Mini Swedish Princesstarta

This cake has been on my 'to-bake' list ever since Lucy at Supergolden Bakes and I ogled some snaps of it over on Pinterest. I decided it was going to be my bake for the April meeting of the Chesterfield Clandestine Cake Club, as the theme was Happy Birthday Your Majesty, but alas I couldn't make the event. It was then going to be my bake for the June meeting, when the theme was Cakes from Around the World, but once again life (or more specifically work) got in the way. 

This month, the Tea Time Treats challenge is Layer Cakes, whilst the Calender Cakes challenge is Pump Up The Jam, and as both of these challenges end today, and I was damned if I was going to miss another opportunity to bake this amazing cake, I grabbed a mixing bowl as soon as I got in last night, and didn't stop whisking until these beautiful mini Swedish Princesstartas were sat on the table in front of me. Now all I have to do is write up the recipe before the end of today... Let's hope I don't get distracted! 

A Swedish Princesstarta is traditionally made of layers of sponge, jam, pastry cream, and domed whipped cream and covered with a pale green marzipan. I have combined my go-to recipes for each of the above components, but I did scale everything down here to make two smaller cakes, as with the fresh cream elements it won't keep as long as a normal cake. If you wanted to make this as a celebration cake (for which it would be perfect) just double up all the quantities and use an 8 inch cake pan for a stunning centrepiece. 

Ingredients (makes 2 small cakes)

For the Sponge

• 60 grams salted butter
• 60 grams golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 60 grams self-raising flour
• 1 tablespoon milk

For the Pastry Cream

• 1 egg yolk
• 25 grams vanilla sugar (or caster sugar and vanilla extract)
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 110 grams full fat milk

To Assemble

• 2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam (I used Mackay's Strawberry Preserve)
• 4-5 fresh strawberries
• 300ml double cream, whipped
• 300 grams marzipan
• green and pink gel food colours

Method

First, make the sponge cake. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees, and line two 5'' cake tins. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Sift in the flour, and gently fold into the mixture until combined, then add the milk, and fold again to loosen the mixture. Divide the mixture between the two prepared tins, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the sponge is firm to touch. Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack.

Whilst the cake is baking, make the pastry cream. Place the egg yolk, sugar and cornflour in a bowl, and whisk until smooth and silky. Heat the milk in a saucepan until just warm. Remove from the heat, and add to the egg mixture slowly, whisking continuously. Once all the milk has been added, return to the saucepan, and heat over a low heat, continuing to whisk the mixture until it thickens to a custard. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl, and set aside to cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge to cool completely. Stir occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. 

Once the cake and the pastry cream are completely cool, you can assemble the Princesstarta as follows;

Take a serrated knife, and slice each cake horizontally to create two layers. 

Spread a tablespoonful of strawberry jam on each of bottom layers.

Add a layer of chopped fresh strawberries.

Divide the pastry cream between the two cakes.

Place on the top layer of the sponge.

Use a pallet knife to use a little of the whipped cream to seal in the edges of the filling, then heap the rest on top of the two cakes.

Take the marzipan, and reserve a little (about 20g) to make the traditional rose decoration. Colour the remainder with the green food colouring. Divide the green marzipan into two equal portions, roll each out to around 5mm thick, and use to cover the Princesstarta, smoothing the tops to shape the cream underneath to a dome shape.

Trim the edges to remove an excess marzipan, and tuck the cut edges under the cake for a neat finish. 

Decorate with a pink marzipan rose (tutorial to follow) and a dusting of icing sugar. 

Store in the fridge, serve chilled, and consume within two days.

I am linking this recipe up with Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked as the theme is Layer Cakes, of which this little beauty has plenty!!

I am also linking with Calender Cakes, hosted by Rachel of Dolly Bakes and Laura of Laura Loves Cakes, where the theme this month is Pump Up The Jam. 

Blueberry and Vanilla Midsummer Night Tarts

Apparently it's summertime... actually, we are only a week away from the summer solstice, or midsummer if you will, and although the weather is trying it's best to fool us, the scent of freshly cut grass and the wild honeysuckle in the hedgerows are giving the game away.

