Swedish foodie secrets: How to find Sweden's best semla

[Celerity]

Semlor are traditional Swedish cardamom buns filled with whipped cream and almond paste. But what should you look for in a good semla, and what should you avoid?

https://www.thelocal.se/20220222/heres-how-to-find-swedens-best-semla/

https://archive.is/WVmXJ

Semlor are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday or Fettisdagen, as the last festive food before Lent, a traditional fasting period leading up to Easter. Fettisdagen falls on February 13th this year, so now is the time to indulge in one of the season's best treats. They are known as fastlagsbullar in southern Sweden, and – despite their origins – are now commonly available in bakeries from the end of the Christmas season to the start of Easter, rather than just on Shrove Tuesday. A good semla is no more than the sum of its parts – the holy trinity of cardamom bun, whipped cream and almond paste. The ideal semla will take all of these individual parts into account, with each bite a perfect mix of cream, bun, and almond. Back in 2022, we asked semla-lovers on Twitter and in Malmö foodie group Malmöfoodisar on Facebook to tell us what you should look for in the ideal semla – here's what they said.

A semla cross-section. There's a layer of almond paste hiding somewhere under all that cream. Photo: Becky Waterton/The Local

The bun: 'Absolutely not too dry'

Most of the people who got in touch were in agreement – a semla bun needs to have a noticeable cardamom flavour, without it taking over. Rhiannon on X (the social media formerly known as Twitter) said that "roughly ground cardamom in the bread" was important, with "a nice dusting of icing sugar on top of the bun". Joakim on Facebook said that, in his opinion the bun should be a "rather soft wheat bun with a light cardamom touch (the cardamom shouldn't take over)". Charlotta, from the same Facebook group, said that the bun should be "fluffy with a noticeable cardamom flavour", stating that she also enjoys "more historical semlor you can find further north where the inside of the bun is partly removed and mixed with the almond paste". Linnéa said on Facebook that the bun should be "soft and smooth, and absolutely not too dry".

A semla from St. Jakobs bakery in Malmö. Nice crunchy almond paste and a good sized lid. Too much cream for me so my husband got the other half. Photo: Becky Waterton/The Local

The cream: 'High quality'

Semla cream should be "high quality whipped cream", Rhiannon told us on X, although on Facebook, people were split as to whether cream should include vanilla or not. My prefers her semlor to have "whipped cream with a bit of vanilla", whereas Maria said that there should be "no jävla vanilla!" using a Swedish expletive that can be best translated into English as "bloody" or "damn". Cecilia said that there should be "enough fluffy cream so there's a bit in every bite", and Charlotta told us that the cream should be "quite lightly whipped (hand-whipped, if possible), absolutely not sweetened". Joakim likes the cream in his semla to be "lightly whipped with nothing extra added, so the better the cream the better the flavour". Linnéa told us that her ideal semla had "lots of cream (vegan if possible)" – although semlor can be heavy on the dairy, vegans can also enjoy the Lenten treat if the cream is oat- or soya-based.

Link to tweet

Some vegan semlor can be as good as – or even better than – normal cream-based semlor, which dairy company Arla awkwardly found out when a vegan semla was voted into first place in their semla competition. Unfortunately for the bakery in question, Arla ended up cancelling the competition, which the company's press officer told newspaper Dagens Nyheter was due to a "lack of engagement from bakers around the country". The company told the newspaper that, instead of handing out a prize, they would "buy one hundred semla from each of the top one hundred entries" and donate them to care homes – with one caveat: "we're only going to buy semlor made with cream and butter".

Definitely a semla for cream lovers! From Hedh Escalante in Malmö. This one was bought reduced at the end of the day but was still delicious. Photo: Becky Waterton/The Local

snip

From top left: a choux semla, traditional semla and chocolate semla. All from Mat- och Chokladstudion, Malmö. Photo from 2021. Photo: Becky Waterton/The Local

No semlor were harmed in the making of this article. Except this one from Gateau, which I accidentally dropped. Photo: Becky Waterton/The Local

[EYESORE 9001]

1. I'd have to put on my Sherlock Holmes hat to search for these

The predominant treat in my locale is paczki, which is Polish or Slovakian in origin. All supermarkets in my area have paczki, and that’s about it.

Here’s a paczki:

[MiHale]

2. My Polish aunt was the best baker...

Her paczki‘s were the best…not dry, filled with homemade jams. But I’d trade 3 of her paczki‘s for one of those creations…they look delicious!

[EYESORE 9001]

4. The ones filled with jam are superb

Your aunt’s paczkis were probably made with homemade jam. Store-bought, not so much. I like Bavarian cream too, although not strictly authentic.

[Ocelot II]

3. I can get these at a couple of local bakery/restaurants.

I've never tried them because they probably contain more calories than I should have in a week, but I might just give in one of these days...

[Backseat Driver]

5. I knew there must have been a reason I often stopped at the Swedish Bakery next door for an after-school treat: THIS!

Semla also looks and sounds like one of the divine treats I just might have had growing up from that Swedish bakery next door. Heaven save me from the common bear claw!

Schmidt's Sausage Haus cream puffs are to die for here and, to heck with Krispy Kreme, I do prefer black-raspberry-filled jelly doughnuts, lemon- and/or custard filled sprinkled with powdered sugar and/or the daily ration of chocolate drizzle - Polish paczki in the big box grocery the week or so before Fat Tuesday--alrighty!

No cajun King's Cake here either - Fat Tuesday usually found me making/obtaining a New York Style Cheesecake or soft, pillowy Cheese Danishes with Philly or a rich, dark chocolate layer cake clothed in lots of chocolate butter cream. Tip: dust the pans w/cocoa.

[DFW]

6. Temlor!!

I used to love to read Ture Sventon stories

[Celerity]

7. Rotas konditori

Year-round semlor