The earliest version of the Swedish semla was a 16th-century plain bread bun served in a soup of warm milk eaten only on Shrove Tuesday in preparation for the 40-day fast of Lent.
It is a far cry from this year’s hit varieties, which include Dubai chocolate (the chocolate bar with a knafeh and pistachio filling that became a TikTok trend) and chokladboll (based on a Scandinavian oat, cocoa and butter ball – a popular fika item).
Social media has turbocharged the popularity of the traditional buns but also transformed them almost beyond recognition.
The whipped cream-filled, almond paste-stuffed Instagram-friendly semlor that fill the windows of Sweden’s bakeries and patisseries in the run-up to Lent this year are more of a celebration of decadent eating than fasting. They have an entire season dedicated to them – approximately between January and March – and their popularity, and the number of variations, keeps growing.
Milda Doumit, who runs Lindquists Konditori in Stockholm with her husband, Bassel, said: “The semla has evolved from a traditional Swedish bun to a modern pastry that is constantly being renewed and adapted to today’s tastes and demands.”
The highly visual world of social media has played a central role in the increasing popularity of semlor, she said. People send them pictures and videos on Instagram and TikTok and they get requests from influencers asking to be the first to try their new flavours.
“By combining traditional flavours with modern ideas, we have been able to reach new customers and create a new appreciation for the classic semla,” said Doumit, whose new pistachio knafeh semla has been attracting queues on Fridays and over the weekends. She and Bassel have also launched a tiramisu version which has been popular among older customers.
Shops and cafes start serving the buns on 2 January each year – taking the place of the Christmas saffron buns – and don’t stop until around Easter, with queues often forming outside popular spots. The current form of the semla dates back to the 1930s, but in recent years – thanks in part to social media – each spring brings new takes on the classic recipe.
Other popular contemporary takes on the semla include Oreo, red velvet, chia, matcha and princess cake (a classic Swedish green icing-covered sponge cake).
Johan Sandelin-Järnåsen, a master pastry chef and co-owner of Vete-Katten, which has several branches around Stockholm, said enthusiasm for semlor increases every year. Why? “Because it’s delicious,” he said. “It’s fantastically delicious. It’s such a simple product, but you can’t fake or cheat it. A good semla is a good semla, full stop.”
Crucially for its survival into the 21st century, a good semla is also “beautiful to look at. You can actually see how tasty it is,” he added.
In a season, Vete-Katten sell about 90,000 semlor. At the moment they are selling at least 1,000 a day.
There are variations of the bun across the Nordics including the fastelavnsbolle in Denmark and Norway and laskiaispulla in Finland.
At Noma, the three Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen, head pastry chef Francisco Migoya was surprised to find people were already queueing when he arrived for work before 7am last weekend for their one-off fastelavnsbolle day.
Migoya’s version of the bun was bright pink-red, filled with a pumpkin seed praline, covered with freeze-dried raspberries and topped with chestnut cream.
Before arriving in Copenhagen last year from the US, he had tried semlor, but not the Danish version. Before devising his own he carried out extensive research. Migoya said: “It was interesting for me as a pastry chef, as a baker, to work on something new. It was very gratifying to me from a personal perspective.”
The limited time availability of the buns contribute to their popularity, he said, as does the way they indicate that spring is on its way. “If it was available year-round maybe there would not be the same enthusiasm. Also it starts to signal that spring is coming and better and sunnier and warmer days are coming.”