These fragrant, fruity little numbers are my ode to midsummer's night, with their shimmering violet surface, and enticing vanilla scent, they will make you forget that it might be slightly overcast and rainy outside. I am linking these tarts up to my Feel Good Food challenge, where the theme is blueberries, and to Classic French hosted by Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes for her French Tart challenge. I have adapted this recipe from Jen's Strawberry Tarts, as I was impressed by the simplicity of the crème patisserie recipe she used (the previous one I had attempted was a lot more fiddly), and I have used a vanilla infused sugar from Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range throughout, rather than caster sugar and vanilla extract which you could use if you didn't have the infused sugar. 

Ingredients (makes 2 individual tarts)

For the Vanilla Shortcrust Pastry

50 grams plain flour
25 grams salted butter
1 teaspoon Sainsbury's Vanilla Infused Sugar
2 teaspoons cold water

For the Crème Patisserie

1 egg yolk
25 grams Sainsbury's Vanilla Infused Sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour
110 ml semi-skimmed milk

For the Blueberry Topping

1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Sainsbury's Vanilla Infused Sugar
50 grams frozen blueberries

Method

• To make the pastry, sieve the flour into a mixing bowl, add the sugar, and the butter. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water, a teaspoon at a time, and mix through with a fork. Bring the pastry dough together with your hands into a small ball, wrap in clingfilm, and place in the fridge for at least half an hour. 
• Once the pastry is chilled, roll it out on a lightly floured surface, and use it to fill two 4 inch tart tins. (I didn't leave mine quite long enough this time, and the edges cracked a little making an uneven finish, but hey - it all tastes good right!)
• Blind bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes, then remove the greaseproof paper/ foil and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden. Remove the pastry cases from the oven and set aside to cool. 
• To make the crème patisserie, put the egg yolk, vanilla sugar, and cornflour in a large mixing bowl, and whisk together to make a smooth paste. Heat the milk gently in a saucepan until it just starts to simmer, then slowly pour the milk over the egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the egg from scrambling. 
• Return the mixture to the saucepan, and place over a low heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture thickens to a custard-like consistency. Remove from the heat, leave to cool slightly, then fill the two pastry cases, spread the crème patisserie evenly, and refrigerate for 1 hour. 
• Finally, to make the blueberry topping, put the water and sugar in a saucepan, and heat until the sugar has dissolved, and a syrup starts to form. Add the blueberries, and stir for 2-3 minutes, until the blueberries start to break down slightly. 
• Remove the blueberries from the heat, let the mixture cool, then pour over the top of the tarts. Place in the fridge again to allow the blueberries to set, then serve. 

Custard Slices: GBBO Comic Relief Challenge Three

So far in my self-inflicted challenge to re-create the Technical Bakes from the Comic Relief GBBO episodes, I have attempted Chocolate Eclairs, and Bakewell Tart, with some reasonable successes. I'm not going to lie - I got a little bit cocky. So I decided that the third challenge to face would be the Custard Slices. For this, I am using Paul Hollywood's recipe from the BBC Food site.

I dutifully purchased the required ingredients, and tonight set about reading the recipe and preparing to conquer the Custard Slice. Then I realised two things. Firstly, I have never made rough puff pastry before in my life... and secondly, I have never made patisserie crème, nor have I ever successfully mastered custard from scratch. Needless to say, my confidence was immediately shot. 

None-the-less, I bravely opened the packet of flour, and started sifting. As with the previous challenges, I will copy the recipe and instructions below, with some photos of the process. These are my main notes from the recipe.

Making the rough puff pastry was surprisingly straight-forward, the instructions were clear - the key I figured out was to handle it as little as possible. I only used about two thirds of the water stated in the recipe until the pastry came together, so stopped adding it then. The rolling, folding and resting sequence is quite time consuming, in fact this recipe is one for a leisurely afternoon or evening bake, as there are lots of steps for mixing, cooling, assembling, and quite a few breaks in between. (It does give you plenty of time to clean up and wash up in between stages though).

I was quite pleased with my pastry, although both sheets did puff up more on one side than the other, and the bottom sheet flaked quite a bit when I transferred it to the tin. 

The patisserie crème was the bit that I was most daunted by, and I think I cooked it a touch too long as I had to work really hard to get it through the sieve at the end but other than that I managed to follow the recipe fairly uneventfully. 

