Monday 27 May 2013

The Princess cake-Quadruple Chocolate delight

'Every Girl is a Princess to her Father and mother'

The Princess cake or rather The Swedish Prinsesstårta cake couldn't have been challenged at a better time by Korena, our host for this months Daring Baker's. 24th of May was our darling daughter Vaanya's second birthday and this cake was destined to be made for the grand day. Very frankly, one look onto the components and assembly of this cake scares you a lot but this cake is a lot simpler and is an amazing experience to remember for a long time. 
This cake was originally created in the 1930's by a Swedish home economics teacher named Jenny Åkerström, who taught the three Swedish princesses of the time. This was called the Princess cake as it was loved by them a lot. Originally it has layers of light sponge cake, raspberry jam, and vanilla custard/pastry cream, topped with a mound of fluffy whipped cream, covered in green marzipan, and garnished with a marzipan rose.
As this cake was meant for my daughter's(My princess's)birthday I was in no mood to experiment with the flavours. Therefore Chocolate it was for me!! And I love the way Korena called it a Quadruple Chocolate delight!!
Here is the Princess and her cake!


This certainly was not an easy cake to make in terms of the number of components, so I decided to start it all a day before. The assembly took place on the final day, which took me a lot of time because of the unbearable heat and humidity in our part of the world. Plus I was dealing with very heat vulnerable stuff like whipped cream and custard which kept melting away. The homemade marzipan was the worst to handle, it kept breaking and the more I rolled the more stickier it got and the more icing sugar it required!! Not to mention it did not turn out as smooth as the bought one. 
All these problems were washed up in one instance when the cake was brought out for cutting. The collective Wow's by my family made me feel so proud of the attempt. The cake was cut and I rushed to take a pic and while I did so, with my guests waiting very patiently, all the cream and custard melted away!!! So no pretty pics to show you all. The cake was collectively declared a Winner and the best cake I have ever made! Phew! The marzipan was too sweet and heavy for them to handle and it all got collected  on the sides of the plate but the cake was literally polished off with everyone asking for another helping.


My melting layers
Chocolate sponge: I followed my tried and tested chocolate cake recipe 

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups sugar(powdered)
  • 1 3/4 cups refined flour
  • 3/4 cups cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 cup boiling water
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease and line a 9" round baking tin.
Take a bowl and mix sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla essence. Mix well so all the ingredients are well incorporated. Stir in boiling water (do not worry about lumps) The batter will be quite thin. 
Pour the batter in the prepared tin.
Bake for 40 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool the cake on a rack.

Chocolate Ganache:

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 cup cream 
Procedure:
Bring cream to a boil and pour on the chopped chocolate. Whisk well so that it mixes well and keep aside.

Chocolate Custard:

Ingredients :
  • 4 tbsp of Vanilla custard powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 3 tbsp Sugar(or to taste)
Procedure:
Add milk and cream to a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add sugar and let it dissolve. 
Take custard powder in a bowl and add little cold milk/water to make a paste.
Add this in a stream to the boiling milk and cream mixture. Stir well and let it thicken.
If required add more custard powder, dissolved in cold milk/water.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Refrigerate till further use.

Chocolate whipped cream:

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup chopped chocolate, chopped
Procedure:
Boil cream in a saucepan. Add this to the bowl of chopped chocolate, stir well. 
Allow to cool to room temperature.
Refrigerate for further use(at least 2 hours) 

Marzipan:

Ingredients:
  • 100 gms ground almonds
  • 200 gms icing sugar
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup(I substituted with liquid glucose
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice or water
Procedure:
If using whole almonds, blanch them in boiling water for a minute and strain them. Rub off their skin and dry them in a kitchen towel. Dry heat them on low flmae very carefully to remove any moisture. Allow to cool and make a fine powder with little sugar in a mixer.
Place ground almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and combine them. Add liquid glucose and lemon juice and knead to a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate till used.

 
Assembly:
Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Refrigerate till required.
Slice the chocolate cake in three layers and set aside the middle layer for the dome.
Place one layer of cake on a cake board(I used the lid of my plastic container and wrapped it with aluminium foil) 
Spread the chocolate ganache on it (If it has thickened a lot, warm in the microwave for 10-15 secs)
Put in the freezer for 5-10 mins to set.
Spread half of the chocolate custard.
Freeze again for 10-15 mins for it to set.
Place another layer of the cake and spread the remaining chocolate custard on it.
Freeze again till set.(Notice I required a lot of freezing because of the extreme heat and humidity)
Reserve half a cup of the whipped cream and pile the rest into a mound on top of the custard layer.
Shape it in a dome.
Place the final layer of cake on top of the whipped cream. Do not press on top of the cake. Refrigerate for 10-15 mins.
Spread the remaining cream onto the entire cake and the sides. Refrigerate again till required.
Mix some brown food colouring to a large part of the marzipan, reserving little for the decorations.
Dust your work surface with some icing sugar and roll out the brown marzipan enough to cover the entire cake. With the help of a rolling pin, gently cover the cake with the marzipan. Trim excess. Refrigerate the cake.
Make three portions with the remaining marzipan and add red, yellow and orange food colours. Roll out the yello marzipan and with a knife shape a Tiara. Make small balls with the orange marzipan and put as gems on the tiara. Roll out some pink marzipan and cut a heart shape and put in the center of the tiara. 
Roll out pink and orange marzipans and cut round shape for the polka dots and put on the cake.
Roll out some yellow marzipan and cut out a banner. Write message on it with a toothpick dipped in food colour.
Make small balls from the leftover pink, yellow and orange marzipans and put them around the cake at the botttom. 


