Of cream puffs and customs new and old; you no longer have to smack an adult to get a cream bun

Unlike Þorri and Bóndadagur in January, Bolludagur is an eagerly awaited festival in the country. The sight of cream buns must have been sweet relief after a slew of fermented and soured meats in hard winters for Icelanders first celebrating the festival as early as 1870. What started as children dressing up in costumes and going house to house singing for treats on “Flengingardagur” had evolved into “Bolludagur” by 1910, with an article in Morgunblaðið from 1915 noting the “enthusiasm of children in colourful costumes and swords, going store to store, and bakery shelves filled with sweet buns for festive revellers.” The short piece ends with an apologetic “each bolla costs three aurar” warning to readers.  

Fish balls or sweet buns 

Records from the 1870s to 1910 show that Bolludagur wasn’t always about sugar and dairy. In fact, all round-shaped foods were encouraged, with fiskibollur, or fish balls, being just as popular, if not more, than the sweet treats. The custom of sweet buns arrived with Danish bakers setting up shop in Reykjavík around 1900, bringing with them the early proponents of the bolla called “Langaföstusnúðar.”

These early bollas were likely similar to the Danish fastelavn, an enriched dough with ground cardamom, perhaps simply filled with cream. In 1924, half a dozen ads were taken out in local papers by bakeries proclaiming their buns to be the freshest, best, or as one put it, warmest.   

While bakeries enticed people, it was really the children that drove the parents there. A lost tradition seemingly kept alive by kindergartners and festive spirited teachers today, is the “bolluvöndur” or the bun wand — a colourful long stick papered with crepe, glitter, ribbons and other crafty flourishes, it’s the cries of children smacking their parents with the bolluvönd, accompanied by cries of “bolla, bolla, bolla!” that have given rise to the emojis and memes around the day.  

Evolution of the bolla  

Simply put, a bolla is a cream bun sandwich, with a split bun stuffed with stiff whipped cream. I wrongly presumed that everyone was making cream buns at home, but clearly bakeries have always been part of the festive tradition, with few recipes for home bakers making an appearance. It also turns out that the practice of varied fillings, doughs, and decorations aren’t a new-fangled trend at all! 

By 1935, bolla variety split into two kinds, the commonplace-at-the-time yeasted bun and the trendier vínarbollur made with a laminated dough. Popularity of the vínarbollur was actually pretty strong even up to the 80s when it was upended by the undefeated champion of the bolla base, the choux pastry bolla, like a gussied-up profiterole, or as its called vatnsdeigsbolla in Iceland which continues to be the most popular bolla to this day. It’s interesting that this is also around the time when homemade bollur seemed to take off with many families making their own from scratch.  

Einar Hlér, an architect, shares that he grew up with a platter of fresh choux puffs ready to be split at the table. A choice of tart redcurrant jelly or rhubarb jam and melted milk chocolate for drizzling made up the rest. Multimedia artist Ari Logn Blómdal, shares their childhood bolla filled with Royal Pudding, cream and strawberry jam, the “caramel pudding is especially scrumptious”, they say. Writer Nanna Arnadóttir however says that “our bollas were always store-bought.” 

Quest for the best bolla 

The very original cruller bolla at Deig — swirls of deep-fried cruller filled with rich whipped vanilla cream, sultry dulce de leche or dark chocolate ganache, is a top contender not just with us but with thousands of locals, triggering a slew of copy-cat fried bollas at other bakeries as well. “It also turns out that the practice of varied fillings, doughs, and decorations aren’t a new-fangled trend at all!”

Bakeries like Sandholt, Brauð & co and Hygge are consistently whipping up too-beautiful-to-eat creations with house-made buns, high-quality fillings made from fresh cream, flavoured with a gamut of add-ins like pistachio butter, tiramisu to matcha, to refreshed takes on Icelandic classics like blueberry compote and simple chantilly cream. Gulli Arnar, Sandholt, and Reynir bakari make Swedish semlas as well — these distant cousins are a cardamom-scented bun stuffed with marzipan, crowned with a final flourish of whipped cream. 

Eleanora, or Bakara Nora as she is popularly known, is a bolla-obsessed fiend, offering up a mix of nostalgia and contemporary flavours at her Bolla pop-up. This year she has thought up seven combinations built around “my own childhood nostalgia.” Be sure to pop by Höfuðstöðin on February 8. I’m keen on her Swedish-Danish take, Hygge, with a risalamande filling in a yeasted bun. Sweet Aurora Reykjavík combines Icelandic ingredients with French pastry techniques. “Design-wise we are going full-on French choux pastry as it is our particular identity, and it takes a long time to make them, but they’re absolutely worth it — we want them tasty and pretty,” Aurore Pélier Cady, the owner of Sweet Aurora, explains.  

Sweet Aurora Reykjavík offers gluten-free bollur, and a buy six, get one free deal. Plantan Kaffihús offers six different vegan bollur. Restaurants have jumped on the bandwagon too, with Sumac teaming up with well-known patissier Vigdís My Diem Vo for a Bolla Brunch in February. Be warned that due to demands on the day of, pre-orders are recommended for almost all bakeries if you want to guarantee the availability of your favourite bolla.  

At a time when global news may have you believe the world is falling apart, is there a better way to find joy than to stir up that inner child, bolluvönd in hand, and seek out a bolla? 

For practical information on Bolludagur straight from bakers in Reykjavík, check out Bart Cameron’s round-up here.

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