Spettekaka
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, chiefly in the province of Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
(Skåne) but also in Halland
Halland
' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...
. It is an important part of the Scanian culinary heritage.
A mixture consisting mainly of eggs, potato starch flour and sugar is rolled slowly onto a skewer
Skewer
A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. They are used while grilling or roasting meats, and in other culinary applications....
which is being rotated over an open fire or other heat source. The dessert thus produced is very dry. 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
Cuboid
In geometry, a cuboid is a solid figure bounded by six faces, forming a convex polyhedron. There are two competing definitions of a cuboid in mathematical literature...
s from the cake, leaving as much standing as possible.
Spettekaka is frequently served accompanied by dark coffee, vanilla ice cream and port wine
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
. 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
Sjöbo
Sjöbo is a locality and the seat of Sjöbo Municipality in Skåne County, Sweden with 6,364 inhabitants in 2005.-Overview:Sjöbo started growing when it became a halt on the railway between Malmö and Simrishamn in the early 20th century...
, Scania, in 1985, and is mentioned in the 1986 Guinness Book of Records. It was 3,6 m high and baked in one piece.
Skånsk spettkaka has PGI status under EU law.