I assembled the pastry and patisserie crème, and finally spread the icing over the top layer. As both my sheets of pastry were a bit bumpy, I turned the top sheet over so that the flat bottom side was facing upwards (I'm all for using illusion to hide mistakes!). I drew on the lines of melted chocolate, and pulled a cocktail stick through to create the 'feathered' effect, and voilà! By no means perfect, but I was happy with the first attempt, and most importantly they tasted great! Home-made is always better than shop-bought! 

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The Recipe: taken from the BBC Food website

Ingredients

For the rough puff pastry

• 225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ tsp salt
• 200g/7oz butter, chilled and cut into 1cm/½in cubes
• 140-160ml/5-5½fl oz water

For the crème pâtissière

• 500ml/18fl oz milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split down the middle and seeds scraped out
• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• 4 free-range eggs, yolks only
• 40g/1½oz cornflour
• 40g/1½oz butter

For the icing

• 200g/7oz icing sugar
• 5 tsp water
• 50g/2oz dark chocolate, melted

Preparation method

1. In a large bowl mix the flour and salt together. Rub in a third of the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then roughly rub in the remaining butter, leaving large lumps.
   
   
   

   

   
   
2. Add the water a little at a time until the pastry just binds together (you may not need all the water).
   
   
   

   

   
   
3. Tip the pastry out onto a floured work surface. Roll into a narrow rectangle about 2.5cm/1in thick.
   
   
   

   

   
   
4. With the pastry vertically in front of you fold the bottom third of the pastry up onto the middle third then the top third down onto the other thirds. This is called a turn.
   
   
   

   

   
   
5. Wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes
   
   
   

   

   
   
6. Take out of fridge and with a rolling pin roll out again into a narrow rectangle and repeat the turn as before.
   
   
   

   

   
   

   
7. Chill again and repeat the rolling and turning once more, so a total of three times. Wrap the pastry in cling film and return to the fridge to rest.
8. While the pastry is resting, make the crème pâtissière. Pour the milk into a pan and add the split vanilla pod and its seeds. Bring the milk mixture to the boil, then remove from the heat.
   
   
   

   

   
   
9. Whisk the sugar, egg yolks and cornflour together in a large bowl.
   
   
   

    

   
   
10. Pour out a little of the hot milk onto the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Whisk in the rest of the hot milk until well-combined, then return to the pan.
11. Cook the mixture over a gentle heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture becomes thick. It will just come to the boil.
12. Remove from the heat and pass the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl. Add the butter and stir until melted and thoroughly combined.
    
    
    

    

    
    
13. Leave to cool, cover with clingfilm and then chill before using.
14. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Line two baking trays with baking parchment.
15. Divide the pastry into two equal pieces and roll out both pieces to 20cm/8in square and 5mm/¼in thick. Then place each pastry sheet onto the lined baking trays, and chill for 10-15 minutes.
    
    
    

    
16. Bake the pastry sheets for 10-15 minutes or until golden-brown and crisp. Set aside to cool.
    
    
    

    

    
    
17. While the pastry bakes, line a deep 23cm/9in square baking tray with foil with plenty of extra foil at the sides. The extra foil allows you to lift out the assembled slices.
    
    
    

    

    
    
18. Place one pastry sheet in bottom of the lined baking tray. (Reserve the prettiest piece for the top.)
    
    
    

    

    
    
19. Spread the crème pâtissière evenly onto the pastry in the baking tray before placing other piece of pastry, on top. Refrigerate while making the icing.
    
    
    

    

    
    
20. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in cold water until thoroughly combined and set aside.
21. Transfer the melted chocolate into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle, and set aside to firm up slightly.
22. Take the custard slice from the fridge and spread the icing over the top layer of pastry.
    
    
    

    

    
    
23. Using the piping bag, draw ten parallel lines along the top of the icing in one direction. Using a tooth pick, pull parallel lines about 2.5cm/1in across the melted chocolate and icing in alternating directions to create a feathered effect.
    
    
    

    
24. Place the slice back into the fridge to set.
25. Cut the finished vanilla slice into eight pieces.
    
    

    

    
    
26. Using the foil carefully lift the portioned vanilla slices out of the tray and place onto a serving platter.