The lone survivor Piece of the cake
The Tiara for the little Princess
 Happy Princess cake eating
Amrita 

61 comments:

  1. Wow Amrita, you certainly had to put up a fight to make this cake! But judging from the reaction it got, I think you won ;) Plus it is BEAUTIFUL and soooo chocolate-y! (My favorite!) Thanks for baking with me this month :)

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  2. Awww, thats such a cute cake, luvd it. Specially the crown.

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  3. Well done! Your cake looks amazing.

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  4. im drooling looking at the cake...well made

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  5. Birthday wishes to ur princess dear... the cake looks gorgeous

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  6. wow amrita... that's a beautiful cake to make for your princess' b'day... i love the layers, especially the chocolate custard... :)

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  7. Cake looks beaurtiful. Happy Bday to your princess

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  8. Damn cute cake and very apt cake for the celebration..

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  9. Belated birthday wishes to ur princess Amrita. Lovely cake.

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  10. Hi Amrita, happy belated birthday to your daughter. She is so adorable.
    Your cake look very delectable and delicious. Nice decoration, look so cute and pretty. I love the melting layer... :))

    Have a nice day ahead.

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    1. Thank you Amelia for loving the melted layer!!

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  11. This is too sinfully luscious (especially melted :))!Love how you've adjusted the original recipe and decoration to fit different tastes and a birthday occasion while keeping the look of a ''princess'' cake in beatiful execution. Well done!!

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    1. Hey, thank you so much for loving my melted attempt!!

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  12. LOvely cak for a lovely daughter...loved the informative read too....Where did u get Liquid Glucose in Kolkata?..I am so looking for it.....

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  13. a princess cake for a very cute princess! wish ur daughter a belated happy bday!!

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  14. Your princess is a doll!! And your super chocolaty prinsesstarta looks so delicious!!

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  15. Great looking cake, all that chocolate is very tempting!! And happy birthday to the little princess ;)

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  16. birthday wishes 2 sweey girl n cake luks just Delicious with colourful decorations..

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  17. Wow! What a fun version! And oh my look at all that chocolate! :)

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    Replies
    1. You sound like a chocolate lover yourself!!:)

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  18. Beautiful princess cake, You right,it is very nice to celebrate birthday of beautiful princess with this cake.

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    Replies
    1. Yes Swathi, it was awesome to make this cake for her!!

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  19. Hi Amrita,

    A Swedish princess cake for your little princess! Your little princess is one lucky princess! I can imagine how much you love your little girl.

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. Hello Zoe, You are right , I love her to bits!!

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  20. What a beautiful cake for a pretty girl. :) Happy belated birthday. Wish her good health and happiness as always!

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  21. Happy birthday to your pricess! Your cake looks wonderfull, I like the colours and, of course, the chocolate!

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    1. Thank you Liana, chocolate can never go wrong!!:):)

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  22. Beautiful cake for the little princess :)Belated wishes to pretty girl...

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  23. Such a sweet cake for a lovely girl. Happy birthday!
    I made this cake for my princess too - although mine just turned 19. Sometimes, I miss those young days :-)

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    1. Such a joy to bake for your loved ones, happy to share the excitement with you!!

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  24. super super super :)

    loved it
    Minu

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    1. Thank you for the constant encouragement Minu:)

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  25. such a lovely cake for such a cute little princess !

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  26. Hi Amrita, I was waiting for this occasion and I knew that you would come out with something really fantastic...and you did. You have decorated the cake really beautifully. In spite of the heat troubling you, you have done a fantastic job. The cake looks superb. The crown has been shaped so perfectly and the heart looks so cute! Belated birthday wishes to the little princess.

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    1. Hi Namita, thank you for those lovely words and wishes.

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  27. A cake fit for a princess indeed. How cute she looks all colour coordinated in yellow and pink :o) Hats off to you for baking in sweltering weather but the result looked great and if everyone asked for seconds, you know you have a winner.

    You can have a look at mine over here.

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    1. Thank you Ingrid, the colour coordination was not planned though!!! I guess it was destined:):)

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  28. Happy birthday to your beautiful little girl! That is such a lovely cake.

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    1. Thank you Mich, lovely as always to hear from you.

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  29. Belated birthday wishes to your princess and she looks so adorable in that little yellow dress. And kudos to you for making such a beautiful and multilayered cake in kolkata's hot weather. While working with chocolate I alwyas prefer to switch on AC to cool the room, otherwise it becomes a ardent task to manage the chocolates. I so much wanted to try my hands on marzipan, and yours is just beautiful.

    Sukanya

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    1. Thank you Sukanya and I so wish I had switched on the AC. It was such a rush day trying to get all things done together that I didn't even use an Ice bath to whip my cream!!!! Horrid blunder!

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  31. Happy birthday to your charming princess Amrita. Vaanya looks so cute and beautiful . The cake is too good. love the way you decorated it. .I visited your blog twice but could not post a comment because of g plus...now I am in g plus..added you in my circle.

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    1. Hi Vidya, thank you for visiting and commenting, much appreciated.

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  32. I just love that you made a chocolate Princess cake!! Its got all that any chocolate lover can ask for :)

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  33. Cake looks sooo YUM!!! Your daughter looks so cute too :) First time here & I just loved your recipes :) So glad to follow you!

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  34. Fabulous job with the cake Amrita!!! birthday wishes to the little princess!

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  35. Too cute?! The cake came out beautiful! Birthday greetings to the ill one!

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  36. How precious is your princess! Great job on the cake!

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