Princesstårta (Swedish Princess Cake)

Last Christmas, we received Hembakat är Bäst (Home made is best), Ikea’s baking recipe book direct from Sweden, lovingly flown to Australia into our hands. The book is beautiful, and the way the ingredients are laid out pictorially borders on abstract art. Even now, when I flip through the book, I gawp in awe of the perfection and meticulousness involved in putting the book together.

As we were first flipping through the book, Niklas told us how much he loved princess cake, and that it reminded him of home. I promised to make it for his next birthday, in return for an English translation of the recipe, and I made good on that promise!

What I found interesting was the use of potato flour in the sponge, which I’ve never used before. And I was pleasantly surprised to realise that I could easily make the entire cake gluten free by substituting the small amount of flour with more potato flour. Soy and I tried bits of the sponge that we pulled off the tin, and the sponge just melted in our mouths. I think that if you used wheat flour, the texture of the sponge may be slightly firmer, but we were happy to have the cotton-like texture of the potato flour sponge for something different, and best of all, make it gluten free so our friend K could eat it without worry.

I have to admit that I’d never eaten a princess cake before. I’ve always seen it at Ikea, but to tell you the truth, the green put me off a little. I tried asking Niklas and googling why princess cake is green, but no one seems to know! The only nugget of info Niklas could find was that it used to be called ‘green cake’. Perhaps a Swedish princess decided she liked the taste of it and made it a national icon? ;) The cake is also traditionally domed at the top, covered in marzipan and crowned with a marzipan rose. I was very proud of this marzipan rose- the first I’ve ever made, by following this YouTube video:

These are the layers in my Princesstårta. Keeping in line with the Ikea recipe, I used an organic raspberry + blueberry jam from Ikea! That was an added tip from Niklas, and it gave the cake just that added bit of sweetness it needed. Contrary to what the green marzipan makes you immediately think of- instant tooth decay, the cake is actually not very sweet at all! It’s more about the creaminess and the almond flavour from the marzipan.

Soy and I really liked the combination of the flavour and the textures of the creamy vanilla custard, sweet jam and melt-in-your-mouth sponge. I was very proud that Niklas gave my princess cake his thumbs up, saying that it was very close to what he used to get at home! :)

This princess cake also celebrates our first blogoversary! It is only a small celebration, as we are still busy with other hectic parts of our lives, but we have definitely enjoyed this last whirlwind year, and will be continuing to blog our various adventures when we can! Hopefully we will get back into it more often, but meanwhile we thank you for being a very special part of our lives!

Princesstårta (Swedish Princess Cake)

Ingredients:

3 eggs
75 ml wheat flour (substitute for potato flour for a gluten-free cake)
75 ml potato flour
75g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Filling (Crème pattisière)
150 ml milk
150 ml fresh cream
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon potato flour
4 sheets of gelatine
200 ml fresh cream (whippable)
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
Topping:
300 ml whippable cream
1 ready made marzipan lid (colour and roll out about 350g of marzipan)
marzipan rose
1. Set the oven to 175°C. Prepare a 24-cm round cake tin for making the sponge.
2. Using beaters, whip eggs and sugar until white and porous.
3. Mix wheat flour, potato flour and baking powder and mix carefully into the dough. Pour dough into tin.
4. Bake in the bottom part of the oven for about 30 min. Let it cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Filling: Mix milk, cream, egg yolks and potato flour for the filling in a pot. Heat on low heat whilst stirring until the custard is thick and you can start to see bubbles. Lift away from the heat. Put the gelatine sheets in cold water for 5 min.
6. Remove gelatine sheets from water and add them to the warm custard. Stir until the gelatine has melted.
7. Place the pot in cold water so that the custard cools down. Stir occasionally.
8. Whip the cream with vanilla sugar until thick. Mix the cream into the custard.
9. Assembly: Split the sponge cake into three layers. The top layer needs to be about 1 cm thick. Place the bottom piece on a tray and create a layer with half of the custard on top.
10. Add the second sponge cake layer and add the remaining custard. (One can add a thin layer of raspberry or strawberry jam before adding the custard here). You can shape the custard so that you have more in the middle, this will create a nicer finished cake.
11. Add the top sponge cake layer. Whip and add the cream. Add a thin layer of cream around the sides and the rest in the middle to create a dome.
12. Add the marzipan lid. Decorate with the rose.
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  • http://www.michelle-chin.com Michelle Chin

    Such a lovely cake! Nice to hear that it’s not too sweet~ Cakes that are too sweet defeats the flavor!

  • http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com Helen | grabyourfork

    I’m always fascinated by this cake at Ikea. Yours looks so professional, and the marzipan rose is perfect!

  • http://twitter.com/IronChefShellie Iron Chef Shellie

    delicious! looks amazing!

  • Celia

    Happy blogaversary!  And what a magnificent cake to celebrate the occasion – I still can’t believe it’s gluten-free!

  • Susannelowe

    Being Swedish, this was always my choice of birthday cake.  I have never made it myself so good on you for doing it.  How did it compare to the shop bought one?

  • http://fudgygoodness.blogspot.com/ Kate@FudgyGoodness

    Wow, this looks amazing! Thanks also for including the YouTube video on how to make the marzipan rose, I found that very interesting… wish I could do that!