Spettekaka or spettkaka (''spiddekaga'' in native
Scanian) is a local dessert of the southern parts of
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, chiefly in the province of
Scania
Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...
(Skåne) but also in
Halland
Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Skåne, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Br ...
. It is an important part of the Scanian culinary heritage.
[Spettkaka, a culinary specialty from Skåne](_blank)
/ref> The name means "cake on a spit", and this describes the method of preparation: it is the Swedish variation on the spit cake
A spit cake is a European-styled cake made with layers of dough or Batter (cooking), batter deposited, one at a time, onto a tapered cylindrical rotating Spit (cooking aide), spit. The dough is baked by an open fire or a special oven, rotisserie ...
.
Description
A mixture consisting mainly of eggs, potato starch
Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes. The cells of the root tubers of the potato plant contain leucoplasts (starch grains). To extract the starch, the potatoes are crushed, and the starch grains are released from the destroyed cells. Th ...
flour and sugar is rolled slowly onto a skewer
A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. The word may sometimes be used as a metonym, to refer to the entire food item served on a skewer, as in "chicken skewers". Skewers are used while grilling or roasting ...
which is being rotated over an open fire or other heat source. The dessert thus produced is very dry (similar to meringue
Meringue ( , ) is a type of dessert or candy, of French cuisine, French origin, traditionally made from Whisk, whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acid, acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or potassium bitartrate, cream of t ...
). It is then wrapped in a subsequently sealed plastic bag to preserve its dryness. To stay crisp, the cake should only be unwrapped at the actual moment it is to be eaten.
Spettekaka can range in size anywhere from a few inches to several feet in height and over a foot in diameter. The very large cakes are served by sawing cuboid
In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron with quadrilateral faces, meaning it is a polyhedron with six Face (geometry), faces; it has eight Vertex (geometry), vertices and twelve Edge (geometry), edges. A ''rectangular cuboid'' (sometimes also calle ...
s from the cake, leaving as much standing as possible.port wine
Port wine (, ; ), or simply port, is a Portuguese wine, Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro, Douro Valley of Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal. It is typically a sweetness of wine, sweet red wine, often served with dessert wine, ...
. A hacksaw blade is used to gently saw the dessert into serving-sized pieces, as it will crumble or shatter if a knife is used or too much pressure is applied with the saw blade.
The world's largest spettekaka was baked in Sjöbo, Scania, in 1985, and is mentioned in the 1986 ''Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
''. It was high and baked in one piece.[ Ann-Louise Olander]
”Bland socker, ägg och världsrekord”
''Ystads Allehanda'', 11 Augusti 2008. Consulted 3 November 2011.
''Skånsk spettkaka'' has PGI status under EU law.
Other regional varieties
*Baumkuchen
Baumkuchen () is a kind of spit cake from German cuisine. It is also a popular dessert in Japan. The characteristic rings that appear in its slices resemble tree rings, and give the cake its German name, ''Baumkuchen'', which literally translat ...
– Germany
* Šakotis – Lithuania
*Kürtőskalács
(; sometimes improperly rendered as ''kurtosh kolach''; ; ) is a spit cake specific to Hungarians from Transylvania, more specifically the Székelys. Originally popular in the Székely Land, it became popular in both Hungary and Romania. The fi ...
– Hungary
*Trdelník
Trdelník (; or rarely trdlo or trozkol) is a kind of spit cake and variant of Kürtőskalács. It is made from dough that is wrapped around a stick, then baked and topped with sugar and walnut mix.
Origin
Trdelník has its origins in the no ...
– Czech Republic and Slovakia, also with a PGI status
* Sękacz – Poland
See also
* List of desserts
A dessert is typically the sweet Course (food), course that, after the entrée and main course, concludes a meal in the culture of many countries, particularly western world, Western culture. The course usually consists of sweet foods, but may ...
* List of spit-roasted foods
References
{{Cakes
Swedish desserts
Scania
Swedish products with protected designation of origin
Spit cakes