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Julekake
Modern Viral Baking · New Wave

Julekake

A cardamom-scented Christmas bread studded with raisins and candied peel, sliced and spread with butter.

3 hrModerate
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Cultural Context & History

The festive loaf of the season, julekake perfumes the whole house with cardamom as it bakes. Sliced and buttered, it bridges breakfast and coffee time through the Christmas weeks.

Ingredients

  • 500 g wheat flour467 kcal · 6.7 g protein · 20 g fat · 66.7 g carbs per 100 g
  • 80 g sugar523 kcal · 10.3 g protein · 31 g fat · 50.5 g carbs per 100 g
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom0 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 packet dried yeast325 kcal · 40.4 g protein · 7.6 g fat · 41.2 g carbs per 100 g
  • 100 g butter, melted714 kcal · 0 g protein · 78.6 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
  • 300 ml milk, warmed55 kcal · 3.4 g protein · 2.1 g fat · 5.1 g carbs per 100 g
  • 150 g raisins299 kcal · 3.3 g protein · 0.3 g fat · 79.3 g carbs per 100 g
  • 50 g candied peel (sukat)
  • 1 egg, beaten, to glaze513 kcal · 6.4 g protein · 28.8 g fat · 57.7 g carbs per 100 g

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

  • Stand mixer with dough hookWorks the enriched dough to a supple, elastic crumb.
  • Pastry brushLays down an even egg wash for a glossy crust.
  • Wire cooling rackLets steam escape so the base stays firm.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Knead the warmed milk with the flour, sugar, cardamom, yeast and melted butter to a smooth, elastic dough. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.

  2. 2

    Knock back and work in the raisins and sukat until they are evenly distributed through the dough.

  3. 3

    Divide in two, shape into round loaves, and set them on a lined baking sheet to prove for a further 45 minutes.

  4. 4

    Score the tops lightly and brush all over with beaten egg.

  5. 5

    Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 30–35 minutes, until deep gold and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. Cool on a rack before slicing and serving with butter and brown cheese.

Chef's Tip

Crush whole cardamom pods and grind the seeds just before mixing — pre-ground cardamom fades fast, and this bread lives on that perfume.

Chef's Tip

Warm the milk only to blood temperature, barely tepid to a fingertip; any hotter and it will stunt the yeast, leaving the loaves dense rather than soft.

How this page was made

Written by
The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked
— “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context
Modern Viral Baking — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources
No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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