A Princess Cake (Prinsesstårta) is a traditional Swedish layer cake consisting of alternating layers of sponge cake, pastry cream and a thick domed layer of whipped cream that is topped with marzipan, giving the cake a smooth rounded top.
The marzipan overlay is usually green, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and often decorated with a pink marzipan rose.
The original recipe first appeared in the 1948 Prinsessornas Kokbok cookbook, which was published by Jenny Åkerström, the teacher of the three daughters of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland.
The cake was originally called grön tårta (green cake), but was given the name Prinsesstårta or "Princess Cake" because the princesses were said to have been especially fond of the cake. The princesses were Princess Margaretha (1899–1977; later Princess of Denmark), Princess Märtha (1901–1954; later Crown Princess of Norway), and Princess Astrid (1905–1935; later Queen of the Belgians).
The cake is widely featured in Tom McNeal's book "Far Far Away".
This was the first time I made or tasted this cake and the only thing I can say is that this cake is to die for.
Everybody that tasted it was impressed and even some friends, that are not what we call "sweet tooth", couldn't resist it.
It's delicate, moist, delicious and very addictive and the marzipan layer adds that extra explosion of flavour.
Saying that, if, like me, you never tried a Prinsesstårta before, just try it because you'll be in love.
This recipe is a mix of recipes because after doing lots of research throughout my books and throughout the internet, I couldn't decide for one particular recipe and therefore, I decided to take what I liked from each one of them and make the cake that, according to everything I read, would be the closest as possible to the real version.
For the final decoration, you can do whatever you want.
I decorated mine with the marzipan rose, some marzipan leaves that I tinged with darker green food colouring, and white icing to create a "branch" effect, but you can use melted chocolate, only the rose or, whatever you think is appropriate.
The marzipan overlay is usually green, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and often decorated with a pink marzipan rose.
The original recipe first appeared in the 1948 Prinsessornas Kokbok cookbook, which was published by Jenny Åkerström, the teacher of the three daughters of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland.
The cake was originally called grön tårta (green cake), but was given the name Prinsesstårta or "Princess Cake" because the princesses were said to have been especially fond of the cake. The princesses were Princess Margaretha (1899–1977; later Princess of Denmark), Princess Märtha (1901–1954; later Crown Princess of Norway), and Princess Astrid (1905–1935; later Queen of the Belgians).
The cake is widely featured in Tom McNeal's book "Far Far Away".
This was the first time I made or tasted this cake and the only thing I can say is that this cake is to die for.
Everybody that tasted it was impressed and even some friends, that are not what we call "sweet tooth", couldn't resist it.
It's delicate, moist, delicious and very addictive and the marzipan layer adds that extra explosion of flavour.
Saying that, if, like me, you never tried a Prinsesstårta before, just try it because you'll be in love.
This recipe is a mix of recipes because after doing lots of research throughout my books and throughout the internet, I couldn't decide for one particular recipe and therefore, I decided to take what I liked from each one of them and make the cake that, according to everything I read, would be the closest as possible to the real version.
For the final decoration, you can do whatever you want.
I decorated mine with the marzipan rose, some marzipan leaves that I tinged with darker green food colouring, and white icing to create a "branch" effect, but you can use melted chocolate, only the rose or, whatever you think is appropriate.
