Cinnamon buns and where to get the best ones

Apparently, the average Swede eats cakes and pastry equivalent to 316 cinnamon buns per year! This cinnamon-spiced doughy delight is essentially a long string of pastry dough wrapped into a ball and stuck together with sticky-sweet cinnamon buttery syrup. In Sweden, 'fika' is an essential part of everyday life. In fact, it's so sacred that two coffee breaks per day are an unwritten rule in many Swedish workplaces. And, while newcomers to Sweden are often sceptical about fika at first, many end up admitting that some of the best ideas are hatched on fika breaks.

Nothing says fika more than a cup of coffee and a cinnamon bun. The cinnamon roll or bun (or 'kanelbulle' in Swedish) was first created after the First World War, but, as the ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, butter, cinnamon and cardamom) were expensive and hard to find, it did not become popular until the 1950s. These days, it's the ultimate symbol of Swedish home cooking and, as any Swede will tell you, the smell of newly baked cinnamon buns is the best in the world.

The cinnamon bun is so popular that, in 1999, a collective of Swedish baking ingredient producers known as Sweden’s Home Baking Council announced that October 4th would henceforth be Cinnamon Bun Day ('Kanelbullens dag').

Where to get the best cinnamon buns

Best cinnamon buns in Stockholm

• Stockholm's most oversized cinnamon rolls can still be found at classic Café Saturnus.
• MR Cake, run by two of Sweden's best-known bakers, mixes the Swedish café culture with USA-inspired pastries.
• At award-winning Robin Delselius Bageri, you can choose between traditional cinnamon buns and the bun of the month.
  For more tips, check out Visit Stockholm's fika guide.

Best cinnamon buns in Gothenburg

• Konditori Brogyllen is a classic Gothenburg bakery whose moist cinnamon buns have been satisfying sweet-toothed Gothenburgers for over 20 years.
• Don't miss the giant cinnamon buns known as 'Hagabullen' at Café Husaren. They've attracted visitors from all around the world since 1985.
  For more tips, read the cinnamon bun guide at goteborg.com.