The traditional Danish New Year's Eve food made from rings of baked marzipan cake is kransekage.
Kransekage, also spelled kransekake in Norwegian, is built from concentric rings of almond-based confection. The rings are stacked into a tall, tapering tower and held together with white icing. The texture is typically firm on the outside and softer toward the center, while the marzipan gives it a distinctive almond flavor.
In Denmark, kransekage is strongly associated with New Year's Eve, weddings, and other major celebrations. A bottle of sparkling wine is sometimes placed in the center of the tower, and guests break off pieces from the rings rather than cutting a conventional layered cake. Its dramatic shape makes it both a dessert and a centerpiece.
Kransekage is not the same as æbleskiver, which are round pancake-like pastries, or risalamande, a rice pudding commonly served at Christmas. The related Norwegian spelling reflects the dessert's wider Scandinavian presence, but Danish New Year's descriptions commonly use “kransekage.”