Swedish Princess Cake (Prinsesstårta)

Sources: Mary Berry Great British Bake Off (Comments), CI, Stabilized Whipped Cream, Tips

Ingredients 

For the Vanilla pastry cream

• 600 ml / 20 fl oz whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split in half length ways and seeds scraped out
• 6 egg yolks
• 100g / 3½ oz granulated sugar
• 50g / 1¾ oz corn starch
• 50g / 1¾ oz unsalted butter

For the jam

• 200g / 7 oz raspberries
• 175g / 6 oz jam sugar

For the sponge

• 4 large eggs
• 150g / 5½ oz granulated sugar
• 75g / 2½ oz corn starch
• 75g / 2½ oz all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50g / 1¾ oz butter, melted

For the crown

• 25g / 1 oz pink ready-to-roll icing
• icing sugar, for dusting

To decorate

750ml / 1⅓ pints cold heavy cream
1/2 plus 1/8 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
5 teaspoons plus 1/4 teaspoons water

For the marzipan

• 400g / 14 oz almond flour or ground almonds
• 150g / 5½ oz caster sugar (super fine or baker's sugar)
• 250g / 9 oz powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 2 medium pasteurized eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp almond extract
• green food coloring paste (do not use liquid food color)

Directions

Two+ Days Before:

For the jam

1. Add the raspberries into a deep saucepan with the sugar and two tablespoons of water. Cook gently over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. 
2. Bring the mixture to the boil and boil vigorously for about four minutes, or until the temperature reaches 104 C/219 F on a sugar thermometer. 
3. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and leave to cool completely.

Pasteurize eggs

1. Pasteurize 2 eggs in their shell at 135 F for 1 hour 15 min then into an ice bath to cool for 20 min and refrigerate

The Day Before:

For the vanilla custard

1. Pour the milk into a pan with the vanilla seeds and vanilla pod and place over a low heat until just simmering. Remove from the heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch together until pale and creamy.
3. Remove the vanilla pod from the warm milk. (You can rinse this off to use in making vanilla sugar.)
4. Stir the warm milk slowly into the egg mixture. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over a low heat for 4-5 minutes, whisking, until the mixture thickens. (It should be very thick.)
5. Remove from the heat and beat in the butter until melted and incorporated. Transfer to a bowl, cover the surface with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool. Set aside to chill in the fridge.

For the crown

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For the sponge

1. P reheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and line the base of a 23cm / 9 in springform tin with baking parchment.
2. Put the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and using an electric mixer, whisk together until the mixture is very pale and thick. When you lift whisk up, the mixture that falls should stay on the surface for 3 seconds before sinking in, this is called the ribbon stage. This will take about five to eight minutes.
3. Sift the corn starch, flour and baking powder together
4. Gently add half the sifted flour over the egg mixture and carefully fold in using a large metal spoon or rubber spatula until mostly incorporated then fold in the rest of the flour and repeat mixing until well incorporated, ensuring to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to mix in any flour patches. 
5. Take about 1 cup of the batter and fold it into the butter to lighten the butter.
6. Fold in the melted and cooled butter, taking care not to over mix.
7. Evenly divide the batter between 3 pans OR in one springform pan if 3 won't fit in the oven on one rack and bake for 25-30 minutes until the sponge is golden-brown and has just started to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. 
8.  If not using right away, the cakes, well wrapped in plastic wrap will keep two days in the refrigerator or they can be frozen for a couple of months.

The Day Of Serving:

For the stabilized whipped cream

1. Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin powder over the water in a microwave-safe bowl and let stand for 3 minutes
2. Microwave the mixture in 5-second increments until the gelatin is dissolved and liquefied. Stir and set aside to cool.

To assemble the cake

1. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into three even layers. 
2. Place one of the sponges onto a serving plate. 
3. Spread a very thin layer of custard over the base of the first sponge.
4. Spoon a quarter of the custard into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe a border around the edge of the sponge – this is to contain the jam.
5. Spoon the jam over the sponge, and spread evenly within the border.

Whip Cream

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, whip 300ml / 10 fl oz of the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the remaining custard.
2. Spread one-third of the custard cream over the jam.
3. Place the second sponge on top and spread over the remaining custard cream.
4. Place the third sponge on top.
5. Add 450 ml / 15.5 fl oz whipped cream into the bowl of the stand mixer and turn it on to medium speed. When the beaters begin to leave a trail in the cream, slowly pour in the gelatin mixture and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
6. Spoon over two-thirds of the stabilized whipped cream, covering the sides and smoothing into a small dome shape on the top. Set aside in the fridge for an hour.

For the marzipan

1. Mix the almond flour or ground almonds and sugars in a mixer fitted with a dough hook, before adding the eggs and almond extract.
2. Knead in the bowl until it forms a stiff dough. Turn out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar. 
3. Roll out the marzipan on a parchment paper surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, to a 40cm/16in diameter circle, large enough to cover the cake. Lift the marzipan up over the cake and using your hands, shape the marzipan around the sides of the cake to get a smooth finish. Trim any excess.

Whipped Cream 

1. Spoon the remaining stabilized whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle. Pipe around the base of the cake.
2. Top with the crown.

Tips from Spruce Eats:

• When making the pastry cream, it is best done the day before assembling the cake, though it can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
• The cake can also be prepared in advance. Refrigerate it for one day or freeze it up to a week. Either way, leave it uncut until you are ready to assemble the cake.
• The steps for making the whipped cream, the marzipan, and assembling the cake should be done on the day you intend to serve the cake

Notes:

1. Substituted granulated sugar for caster sugar because many american recipes for genoise use it
2. Will try using stabilized whipped cream to help hold the dome up better and as the piping around the bottom (as suggested in a comment on the PBS page because whipped double cream holds its shape at room temp but heavy cream doesn't)
3. Will not add any food coloring, leaving it a natural almond color

This tastes pretty good. The first time we tasted it, it was ok but I liked it better the night of. I first tried to split the batter into 3 different pans but forgot to adjust the cooking time and used pancake mix so it was super crispy. I made it a second time and used a collar in one pan, but it wasn't 100% perfectly round. Used toothpicks every 45 degrees and a serrated knife and it worked pretty well. I also didn't whip the cream long enough to stiff peaks and it started collapsing. Next time I'd make all the whipped cream stabilized and a wider border edge of pastry cream.

Other people who made this recipe: 1, 2, 3