Danish Food: Romkugler

Hey there! Welcome to my brand new series of posts on Quite Chefy all about Danish food. I've been living in Denmark for about 6 years now, and between every day living, holidays, and chef training, I've gotten to know the cuisine fairly well. There are some things I love, and other things....well...not so much. Regardless, I've decided to share some of these Danish recipes for you to try them out at home!

Romkugler aka Rum Balls

Romkugler (plural. approximately pronounced rum | kool | ah) is a Danish cake you can find just about everywhere. Directly translated, it means Rum Balls. It's not just any cake, though, it's the Frankenstein's monster of cakes. It uses leftover cake and scraps, a bit of jam, a bit of chocolate, and rum flavouring. This is all blended up together, rolled into balls, and covered with a colourful coating of crunchy sprinkles. Kind of like cake pops. They come in all sizes, too, from the usual bite-sized ball, to a lump the size of your head.

Photo from http://dagbladet-holstebro-struer.dk

In my home, we can never finish off an entire cake ourselves since we're only two people, and I send food off to my husband's office fairly often. This is an excellent way to use up leftover cake other than freezing it for naughty late-night snacking, and it's also a clever way to reduce food waste. If you want to read more tips on how to reduce food waste in the home, check out a previous blog post here.

How to make Romkugler/Danish Rum Balls

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400 g leftover cake or cutoff edges (you can also use store-bought cake)
4 tablespoons raspberry jam (or what you have on hand)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100 g melted chocolate (milk or dark)
2 tbsp rum essence
1.5 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
1 tbsp cream
sprinkles of choice or flaked coconut

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Break leftover cake into pieces.

Mix ingredients into a pliable dough.

Roll dough into balls and roll in sprinkles or other topping.

1. Break up cake and place in a stand mixer with paddle attachment or food processor.
2. Blend to crumbs.
3. Mix in vanilla, jam, rum essence and cocoa powder.
4. Finely chop chocolate, and melt over water bath.
5. Mix melted chocolate and cream into cake until a dough forms, and you can roll it in your hands.
6. Form dough into balls and roll in sprinkles or coconut flakes. Store in fridge.

Rum balls can be kept a few days in the fridge, or can be frozen up to a year, and thawed for a quick sweet treat.

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My rum balls used the leftover Mini Egg Easter Layer Cake with some of the buttercream cut away. I also used the leftover strawberry-rhubarb jam plus an extra teaspoon of jarred strawberry jam. You can literally use any cake and jam combination for this recipe, and it will taste a little different every time.

If you like this recipe, remember to like and share with your friends! You can also find a printable version of the recipe here.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this Danish recipe. If you have suggestions for other recipes you'd like to see, feel free to comment below or write to me here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as QuiteChefy.