The earliest mention of cinnamon in Sweden was in the 14th century. At the funeral of the father of Saint Bridget of Sweden (heliga Birgitta) in 1328 the guests ate a whopping 1,1 pounds of cinnamon. Probably not in the form of cinnamon buns though.

Another big fan of cinnamon was the Swedish 16th century king Gustav Vasa (best known for having a rather disappointing battle ship named after himself). He primarily used cinnamon for mulled wine.

From the 17th century cinnamon started to be used for baking but Swedes had to wait until the 1920s to have a kanelbulle as we know it today. It wasn’t however until the 1950s that the bun turned into an every day commodity and in the early years of the 1950s you started to find recipes for kanelbulle in cookbooks.

In 1999 the National Cinnamon Bun Day was established in Sweden and since then every 4th of October 7 million cinnamon buns are sold in Sweden, quite a lot considering Sweden has a population of 10.5 million.

The Fika – Kanelbulle print is available with black and white background.

Product information

This is one in a series of illustrated classic Swedish pastries that you traditionally eat with your fika.

The size 40x50 cm (approx 16x20”) are signed and printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Bright White 310g archival paper and are sold in a limited edition of 50 prints.

The size 30x40 cm (approx 12x16”) are printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Studio Enhanced 210g archival paper.