---
title: "Fika: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "Fika is the Swedish break for coffee and something sweet, such as a cinnamon bun, shared with others. See what is served and how to do it at home."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/fika"
---

# Fika

Fika is the Swedish break for coffee and something sweet, such as a cinnamon bun, shared with others. See what is served and how to do it at home.

Also called Swedish coffee break.

Fika is a Swedish coffee break. You stop what you are doing, drink coffee or tea, and eat something small and sweet, usually with other people. It is a daily habit at home and at work in Sweden. The word is both a noun and a verb: you can "have fika" or simply "fika".

## How to use it

Fika is less a recipe than a set of things that go together.

1. Make coffee. In Sweden it is usually filter coffee, fairly strong, served black or with milk.
2. Put out one or two kinds of _fikabröd_, the baked goods for fika. Cinnamon buns (_kanelbullar_) and [cardamom](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cardamom) buns are the classics, often topped with [pearl sugar](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/parlsocker).
3. Add something small and simple: plain cookies, a slice of sponge cake, or an open sandwich with cheese.
4. Sit down and take your time. The point is the pause, not the food.

## Common mistakes

* Treating it as a quick snack on the go. Fika is meant to be shared and unhurried.
* Making everything too sweet. Swedish buns use less sugar than many American pastries, with spice doing more of the work.
* Forgetting savory options. A plain sandwich is a normal part of fika.

## In recipes

Recipes from Sweden often mention fika when they mean "good with coffee". Common fika treats include:

* _Kanelbullar_: yeasted cinnamon buns, given a long [proof](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/proof) so they turn soft.
* _Kardemummabullar_: the same dough, flavored with cardamom.
* _Kladdkaka_: a dense, sticky chocolate cake that is underbaked on purpose.
* _Chokladbollar_: no-bake balls of oats, cocoa, sugar and butter, rolled in coconut.
* _Mazariner_: small tarts filled with [almond paste](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/mandelmassa).
* _Prinsesstårta_: a layered sponge cake under green marzipan, for special days.

An old tradition, _sju sorters kakor_, says a proper coffee party has seven kinds of cookies.

## Where it comes from

Fika is thought to come from _kaffi_, an old word for coffee, with the syllables swapped. Coffee drinking spread in Sweden during the 1700s and 1800s. Fika is a different thing from a [smörgåsbord](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/smorgasbord), which is a large buffet meal.

## Related terms

* [PärlsockerPärlsocker is Swedish pearl sugar, hard white sugar nibs that stay crunchy in the oven. Sprinkled on buns and cookies. What to use instead abroad.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/parlsocker)
* [CardamomCardamom is a fragrant spice sold as green pods, seeds or powder. It flavors Swedish buns, chai and curries. How to grind, measure and swap it.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cardamom)
* [SmörgåsbordA smörgåsbord is a Swedish buffet of herring, cured salmon, meatballs, cold cuts, salads and warm dishes, eaten in set rounds. See the order to eat it in.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/smorgasbord)
* [ProofTo proof is to let shaped dough rise one last time before baking. Use the poke test to tell when bread is ready, underproofed or overproofed.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/proof)
* [MandelmassaMandelmassa is Swedish almond paste, half almonds and half sugar. It fills semlor and buns. What it is like and what to use instead outside Sweden.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/mandelmassa)

[More in dishes](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/dishes)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)