Princess Cake

[tejon]

Somewhere in my many rambles online, I spied Princess Cake and had to try it. I'm speaking about the one with marzipan, whipped cream, sponge cake, raspberry jam, and pastry cream. I'm planning to make one up in about two weeks for a party and wanted to ask here to see if anyone had made one before and had any tips or advice. I'll post a picture once I'm done, even if it comes out less than perfect .

[Wendy DeBord]

I make them. The only advice I can think of is to chose good ingredients... like a really good brand of raspberry preserves.... good marzipan.

It is difficult to cut perfectly as I need to do for work, preslicing desserts. Instead I make them in individual sizes or change up my layers so I put a layer of cake ontop right under the marzipan. Or sometimes I've layed my marzipan on in pieces/slices so I don't have to actually slice thru that to make my cut.

[tejon]

Marzipan is going to be the most difficult thing, I'm guessing. I'm only familiar with the kind you can purchase in the supermarket, though I do have a recipe to make it up from almond paste that could work. Where do you purchase marzipan? Or a better question would be what would be my best options, considering I only need about a pound and a half of it?

[Kent Wang]

Bart Simpson is a fan of Princess Cake.

[Swisskaese]

I would suggest either buying a good quality marzipan at a good cooking/baking supply store or making your own.

The only brand that was available when I lived in the States was a brand called Solo. It was ok, but homemade is better.

If you want something special you could order marzipan.

Edited November 27, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[tejon]

The party is over, and almost all of the cake is gone. It was delicious - light, not too sweet, different layers of flavor, and beautiful to top it all off. Now, cutting the marzipan was a royal pain - I ended up cutting the marzipan on the top of each piece for a few inches, then following through the rest of the layers after I'd gotten the marzipan in roughly the right shape. Freezing helped a little, but not enough to really make it worthwhile. I will definitely be making this again, but next time will most likely decorate the top with cut outs of marzipan, perhaps with a tall collar of marzipan on the sides as well. Cutting down through the almond paste was easy, so I'd leave the sides essentially alone. The marzipan added to the flavors of the cake so I'd hesitate to leave it off entirely.

This was my first time working with marzipan, so the top layer didn't sit as smoothly as I would have liked. I did like how the rose on top came out, though.

Assembled cake:

Partial cake showing layers:

Slice:

[SuzySushi]

The party is over, and almost all of the cake is gone. It was delicious - light, not too sweet, different layers of flavor, and beautiful to top it all off.

This was my first time working with marzipan, so the top layer didn't sit as smoothly as I would have liked. I did like how the rose on top came out, though.

Assembled cake:

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That looks beautiful! I admire your adventurousness!

[Ling]

You do such beautiful cakes, tejon!

[tejon]

Thank you both! I love any kind of cooking challenge and dive head first into anything new and different....even if I have little or no idea what I'm doing along the way. Thankfully I usually manage to muddle through decently. My real Achille's heel is decoration of any kind - I can make components just fine, but making it all actually look good is a challenge. Quite happy with how this one came out, though I could point out every wrinkle and imperfection with ease. Not that I am in any way a perfectionist

[SuzySushi]

Quite happy with how this one came out, though I could point out every wrinkle and imperfection with ease. Not that I am in any way a perfectionist 

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Well, they're sure not obvious from this vantage point!

[anisette]

I'm just bumping up this thread as I'm interested to find out how you made this cake Tejon? (Hoping that Tejon will see this of course!) Did you assemble it in a bowl for the domed shape or did you freehand the dome? Did you make your own marzipan or did you buy it pre-made? Also, which recipe did you use? Sorry for all the questions -- I'm hoping you'll remember.

BTW your picture is absolutely lovely and it definitely looks like you had no troubles.

Ever since I had a slice of this cake at a local Swedish bakery shop I've been trying to find a decent recipe and the method to making this delicious cake. It's so very yummy!

[oli]

I'm just bumping up this thread as I'm interested to find out how you made this cake Tejon? (Hoping that Tejon will see this of course!) Did you assemble it in a bowl for the domed shape or did you freehand the dome? Did you make your own marzipan or did you buy it pre-made? Also, which recipe did you use? Sorry for all the questions -- I'm hoping you'll remember.

BTW your picture is absolutely lovely and it definitely looks like you had no troubles.

Ever since I had a slice of this cake at a local Swedish bakery shop I've been trying to find a decent recipe and the method to making this delicious cake. It's so very yummy! 

