So, my main experience previously of this cake was the Morrisons Supermarket version! I had no idea of its swedishness, just it’s deliciousness! But whilst doing my usual baking blog browsing I came across the recipe for Princess Cake and recognised it. So I wrote it down and stored it in the back of my brain for a day when I fancied wasting a day in the kitchen. Eventually I was asked to make it and so I did! Its not particularly complicated, its more a lot of effort. Each step individually is easy enough but combining them all is the long part.
The original, super long, recipe is here and I shan’t waste oodles of time writing it out but rather run through the steps and add my opinion on each. Firstly, pastry cream! I suppose pastry cream is just thick custard. Easy enough to do but does need to be given plenty of time to chill. Hence the fact that its first to be made.
Its basically a heat milk, whisk eggs and sugar, add slowly, heat till thick kinda method. Keep it moving and remove from the heat as soon as it starts to thicken and all should be well. Mine was way too thick after chilling and really I should have heated it again with some milk in order to try and thin it down somewhat. I didn’t and I ended up almost slicing it onto the cake. Tasty but texturally wrong.
Next cake! A genoise cake to be precise. The big thing with this cake is the fact that you add no leavening agent, such as baking powder, to help it rise. Its rising depends purely on your own elbow grease and careful folding. I tried! But I think I was too heavy handed with the folding and I knocked most of the air out and ended up with a cake that was really heavy and really didn’t rise too much at all. I was disappointed but we learn from mistakes and I’ll def keep trying with it!
Marzipan! The original recipe gave instructions to make the marzipan by hand and I have made marzipan numerous times in the past, its really simple! Just chick a few bits together, mix, chill and that's it! But seeing as I was undertaking so many other steps I figured that brought marzipan wouldn’t be a huge failure. I still coloured it green, just with liquid supermarket colouring. Just added some to a well in the marzipan and knead well. Do it on a surface that will be washable and one that you won’t be too unhappy with if it ends up green! Lots of icing sugar too, other marzipan hands will be your destiny! Once coloured, roll.
Then, finally, its time to assemble. Cake layer first, topped with a thin layer of raspberry jam, just from a jar and a thin layer of the enormous (710ml!) amount of cream that you’ve whipped with sugar and vanilla.
Then another cake layer, topped with pastry cream. Sliced pastry cream! Then the final cake layer. Before mounding the cream on the top. You need to make it into a dome. Then chill for around 10 minutes.
Once chilled, you just need to drape the marzipan over the cake. The chilling will help the cream not just squish out and provided you make the marzipan thin enough, you won’t need to worry. I find a few drapey, overlapping bits nice but you might not. You need to be carefully not to stretch the marzipan too much or you end up with holes. These are easily fixed with a patch of leftover marzipan though. The cake is so massive that any tiny mistakes are usually covered as people gasp at the size of the bloody thing! I cut some, v rough, leaves out of some leftover marzipan and I stuck then to the top with a drop of water. You don’t need to, I was just being poncey!
The cake was by no means perfect but I was really pleased with it. It looks impressive and serves like a million people! And it tasted even better after a night in the fridge!
L x
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