Search

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Day 25: Culture Codes

One of my favorite things to read is culture codes. There's almost nothing like being on the other side of the world and suddenly you see something that reminds you of home (like a Norwegian salmon sandwich for breakfast in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, or seeing a long hauler from your country when you're far away from home). The more places you get to know, the more codes you learn. Today, a very Swedish phenomenon for you. Who can tell me what this is?
I first encountered this in a print ad, and I thought it was broccoli cream soup or similar. Well, kids, you're actually looking at a Princess Cake, a classic Swedish cake.
Let's take a closer look:
A Swedish classic - Princess Cake
as you can see, the cake consists of a simple "sugar cake" sponge layered with seedless raspberry jam, vanilla cream, and whipped cream. All of this is topped with green marzipan. One important thing to know here is that in Sweden, whipped cream is always made without sugar (which was a shock for this Latvian to discover).

So while the Princess cake might look very heavy and sugary, the unsweetened whipped cream in combination with the raspberry jam actually makes for a very "fresh" tasting cake (if you remove the marzipan cover, which is meant to be eaten, but it also makes this cake too sweet for me).
A slice of Princess Cake - a Swedish classic!
To get neat slices, run your knife under hot water, quickly shake the knife off and cut (no need to dry the knife with a towel). Run the knife under hot water after each cut.

The Princess cake comes in different marzipan colors (pink, yellow, white, and even blue), but this lime green is the classic version.

I hope you enjoyed learning about this classic Swedish treat. 

Thank you for stopping by Pieliekamais!

2 comments:

  1. That cake is lovely! Just lovely!
    I can imagine your initial shock no sugar in whipped cream. How different.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is different, but now, after 11 years in Sweden, I prefer my whipped cream with no sugar! :)

      Delete