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I'm part of a Twitter baking group and we like to make the same things that were on Great British Bake Off.

This week a challenge involved making a tower of a Swedish biscuit they called Kroken. It was made with ground almonds and icing sugar. They were assembled in tall towers and the show mentioned they are popular at weddings.

However in trying to find recipes online Google seems to not know and turns up lots nuts in sugar type recipes.

Is it possible that it is known by a different name so I can find some recipes.

StartPlayer
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  • Are you sure it was written like this, "Kroken"? If you only listened to the word, could it have been "Krokant"or "Croque", or even "Makron"? – rumtscho Nov 08 '22 at 23:58
  • @rumtscho The word appeared on screen a number of times ('Krokan') and has also been used by the show on social media since, so no doubt as to how they are spelling it. – dbmag9 Nov 09 '22 at 00:02
  • Sounds like a [Croquembouche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquembouche) which is made with choux pastry, very popular at weddings – bob1 Nov 09 '22 at 00:59
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    @dbmag9 on screen as part of the show's own material should be trustworthy, but if you mean subtitles, they can do very strange things - they're normally automated these days but before that you were relying on the typist's knowledge – Chris H Nov 09 '22 at 07:01
  • [This?](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krokan_(bakverk)) (Swedish Wikipedia). [Wiktionary](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/krokan) agrees with @bob1 that the word comes from *croquembouche*. – Chris H Nov 09 '22 at 07:04
  • If no one gets there first, I think I've found enough clues to answer when I have time later. But anyone should feel free to use what I've found as a pointer – Chris H Nov 09 '22 at 07:12
  • @bob1 that was my first thought too, or a nougatine (=krokant) sculpture. While the OP said it isn't written "croque", I suspect that "krokan" is still a Swedish transliteration for "croquem". But note also that they said that the pieces are made from "ground almonds and icing sugar", which isn't traditional for the croquembouche pieces - so maybe the Swedish made their own version and kept a similar-sounding name. – rumtscho Nov 09 '22 at 08:24
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    @ChrisH On-screen, repeatedly, as part of the show's content, and in multiple social media posts produced by the show (e.g. https://twitter.com/BritishBakeOff/status/1590087407558615043). – dbmag9 Nov 09 '22 at 09:58
  • @dbmag9 I'm not surprised, given what I found in a few minutes searching – Chris H Nov 09 '22 at 10:04
  • To confirm as suggested I took the spelling 'Krokan' from the show and what they posted on social media after. – StartPlayer Nov 09 '22 at 14:47
  • We would love to see your version if you like to share. The [Frying Pan](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/16/the-frying-pan) would be a good place. – Stephie Nov 09 '22 at 16:25

2 Answers2

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Krokan in this case is traditional Swedish wedding cake (the current Swedish king and queen had one, for example), of individual intricate shapes made of a marzipan/almond based mass with sugar and egg whites, that gets piped and baked, then assembled. It’s occasionally (mis-)translated as e.g. croquembouche, but that’s technically incorrect.

The Swedish Wikipedia has an article, so with a bit of google translate you could learn more.

The most interesting bit for your research is that the recipe seems to be pretty much identical to the Danish/Norwegian Kransekake (“wreath cake”), just shaped more intricately. That should help when searching for recipes and more information.

Stephie
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  • Have a +1 from me, that's what I was thinking of but with more background – Chris H Nov 09 '22 at 10:04
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    @ChrisH thanks. Pure coincidence, I had stumbled across the kransekake just a short time ago. So kind of only half-stealing from your comments. – Stephie Nov 09 '22 at 11:24
  • In general when I find a little but don't have time for an answer I share it with the invitation to use it. I'm likely to forget to come back and answer (and actually it looks like one of my links/comments never posted, so I hinted less than I thought) – Chris H Nov 09 '22 at 11:29
  • Thank you. I was coming to conclusion that its same dough as kransekake. The bakers of show made flat buscuits as well so hoping for a recipe to give cooking times. – StartPlayer Nov 09 '22 at 14:46
  • https://www.marthastewart.com/1162975/kransekake This is martha stewarts recipe hope it is of some help. The moulds are very expensive – Linda Dawn Wheeler Bryant Nov 20 '22 at 13:48
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pauls_kransekake_83354 This is recipe from paul holland hope it helps – Linda Dawn Wheeler Bryant Nov 20 '22 at 13:46
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Ok. There are not a lot of recipes out there in English for this. You can try either 'svensk krokan' or 'bröllopskrokan'. They will most likely get you to Swedish websites that you would have to translate into your preferred language. good luck! :-)

K.Flash
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