Shrove Tuesday, But Make It Swedish: It is Semla Season

Phones were ringing off the hook. Journalists called. Colleagues called. Outside Stockholm’s renowned bakery Tössebageriet, a queue curled down the street. Owner Mattias Ljungberg was in Lyon, deep in the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie (World Pastry Cup), and had no idea his brand-new creation—the semmelwrap—had taken off. What Ljungberg had done to the much-loved Swedish semla bun was disarmingly simple: He rolled it out and folded it like a sandwich, making it easier to eat on the go. “This was back when Instagram was still in its infancy; anything you posted seemed to go viral. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the timing was perfect,” Ljungberg says, remembering the launch eleven years ago.