In my short post on Norwegian food, I showed a photo of a tall cake consisting of circular almond cake/cookies, or kransekake. It is popular for family gatherings, weddings, baptisms, and holidays, and tastes delicious! It is a good example of the importance of baking and cakes in Norwegian cuisine.
In Norway, we use the word bake both about baking (with yeast) and making cakes (with baking powder.) Baked goods are an important part of life and bread is definitely a main staple - the typical breakfast is two pieces of bread (with cheese or jam or some sliced meat) and the typical lunch is (but this is changing) three pieces of bread, once again with cheese, ham, or something else that packs well. I have known a lot of exchange students and their main complaint about food in Norway is the never ending bread! Growing up, I usually had three bread meals a day - breakfast, lunch, and an evening meal. (We ate dinner around 4pm so by 8pm I needed some food!) I will say, though, that we have good bread. Fresh bread in lots of varieties, many of them with tasty whole grains. Interestingly enough we have little of the rye bread or pumpernickel that the Danes and German seem to favor.
As you probably know, most Europeans will complain about US bread. I almost refuse to eat sliced bread out of a plastic bag - only in emergencies! It doesn't matter if it has 12 grains, I can't stand the texture and there has to be weird additives in a bread that can stay "fresh" for that long.
Most Norwegians know how to make bread, and it is common to bake your own. We also like to bake cinnamon rolls and other yeast bread delicacies. The smell of bread baking, whether sweet or savory, is one of my favorites! I think I talked about my Home Ec class last year, and one of the best things I learned was to make bread. My mom also taught me and I feel very comfortable working with yeast. I really feel that kneading bread connects me to the generations of women before me!
Norwegians also like to make cakes. We also often invite people over for just coffee and cake, or "coffee party." There is usually more than one cake present. For larger parties, it is common that family members or others bring a cake to the big "cake table." In a wedding, there can easily be 20 cakes. There are some standard ones, like cream cake and chocolate cake, and other that vary with the times, like frozen custard style cakes or cakes topped with chocolate mousse. Mmmm...
Cream cake with marzipan top all decorated for independence day:
I was never a big cake eater growing up, but there seems to be a lot of feelings attached to cakes - "If you don't eat my cake you don't love me." I think this sentiment about food exists in many cultures but in Norway it seems to be extra strong when it comes to cakes.
The typical birthday cake: Chocolate cake with jelly men and jelly women!