Princess Torte

Korena of Korena in the Kitchen was our May Daring Bakers’ host and she delighted us with this beautiful Swedish Prinsesstårta!

When I was a child, my family would get me Princess Torte for my birthdays. It was my mother's favorite cake. In my 20s, I got a part-time job at the bakery where my family bought these cakes (my favorite bakery), and thus was able to eat slices and slices whenever I wanted. However, I could never eat the marzipan. It was far too sweet and didn't have great flavor, so I always left it behind.



I was super excited to see that Princess Torte was the challenge for May. Its not a simple cake! It has layers of sponge cake, raspberry jam, pastry cream, whipped cream, and then marzipan draped over the top. The cake is beautiful to look at, with a marzipan rose placed on top. 

I have a friend that used to work in a Swedish Bakery, so I invited her to make this cake with me. The only component I had never worked with or made before was the marzipan, and let me tell you, homemade marzipan is so flavorful and delicious (albeit its still very sweet). The finished product was delightful. We used fresh strawberry compote plus some strawberry syrup I had made earlier in place of the raspberry jam, and colored the decorations naturally with beet powder and matcha (instead of food coloring). We were so happy with the results and so proud of ourselves (it didn't even take all day!). It was a beautiful, sunny day--perfect for enjoying a slice of princess torte. I later packaged up the rest for my family to also enjoy. 

Daring Bakers: Hidden Veggies

Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

But first, let me tell you about Daring Bakers. Daring Bakers is awesome. Daring Bakers is a group of people that host and participate in a challenge every month. This was my first challenge, and I didn't realize how exciting it would be. I am so happy about this! It is so refreshing to be given as assignment, especially because I am the type that wants to try everything all at once, so some direction makes much better use of my time. But most importantly, you get to learn new things! Every month presents a new learning experience, and there are forums where you can share your thoughts and see what others have gained from the experience (in fact, you are almost required to post your challenge and express your thoughts). If you ask me, there should be a Daring everything--writers, artists, dancers, you name it. It's such a supportive idea.

So my first challenge was to incorporate veggies into a dessert. For a long time, I have been wanting to try black bean brownies. When I saw this challenge, I knew this was the perfect opportunity.

I used this recipe (omitting the chocolate chips and adding almond flakes) and I wouldn't say I recommend it, not because I don't believe in black bean brownies (I do!), but because I feel there is room for improvement in this particular recipe. Here are my thoughts:

• Making them was incredibly fast and easy--put everything in a blender and call it good.
• The recipe was very healthy. The beans add fiber and protein, plus there was very little fat. In fact, it's probably healthier than a granola bar.
• The outcome was a regular-looking brownie and regular-tasting brownie; it did not taste at all like beans! Ordinarily I would say regular-tasting is not good enough, but in this case, it was beyond good enough.
• My concerns were primarily around the following, which might be addressed by adding melted chocolate or more fat (if you have feedback on how to address the below, please do chime in):
• Texture: The brownie was very soft and lacked elasticity.
• Richness: The brownie, which did not include any chocolate (just cocoa), had a flat flavor.

Thank you, Mr. Boyfriend, for the rather professional photos. We tried to spice them up with some flowers (from my mom)...and it ended up looking pretty silly, like two brownies getting married! Next time, we will know better. :)