Vale introduced me to Schubert's Bakery, and more specifically, the Princess Cake. Vale actually got me a Princess Cake for both my 25th and 26th birthdays.
I had never had anything like it before and naively assumed it was a Schubert's signature cake and therefore some kind of secret recipe. Still, though, I thought that I had to try to figure out how to re-create it for Vale's birthday.
I imagined myself trying endless samples, trying to decipher the precise extracts and proportions of flour and and sugar and egg.. "Wait, I've almost got it!" I'd exclaim with my mouth full of the grinch-like green cakey goodness.
Luckily -- or unluckily, depending on how you slice it -- The Interwebs and The Googles were chock full of recipes and blogs revealing that this beloved Princess Cake is a classic Swedish dessert, customarily known by the Swedes as Prinsesstårta. That made the whole project way cooler to me. I love doing my research.
Here were some of my most admired sources:
Baking Obsession - Swedish Princess Cake -- They won my heart with this diagram:
Tartlette - Princess Torte - a rockstar, succinct blog recipe you can put your faith in.
Wonderful research by Cakespy in Royal Dilemma: Why is the Princess Cake Green?
Which brings me to you, Miette! The traditional style to pure visual perfection, but covered with white chocolate fondant instead of marzipan. You go girl.
Finally, the kind of adorableness my shaky hands can only dream of achieving with these Princess Cupcakes by The Cookie Shop. Adore the picture grid instructions:
After my second attempt at the Génoise cake (using a recipe from the Tartine Cookbook), I learned a valuable lesson about FOLDING. Don't mess it up. No seriously, it's hard a technique that is hard to understand (at least for me) from the recipe alone what they really, truly are trying to instruct when it comes to folding flour into your hard-earned whole egg meringue. A visual was invaluable. Watch this video of Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs with Flo Braker and learn the ways of the Jedi folding master.
Watch the full episode. See more Julia Child.
For the Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière) and Génoise Syrup, I relied on the ol' faithful: BakeWise. Instead of using the 1/4 cup of Chambord, Framboise or Kirschwasser in the Genoise Syrup, I used syrup from Amarena Fabbri and DOLCE. This syrup is painted on each layer of cake like a primer before the sweet, thin coating of Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves (strained).
A little trick for fresh whipped cream that coats the entire cake and helps form that dome-like shape is to add a little bit of melted Marshmellow at the very end. The gelatin really helps the whipped cream hold it's shape. For reals.
I made the Marzipan from scratch, which was surprisingly easy! I used a recipe from Field Guide to Candy, which is one of my new favorite little books. Cole helped me get the colors just right.
This cakes take a bit of elbow grease, but I think it's totally worth it. It's a really unique, yummy cake and could be a great excuse to throw a girly girl tea party. It might have been easier to pick one up at Schubert's, but there is a saying in Sweden:
"Arbete gör sömnen söt." (Work sweetens the sleep)
Either way, this much sugar could put your Princess Butt in a coma! Hope the birthday was a happy one, Vale! Cheers.
