced them as normal and just laid them around the edge of the now much shorter kransekake.  Do you think anyone will notice?


      All ready to party

      After having baked the kransekake, I tuned in on live streaming and watched a little of the children's parade in Oslo and saw the royal family waving from their palace balcony, I may not be in Norway but I can still join, the wonders of the internet.

      Norwegian royal family watching the parades in Oslo today

      Each area of Norway has it's own traditional dress and you can place people by the costume they wear, mine comes from Vest Telemark, where I hail from, I love it and am very proud of it.  It is hand embroidered and was made to measure for me in 1988.  When bought for a young girl it is made with excess material to accommodate the ever changing shape of a woman... (thank goodness)

      

      The hemline of the dress is 3 meters, think of all
      that embroidery, it took 6 months to make

       

      The accompanying purse which hangs from the hand woven belt
       has the date of make embroidered on it.  Here you also
       see some of the silver jewellery that belongs to such an outfit.

       
       
         Gratulerer med dagen til dere alle  

      22 comments:

      1. What a wonderful way to celebrate with Norway and the Norwegians on their special day by making a traditional cake! It looks delicious! I expect International Ted is waving his Norwegian flag too. Have a lovely day!

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. I hope International Ted is too. At present Linda he is in Devon with 30 ten year olds and their teacher x

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      2. We were in Spain near Malaga on May 17th and we saw a Norwegian parade down the streets of town. When we asked what was going on someone told us that there was a fairly large expat community of Norwegians living there and that May 17th was their constitution day and each year they had a parade and party.

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. It's true about the expat community there. One year I was there Janet and hurt my back very bafly and I was taken to the Norwegian doctor!!!!!!

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      3. What wonderful celebrations Selma. The traditional dress is so beautiful and the cake looks delicious. X

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. It is a great celebration. It's a great day all round with good vibes Jules x

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      4. Looks like an amazing day, so glad you are able to still join in. Technology at its finest.

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. We grumble often about the 24 hour society we live in but you're right Mama mercantile this really was the Internet at its finest

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      5. Happy Independence Day to you!!! It is wonderful that you have celebrated and join in in this way and I am sure that the only think anyone noticed with the kransekake was the opportunity to sneak a bit without anyone noticing that a ring was missing! Your traditional dress is beautiful and is an amazing piece of work isn't it!

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. You're right Amy, it as easy to sneak eat it without others realising. The dress is just amazing, a true work of art

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      6. Thanks for sharing Norway's Constitutional Day with us Selma, your kransekake looks very tasty and who cares if it's not perfect. (nothing I make ever is...!) I think I have heard about this cake from my aunt who worked in Norway in the 70's and goes back to visit quite often. Your traditional costume is exquisite, the work that has gone into it is something else. xx

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. You are welcome Fiona. It's a great day and a good time of year to visit Norway. I wonder did your aunt ever experience 17 mai in Notway?

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      7. Happy Constitutional Day! Your dress looks beautiful and I shouldn't think you've got any cake left by now so nobody will notice it being a little shorter. x

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. Thank you Karen. You're right, it was polished off pretty rapidly x

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      8. Wonderful. Happy Constitutional Day. That traditional cake looks so good. We have a town here in the Seattle area that had a parade today to celebrate (Ballard).

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. Oh wow. Have to look up Ballard, have not heard of it before Ellen. What fun. Were you able to see it?

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      9. Happy belated Constitutional Day. I love hearing about other people's traditions. My grandmother was from Sweden and I have a soft spot for all things Scandinavian!

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. Scandinthings seem to bring out the love or hate feel. I'm totally into all things Scandinavian too Jen. Do you ever visit Sweden?

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      10. Deborah Garretty18 May 2016 at 23:21

        Hope you had a very happy Constitutional Day. Your costume is stunning and beautifully made. Thank you for sharing.

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. Thank you Deborah, I did. I agree the dress is wonderful and the craftsmanship is beautiful

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      11. This is a fascinating post today. I love the history and the wonderful costumes. I love that you have so much pride in your heritage.
        Hugs,
        Meredith

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. Thank you Meredith, it came through then that I'm proud of my heritage, I am glad because I really am xxxx

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      I will always read all comments and will try to reply but it may take me a couple of days, do please pop back and lets get a conversation going...