The delicious Swedish princess cake made of green marzipan and lots of cream. It belongs to the standard product of every Swedish confectionery, the “Swedish cake” or Prinsesstårta as it is called in Swedish. It is the most popular and best-selling cake in Sweden. The princess cake consists of a soft light cake, vanilla cream, jam, lots of cream and a layer of marzipan.
The bright green colour is particularly striking and stands out from the usual brown and cream tones of cakes and tarts on the shelves of bakeries. The cake is often decorated with a red rose petal made of marzipan and icing sugar.
The original recipe for Swedish princess cake is taken from Jenny Åkerström’s book ‘Prinsessornas kokbok‘ (Princesses’ Cookbook) of 1948, where she taught three princesses of the Swedish royal family. The cake was first called grön tårta (green tart) and later prinsesstårta.
Since 2004, the last week in September each year has been marketed as prinsesstårtans vecka (Princess Cake Week) by the Organisation of Swedish Bakers and Confectioners.
Sold out
When the daughter of Crown Princess Victoria Estelle was born on 23rd February 2012, many Swedes celebrated the birth of their future Queen with a princess cake. The demand was so strong that after a short time, almost all princess cakes in shops in Sweden were sold out.
The Princess Cake is a delicacy for all those who like creamy sweet cakes. It is eaten with Swedish fika, the Swedish coffee break, as well as on more refined occasions such as birthdays or weddings. Since it is so intense and sweet, you rarely make more than two large pieces. The green marzipan and the fruit jam (raspberry) leave a pleasant aftertaste.
Already tried?
Swedish princess cake recipe
To bake a prinsesstårta yourself, you need the following ingredients (recipe for 12 pieces):
Biscuit
- 3 eggs
- 1 1⁄2/ dl/ 5oz sugar
- 3⁄4 dl/ 2.53oz wheat flour
- 3⁄4 dl/ 2.53oz Potato flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Fruit jam
- 1 dl/3.38oz raspberry jam
Cream filling
- 1 1⁄2 dl/ 5oz milk
- 1 1⁄2 dl/ 5oz whipped cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon potato flour
- 4 gelatine leaves
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
Decoration
- 1 ready-made green marzipan (to spread)
- Icing sugar
- 1 marzipan rose
Preparation
Biscuit
- Preheat oven to 175°.
- Grease a round baking tin of about 24cm/ 9.4inches diameter with butter and dust with flour or bread crumbs.
- Whip the eggs and sugar to a thick white mass.
- Add flour, potato flour and baking powder and stir into the dough.
- Pour the dough into the baking tin.
- Bake in the lower part of the oven for about 30-35 minutes.
- Let it cool down for 10 minutes.
- Remove the finished sponge cake carefully from the mould and place it on a plate.
Cream filling
- Whip the milk, egg yolk, sugar and potato flour in a saucepan with a whisk.
- Stir over a low heat until the cream thickens and starts to boil. Remove the saucepan from the hot stove.
- Place the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.
- Remove the gelatine from the water and place it in the warm cream. Stir until the gelatine has melted.
- Place the pot in cold water so that the cream cools down faster. Stir from time to time.
- Stir the cream with the vanilla sugar to a firm foam.
- Add the mixture to the cream.
Next steps
- Divide the biscuit into three layers. The top layer should be about 1 cm/ 0.4inches thick.
- Place the bottom layer on a firm base.
- Spread with raspberry jam. Leave a rim of about 1cm/ 0.4inches wide.
- Pour half of the cream over it. Again, do not cover the 1 cm at the edge of the base.
- Place the middle layer of the sponge cake on top.
- Spread again with jam and the rest of the cream.
- Let the cream become higher in the middle than at the edges to create a dome shape.
- Then lay on the top layer.
- Whip the cream.
- Spread the cream evenly on the side and place the rest on top of the cake. Let it get higher towards the middle as well.
Decoration
- Place the marzipan layer on top, press it carefully so that the creases disappear.
- Cut off the excess with a knife.
- Garnish with icing sugar and marzipan rose.
… and your homemade princess cake is ready. Smaklig måltid! :)
