In moments of indecisiveness, inspiration can come unexpectedly. Sometimes, it just takes a good friend and a simple conversation to provide a little clarity that sparks an idea. That is how this cake – a combination of pavlova and cheesecake – came to be.
You see, the month of May is prime cake table ´kakebord´ time in Norway. With confirmations, weddings, celebratory parties, and, of course, 17 Mai (Norway’s Constitution Day), there’s no reason not to bake or at least indulge in the dessert conversation. There are traditional cakes, like kvæfjordkake, bløtkake, marzipan cake, kransekake. There are also newer favorites such as pavlova and brownies. One thing for is for sure, whether it’s chocolate, vanilla, meringue, marzipan, simple, extravagant, old or new, the most important thing is the love that is poured out and shared during the occasion and the cake is just a sweet indulgent that adds to memory.
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Sponge cake baked with meringue and almonds becomes the centerpiece of this delightful layer cake filled with custard and whipped cream. It began its inception in the north of Norway and has earned it’s nickname as verdens beste, “the world’s best”. 
Yay for May! And layer cakes!
Kringler. Nordic pretzels of various forms of sweet, salty, filled, crispy and soft. But one kringle stands out as one of the most well-known in Norway and it hails from Bergen. It also happens to be a permanent fixture on the 17 Mai (Grunnlovsdag) table, as it finds its place alongside spekemat (cured meats) and rømmegrøt.
Lifting the weight and removing the board revealed a two-day culinary journey. Nothing difficult, nothing too time consuming. An act of osmosis. Curing. Transformation. And as the sharpened knife slowly pierced into the orange-pink, dill-infused delicacy, the thrill of knowing the next time step would be getting a taste reached across to everyone in the kitchen. A smooth, grainy and subtly sweet mustard sauce and a warm, hearty bowl of creamy potatoes dancing with dill to round it all off. Luxury at its finest and also its simplest.
Is it any wonder that the vafler we know today has its connection with something so sweet – something as sweet as honey. Indeed, the pattern of the iron plates is modelled after beeswax cakes from the hive. Vafler derives from the German word, wafel, meaning honeycomb. And this pattern originates from the 1220-1300s. During the 1600-1700s, the waffle iron could be found having a long handle, with a rectangular or heart-shaped iron plate, which could be used over a hearth. It wasn’t until much later that the cast iron became circular with the 5 hearts we are familiar with today. (Source: 
There are many wonderful vafler recipes out there, and being somewhat of a newbie to the art of the nordic staple, I asked around for a solid recipe that I could springboard from. Without hesitation, my friend was quick to recommend a tried and true vafler recipe. Her family’s favorite. The one that superseded all the others. Of course, it had to be one of the world’s best. From the master’s collection. The Seamen’s Church (Sjømannskirken).