Kransekake (18-layer Norwegian Wedding Cake)

Total Time: 45 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 lb almond meal or 1 lb almond flour
• 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 4 egg whites
• powdered sugar
• butter, melted

Recipe

• 1 mix almond meal and powdered sugar until there are no lumps.
• 2 in a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. (a stand mixer works best for this.).
• 3 whites should stand straight in a peak when you lift out the beater.
• 4 reserve 2/3 cup of the egg whites, and mix remaining egg whites into almond flour/powdered sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or with your fingers.
• 5 the dough will be thick and should have the texture of cookie dough.
• 6 place the dough into a cookie press.
• 7 using a star-shaped disk, press the dough into kransekake rings that have been greased and coated with bread crumbs or white corn meal.
• 8 test one ring by baking at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.
• 9 if this sample has tunnels, you may need to add a little more powdered sugar.
• 10 if the dough doesn't rise, you may need to add a little more of the egg white.
• 11 do not over bake.
• 12 after baking all the cake rings, cool to nearly cold before removing the cake from the rings.
• 13 the cake should be only be slightly brown on the tips of the dough.
• 14 after baking all the cake rings, cool to nearly cold before removing the cake from the rings.
• 15 use a thin knife to start lifting each ring out gently.
• 16 if a ring breaks, save it and serve it in little pieces around the bottom of the cake.
• 17 you can either stack the rings into a cone shape and lightly drizzle icing in a scallop pattern or v-pattern around each ring, or you can drizzle the rings with icing first and then stack them into a cone.
• 18 if you would like to freeze the kransekake, fill empty ice cream buckets with the unfrosted rings layered between sheets of waxed paper.
• 19 icing:.
• 20 mix powered sugar with a little melted butter.