The Dessert That’s a Mini Replica of a Swedish Mountain

Working at a restaurant on a Swedish mountainside means surrendering - and embracing - the whims of the seasons. For the chefs at Buustamons Fjällgård, this presents a creative opportunity to devise dishes that tell stories of their surroundings.

Often this means finding a formula that works and adapting it depending on what’s available that particular time of year.

“I like to work with a dish and make it better and change it for the season,” says chef Olivia Bengtsson. “This dessert signals that spring and summer are around the corner because we have had winter for about eight months! People are bored with heavy winter dishes, it’s nice to have something lighter. It might still look like winter outside, but we want them to feel that spring is close.”

Olivia coats fluffy almond cake with rhubarb cream and tops it with rhubarb and strawberry sorbet before being smothering it in sour cream. For the finishing touch, she sprinkles vanilla-fried red quinoa to add a crackly (and allergy-friendly) crunch to each bite.

“I like to keep it quite clean, not too many components. Rather four things that taste really good. I think it works really well with the almond cake, there are sour and sweet flavours with a crunch. I like the texture. You have the foam and the ice cream, and then the crunchiness of the fried quinoa. I also think it’s really nice with the contrasting colours - the red against the white foam.”

Like a miniature, edible version of the mountain itself (which, and no surprises here, was the inspiration behind the presentation), Olivia’s dessert offers a regional taste of spring and summertime in a picturesque package. As is the case with each dish served at Buustamon, she explains that her dessert communicates this small corner of the world using the bounty that blooms practically on the resort’s doorstep.

“There’s so much inspiration to be found right here on the mountain."

Words by Sophie Miskiw. Photography by Johan Ståhlberg