I had decided it was finally time to make a Prinsesstårta myself. I needed an uncomplicated recipe for my first attempt, and this recipe, inspired by Judith Pierce Rosenberg’s Princess Cake recipe in "A Swedish Kitchen, Recipes and Reminiscences," yielded excellent results. It wasn’t too tricky, it tasted fabulous and it even looked pretty good – I was pretty proud of myself. If you're a novice Princess Cake baker looking for an authentic, delicious recipe, I highly recommend this one.

Swedish Princess Cake

Vanilla pastry cream
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake
1-1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter

Filling
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup vanilla pastry cream, chilled
1/3 cup jam (raspberry is best)

Top
2 7-ounce packages marzipan
green food coloring

Vanilla pastry cream: Fill a large metal bowl with ice cubes. In a small pan, blend the first five ingredients, adding the egg yolks last. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the custard thickens. Do no allow the custard to boil, as it may curdle. Remove the pan form the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Immediately place the pan in the bowl of ice cubes. Continue whisking; the custard will continue to thicken as it cools. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan.
Mix flour and baking powder, set aside.
Whisk eggs and sugar until foamy.
Whisk milk, vanilla extract and butter into egg mixture.
Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture. Mix with spoon until smooth, pour into pan.
Bake 30 minutes, cool on rack.

Assembling: Whip the filling’s heavy cream and stir half of it in to the chilled pastry cream.
With a bread knife, slice the cake in half horizontally, then place the bottom layer on a platter. Spread the jam on the bottom layer, then cover with half the filling mixture.
Lay the second cake layer on top, cover with the rest of the filling, then spread the remaining whipped cream on the top and sides.

Top: Knead a few drops of food coloring into the marzipan until the color is as even as possible. Between two sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper, roll out the marzipan as thin as possible, a little larger in diameter than the cake. Carefully lay the marzipan sheet on top of the cake. With flattened palms, gently stretch the marzipan to cover the top and sides of the whole cake.

Yields 8 servings
If not serving immediately, cover well in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Find another recipe here with a little more history and information on this special cake.

By Amanda Olson Robison