As the national cake of Sweden, I have seen it eaten at any kind of celebration, from birthdays to graduations to Christmas dinners. You'll see cinnamon rolls and slices of princess cake at almost every café in Sweden.
Krämbullar or Vaniljbullar are buns dusted with sugar and then piped with sweet vanilla custard.
Morotskaka (carrot cake) – I'm still figuring out why carrot cake is so popular here, but the fluffy texture combined with cream cheese frosting is served all year round.
Katalan is a special pastry that reminds me of treasure – a mazarin (type of almond tart) with a secret layer of raspberry jam hiding between the filling and glaze.
As you can tell, the possibilities are endless when it comes to your fika options. At first, I was unaccustomed to this aspect of work life! But I've grown to look forward to these moments where my colleagues and I can chat about life outside of work, and some of my closest friends here originally invited me to fika to get to know each other better.
Protein
With over 2000 miles of coastline bordering the Baltic Sea and the Scandes, a mountain range bordering Norway on the west side, Sweden is the fifth largest country in Europe. Because of this, there are some regional differences in the cuisine of north and south Sweden, especially around meat. I'll be focusing mostly on northern Swedish cuisine because, as you can see on the map, Umeå is really far north!
