Lemon and Raspberry Prinsesstårta

Korena of Korena in the Kitchen was our May Daring Bakers’ host and she delighted us with this beautiful Swedish Prinsesstårta!

Do you want to know what Prinsesstårta is? It is a dome-shaped cake consisting of a light sponge, a fruit jam, vanilla custard and whipped cream – and covered in green marzipan. They say, the original recipe was created in the 1930s by a Swedish home economics teacher named Jenny Åkerström, who taught the three Swedish princesses of the time. She published a series of four cookbooks called “The Princess Cookbooks” and in one of the editions, there was a recipe for “Grön Tårta” (green cake). One story is that this later became known as “princess cake” (prinsesstårta) because the three princesses are said to have loved it so much. Another story is that Ms. Åkerström actually created three very elaborate “princess cake” recipes – a different one for each princess – and that the current version is a simplified combination of all three.

I’ve decided to make a modified version of Prinsesstårta – with raspberry pate de fruit, lemon custard and lemon flavoured chocolate plastique. I assembled the cake upside down in a bowl (which I find to be a more comfortable way of dealing with dome-shaped cakes) and decorated it with freeze-dried raspberry powder and fresh raspberries.

A classic combination of raspberries and lemon in a form of a Prinsesstårta was impeccable. Thank you, Korena, for telling us about this beautiful cake from Swedan!

 

Ingredients:

Lemon sponge

4 eggs

1 tbsp lemon zest

100 gm castor sugar

120 gm flour

Raspberry pate de fruit

200 gm raspberry puree

5 gm pectin

200 gm castor sugar

40 gm liquid glucose

10 gm citric acid solution

Lemon custard

1 cup milk

4 egg yolks

3 tbsp castor sugar

1 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp cornstarch

Crème Chantilly

300 gm heavy cream

50 gm icing sugar

Chocolate plastique

300 gm lemon-flavoured chocolate

30 gm liquid glucose

Decoration

2 tbsp icing sugar

1 tbsp freeze-dries raspberry powder

¼ cup fresh raspberries

Method:

1. For lemon sponge preheat the oven to 180C. Line and grease 20 cm round cake tin. Beat the eggs with lemon zest and castor sugar until light and creamy, slowly add the sifted flour. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the sponge cool down completely, then cut it horizontally into three pieces.

2. For raspberry pate de fruit put the raspberry puree in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to 60C. Combine the pectin and 20 gm of sugar, then add to the raspberry puree. Bring the mixture to the boil and then add the extra sugar and liquid glucose to it. Let the temperature reach 106C. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the citric acid solution. Pour the raspberry mixture into a 18cm round silicon mould. Let it cool, then transfer it to the fridge.

3. For lemon custard heat milk until it almost comes to the boil. Beat the egg yolks with sugar, lemon zest and cornstarch. Slowly add the hot milk. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring, until it is thick enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon. Pour into a bowl, cover with clingfilm, pressing it firmly to the surface of the custard, and let it cool completely. Keep it in the fridge until you need it.

4. For crème Chantilly whisk the cold cream together with the icing sugar until soft peaks are formed.

5. For assembling the cake line a bowl with clingfilm. Take the first piece of lemon sponge, cut it into pieces and line the prepared bowl with it. Fill the “dome” with Crème Chantilly. Spread half of the prepared custard over it. Cover with the second piece of sponge (trim the edges to make it fit). Spread the remaining custard. Remove pate de fruit out of form and place it over the custard. Cover with the third piece of sponge. Place the bowl in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

6. For chocolate plastique melt the lemon-flavoured chocolate, then stir in the liquid glucose. Place the mixture onto a baking paper, cover with a cling film and roll into a disk.

7. Remove the cake from a bowl by flipping it onto a plate. Cover with chocolate plastique. Dust with icing sugar. Decorate with fresh and freeze-dried raspberries.

Note:

You can find lemon-flavoured chocolate within Barry Callebaut range. It is exactly of the green colour!