Princess cake
Swedish layer cake consisting of layers of sponge cake, pastry cream, a dome of whipped cream and a dyed marzipan top
Princess cake or princess torte (Swedish: prinsesstårta) is a traditional Swedish layer cake or torte consisting of alternating layers of airy sponge cake, pastry cream, and a thick-domed layer of whipped cream. The cake is covered by a layer of rolled marzipan, giving it a smooth, rounded top. The marzipan overlay is usually green, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and often decorated with a pink marzipan rose. While the original recipe did not contain any fruit, modern versions usually include layers of jam or fresh fruit, usually raspberries.
Origin and name
The original recipe first appeared in the 1948 cookbook Prinsessornas kokbok (lit. 'Cookbook of the Princesses'), which was published by Jenny Åkerström (1867–1957), teacher of the three daughters of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland.
The cake was originally called grön tårta (lit. 'green cake'), but was given the name prinsesstårta or "princess cake" because the Swedish princesses were said to have been especially fond of the cake. The princesses were Princess Margaretha (1899–1977; later Princess of Denmark), Princess Märtha (1901–1954; later Crown Princess of Norway), and Princess Astrid (1905–1935; later Queen of the Belgians).
“Princess cake” enters the record as swedish layer cake consisting of layers of sponge cake, pastry cream, a dome of whipped cream and a dyed marzipan top. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Princess, cake and Swedish can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Princess cake” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.