A Cream Puff to Remember

After about 34 hours in Sweden, 1 sleepless night, 2 coffees and a 3 hour bus ride, I was in desperate need of sugar. Gothenburg isn’t known for much, but I was told St. Agnes Káfe was a necessary place to stop to try out local Swedish confections and pastries. I didn’t need to be told twice!

Though I didn’t realize at the time, I ordered a very traditional cream bun, otherwise known as “semlor.” I always have been a sucker for a good cream puff, but when I looked into the case at St. Agnes, these buns were in a league of their own. Dusted perfectly with powdered sugar against the perfectly golden surface and overloaded with stark white cream, each bun looked like it belonged in a museum. With a mug of coffee on the side, I sat down with my beautiful little bun and admired how lovely it looked before attacking it with a fork and knife. Sorry bun!

With each bite, a semla offers you a multitude of flavors and textures that I had never experience before. The chewy but airy bun worked in harmony with the almond-y marzipan paste and slightly sweet whipped cream that was sandwiched in between. Though the pastry looked quite sweet, it actually had a distinct nuttiness and cloud-like consistency, something that I never would have guessed upon first glance. The cream, though whipped to stiff peaks, was light and had only a hint of sweetness rather than the flavor of your typical whipped cream. The taste was heavenly. No seriously. Had I not been splitting the bun with a friend, I would have eaten an entire one by myself with zero regret and a chin full of cream.

Once home, I decided to look up the actual ingredients and baking of semlor. Though I have no plans on attempting to make these babies in my kitchenette, I was really curious to see how they were made. Turns out eating a semla was originally a treat on Fat Tuesday, but the bun became so popular they are now served in bakeries from Christmas until Lent! It wasn’t until I looked up the ingredients that I realized the paste in the bun was actually marzipan. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the nuttiness I was tasting in the moment, but it’s no surprise that marzipan is a star in this traditional pastry, since most European desserts seem to feature it in one way or another.

So, if you ever have the chance to try one of these Swedish buns of heaven, I strongly encourage you to order your own. If you end up like me and share one, make sure you get the bigger half!