Unknown Inventor Behind one of Sweden’s Best-Loved Treats.
No one knows for certain who created the first one. The trail leads to different corners of Sweden, the stories differ, and no clear creator has ever been identified. Yet the result became one of our best-known “fika” classics: the Punch Roll.
The story features several possible inventors, and an enduring tale of biscuit crumbs put to good use and given a new lease of life with arrack, marzipan and chocolate icing. The case remains unsolved. It is much easier to establish what happened next – the Punch Roll became a beloved favourite.
A Small Pastry with a Big Personality
The Punch Roll has what many products strive for: a unique identity. The green marzipan, the chocolate-dipped ends, the shape. But above all, it’s the flavour that sets it apart. A combination of chocolate and arrack with sweet marzipan and a chocolate coating, the combination sets it apart from any other confection.
Even its nickname is famous. Over the years, the Punch Roll has been called the arrack roll, the bobbin, and the film roll, but most famously in Swedish, “the vacuum cleaner” due to its resemblance to the cylinder-shaped hoovers that were once common in most households.
When Punch Rolls Won the Taste Test
A much-loved classic comes with high expectations. We know what a Punch Roll should look like. And, above all, we know how we want it to taste. So we here at GILLE were especially pleased with the results of the magazine Året Runt’s blind test in 2026 of six different Punch Rolls from different bakeries.
GILLE Punch Rolls won the taste test with an impressive score of 4.5 out of 5. Almost the entire panel awarded GILLE full marks, especially for the classic punch flavour, amongst other qualities. GILLE Punch Rolls have a soft chocolate and arrack filling. They are coated in marzipan and the ends dipped in a chocolate glaze. Nothing fancy – just a classic, where the three flavours have to be exactly right.
The “Fika” of the Future
At GILLE, we have been baking biscuits and confectionery since the late 1960s. For us, the “fika” tradition isn’t about every treat having to look and taste exactly as it always has. It’s about carrying forward the ones that are still delicious. Like the Punch Roll – and we still may never know who invented it. But nearly a hundred years after the first stories of its beginnings emerged, this little green classic continues to win new fans.
We believe that is a tradition worth continuing. From generation to generation, from table to table. GILLE – making every day a little more pink.
