Korena of Korena in the Kitchen was our May Daring Bakers’ host and she delighted us with this beautiful Swedish Prinsesstårta!
This was one of the best tasting cakes I ever made! It was light, full of flavor and perfectly balanced. I know it seems like alot of work but with a little planning and breaking up the work over a couple of days it becomes really easy! I made this cake over the weekend and the kids helped me make and decorate it. We had a blast.
I am used to working with fondant (both marshmallow fondant and gelatin fondant)and I was looking forward to trying marzipan but I made a couple of mistakes with it because this is my first time. I did not get the almonds fine enough and as a result the marzipan was not as smooth as I would have liked it to be. Then there was coloring it, I couldn’t find gel food coloring and the liquid colors I used made the marzipan sticky. Last but not least, I rolled the marzipan too thin, and as a result the finished cake was not as smooth as I would have liked it to be. Still I really liked the taste of marzipan, it is not overly sweet as fondant is and the kids actually ate it and loved as opposed to leaving it on their plates as they usually do with fondant
Despite all that, the cake was a huge hot at home. The whole family loved it and I know I will be making it again and again.
Thank you Korena for an amazing challenge
Traditional Swedish Prinsesstårta
Servings: 8 – 10. Makes one 9” round cake.
Egg-free Marzipan Recipe
(adapted from Cake Central)
Ingredients
4 oz (115 gm) ground almonds
8 oz (225 gm) icing sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) corn syrup
½ teaspoon (5 ml) almond extract
1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice or water
Directions:
1. Place the ground almonds and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine and break up any lumps
2. Add the corn syrup and almond extract and pulse again to combine. The mixture should be quite dry and crumbly still.
3. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the lemon juice, stopping as soon as the mixture starts to clump together.
4. Scrape the marzipan out onto a work surface and knead it into a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill overnight in the refrigerator to let the flavours ripen. Makes just over 1 lb.
Pastry cream
You can find the recipe here
Strawberry jam
You can find the recipe here
Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Fine dry breadcrumbs for the pan (such as crushed panko)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm) (8 oz) granulated white sugar
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
½ cup (120 ml) (65 gm) (2¼ oz) potato starch (or cornstarch)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with a rack in the lower third of the oven.
Thoroughly butter a 9” (23 cm) round springform pan, line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper, then butter the paper.
Dust the buttered pan with enough breadcrumbs to coat the bottom and sides, just like flouring a cake pan. Set aside.
Marzipan Covering and Rose
Ingredients
10 oz (285 gm) marzipan
Green and yellow food colouring
Icing sugar or corn strach, for rolling Red food colouring
Directions:
Set aside a small amount of plain marzipan (about the size of a walnut) to make a rose for decoration.
Knead the remaining marzipan on a surface dusted with icing sugar until it becomes softer and smooth (the warmth from your hands will help this).
Add a small amount of green food colouring (I used 3 or 4 drops of liquid food colouring) and knead it into the marzipan to get the desired shade of green. You might need to add a little more green or yellow food colouring to get the right colour – anything from pastel green to bright spring green (just not neon green!) Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate until you are ready to cover the cake (or store as directed on the marzipan package).
Begin rolling up one of the circles to form the center of the rose
Add petals by placing the center of the new petal on the place where the previous petal ends. You will need 6-7 petals per rose
Gently flare out the petals of the rose with your fingertip.
When the rose is large enough, cut off any remaining marzipan ribbon. Pinch off the excess marzipan from the bottom of the rose and set aside to dry slightly.
Prinsesstårta Assembly
Ingredients
2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream, chilled
Granulated white sugar, to taste
Sponge Cake, cooled
1/3 cup (80 ml) homemade strawberry jam
Creme patessier, chilled
Marzipan Covering and Rose
Icing sugar, for rolling and dusting
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar to taste (keep in mind that the rest of the cake components are sweet, so the whipped cream should be very lightly sweetened at most) and continue whipping the cream until stiff. You want it to be sturdy enough to provide structure to the cake, but not over-whipped enough to make butter. Set the whipped cream aside.
2. With a long serrated knife, slice the sponge cake into three even layers. This cake is very delicate, so do this as carefully as possible. Use a gentle sawing motion to move the knife through the cake instead of trying to pull it through the cake. Use a spatula to help you lift off each layer after you cut it. Set aside the middle layer – this will become the top layer of the assembled cake as it is the most flexible and therefore easiest to bend into a dome over the whipped cream.
3. Place one of remaining layers on a cake board or serving platter and spread it evenly with the strawberry jam.
4. Add the second layer of cakeSpread or pipe half the chilled pastry cream leaving enough room around the edges so that it doesn’t spill over the sides of the cake.
8. Dust your work surface with icing sugar and press the marzipan into a 6-inch (15 cm) disc (knead it a bit to warm it up first). Coat both sides with icing sugar and roll it out into a 14” (35½ cm) diameter circle less than 1/8” (3 mm) thick. Use plenty of icing sugar to prevent it from sticking. Alternatively, you can roll the marzipan out between two wide sheets of parchment paper (still use plenty of icing sugar).
9. Use the rolling pin to drape the rolled-out marzipan sheet over the cake and smooth it around the cake gently with your hands.
10. If desired, cut leaves out of the scraps of green marzipan (you can knead in another drop of green food colouring to make the leaves a slightly darker green). Use a paring knife to score vein-like lines, then pinch one end of the leaf to give it some shape.
Dust the cake with icing sugar, then place the marzipan rose and leaves in the middle of the cake. (You can also use melted chocolate, royal icing, or piping gel to pipe a design on top of the cake, if you wish.)
Notes
There are other flavor combinations for this cake that I look forward to trying
- Hallonprinsesstårta, or raspberry prinsesstårta, made with custard, whipped cream flavoured with raspberry jam, whole raspberries, and topped with pink marzipan
- Karl-Gustav tårta, made with custard, sliced banana, a chocolate-covered meringue disc replacing the middle layer of cake, and covered with yellow marzipan
- Williamtårta, made with custard, poached pear, whipped cream, topped with marzipan, covered with a shiny chocolate glaze, and garnished with toasted sliced almonds
If you are allregic to almonds or simply don’t like marzipan, other options to decorate the cake would be
- Chocolate plastique/modeling chocolate (here’s a recipe)
- Fondant (marshmallow fondant and gelatin fondant)
- “Marzipan” made with hazelnuts, coconut, peanuts, etc, instead of almonds
Any marzipan substitute needs to be quite soft and pliable when rolled out and placed over the cake, as a very gentle hand is required to smooth the coating over the cake to keep it from being squashed.
Storage & Freezing Instructions/Tips:
The finished Prinsesstårta should be refrigerated until serving, and any leftovers refrigerated as well. Ideally the cake is eaten the day it is made, but will keep in the refrigerator for a day or so, after which it may lose its structural integrity and aesthetic appeal (but it will still taste good!)