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I love this cake too and I know Bo Freiberg has a recipe, but I don't know how good it is, as I haven't heard anybody comment about this particular recipe. I would be scared of cutting into the top, that it would squish what's underneath.

It looks just the recipe from iVillage

Edited May 19, 2008 by oli (log)

[chefpeon]

I make these every day at work.

I can do them in my sleep.

You don't really need a "recipe" for it.......

Princess cake consists of:

*pastry cream (any pastry cream-your fav!)

*genoise layers or sponge (I use chiffon, myself....I HATE genoise!)

*raspberry jam or preserves

*whipped cream

*marzipan (colored a pastel color) Hint: marzipan is a little easier to work with if you knead just a bit of fondant in to it.

*simple syrup (flavored if you want...I use triple sec in mine)

For those who want full-on instructions, there's a good "recipe" here.

Another hint: Once I fill the cake and dome the whipped cream on top, I stick it in the freezer for a bit to firm up......makes it easier to drape the marzipan on without "denting" your dome.

[Tri2Cook]

There's instructions for making it in "The Village Baker's Wife" but I've never actually made it (from any recipe).

[JeanneCake]

I *love* Princess Cake and only started offering it on the menu this past year. I'm with Annie on the chiffon cake; I also add a little gelatin to the whipped cream because that will get me a third day if it doesn't sell immediately (I assemble them the night before they are delivered, e.g., I'm putting it together at 4 pm on Friday for Sat 9 am delivery) and the little rest in the freezer is a very good thing before putting on the marzipan (I have people ask for straight fondant because of the whole nut thing but I like it better with the marzipan.) In fact, it was Annie who told me this was a walk in the park to do, and she's right. Easy, easy, easy. Make the dome yourself with a spatula, the bowl would be too much hassle.

Green is traditional, but I'm partial to lavender, as Tri2Cook mentions The Village Baker's Wife, who does pink, lavender and green).

[oli]

I would like to add, after reading a bunch of recipes, that if you dome the cake with a cake layer and then drape with marzipan, I believe that will make cutting much, much easier.

[chefpeon]

I would like to add, after reading a bunch of recipes, that if you dome the cake with a cake layer and then drape with marzipan, I believe that will make cutting much, much easier.

Yeah, b-b-b-but what about the whipped cream!?

(Annie's favorite part).

[oli]

I would like to add, after reading a bunch of recipes, that if you dome the cake with a cake layer and then drape with marzipan, I believe that will make cutting much, much easier.

Yeah, b-b-b-but what about the whipped cream!?

(Annie's favorite part).

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The whipped cream is just under the cake dome, which in turn is covered with marzipan.

Here's a pic: http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/img/2005_05/p...-pinksliced.jpg

Edited May 20, 2008 by oli (log)

[teagal]

I had planned to make a chocolate meringue cake from Gourmet mag for my bday cake and was looking forward to it till I saw this- how beautiful! I'm switching!!

[chefpeon]

The whipped cream is just under the cake dome, which in turn is covered with marzipan.

Here's a pic: http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/img/2005_05/p...-pinksliced.jpg

I'm guessing by the look of it, that that was probably built upside down in a bowl, then flipped over and covered with marzipan. That's my best guess anyway.

[oli]

The whipped cream is just under the cake dome, which in turn is covered with marzipan.

Here's a pic: http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/img/2005_05/p...-pinksliced.jpg

I'm guessing by the look of it, that that was probably built upside down in a bowl, then flipped over and covered with marzipan. That's my best guess anyway.

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That's what I would have thought as well, maybe that might work. But traditionally when you take the cake out of the pan, you drape it over a bowl about the size of the cake you're making.

[tb86]

The whipped cream is just under the cake dome, which in turn is covered with marzipan.

Here's a pic: http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/img/2005_05/p...-pinksliced.jpg

I'm guessing by the look of it, that that was probably built upside down in a bowl, then flipped over and covered with marzipan. That's my best guess anyway.

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That's what I would have thought as well, maybe that might work. But traditionally when you take the cake out of the pan, you drape it over a bowl about the size of the cake you're making.

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assemble the layers

1.) cake

2.)syrup

3.) jam,

4.) cake

5.) syrup

6.)jam

7.)pastry cream

8.)cake

9.) syrup

10) jam

11.) pastry cream

12.) cream

13.) marzipan <classic green>

to get the dome shape simply mound the cream, use a offset to even the dome effect, dape the marzipan over the top after its all done... used to have nightmares about princes cakes, 4 years hundreds of them......

just seeing the name brings back all kinds of sunday aquavit nightmares.....