Café Crema

Rating: 4.5/5

It's an 8cm bun but a whopping 10.5cm tall and a humongous 220g!

The lid is roughly cut and triangular. This is one of tallest semlors I've had. The cream is silky smooth and perfectly whipped, piped onto the bun in layers of ribbons. The outside of the cream is slightly sweetened by the icing sugar sifted on top, and the bottom of the cream slightly salted by the salted roasted almonds lying underneath.

The tall bun affords a deep well that is filled with dark thick smooth paste that has finely chopped almonds and clearly visible cardamom.

And filled that deep well is! I don't ever think I've had a quality semlor with this much almond paste before! There's loads of it! I understand now why it weighed over 200g...

Café Crema baked over 1500 semlor buns this Shrove Tuesday. It was noticeable that the bun was newly baked. Sometimes today can be a real disappointment when bakeries produce buns in advance in order to meet demand, and the stress of today when 8m semlor are produced across Sweden means that many bakers don't produce their finest work.

This was an excellent semlor though. The bun was fresh, the cream perfectly whipped, cardamom shining through, the salted nuts contrasting perfectly with an excellent almost paste.

But it didn't get 5. Now you might tell me off for this, but the reason it didn't get a 5 was... too much almond paste! I know. You're thinking how can there possibly be such a thing! But at the top end of the scale, it's about the details my semlor loving friends; and ironically with just a little less paste this wonderful semla would have got a 5. Even as it is, it was one of the best, if not the best, semla of the season.