Daisy Princess Cake

Almost too cute to eat! Caramelized white chocolate crémeux and raspberry jam layered with soft sponge and topped with raspberry whipped cream and marzipan. 459: Daisy Princess Cake

The inspiration for this adorable cake started with Sophie Bamford’s log-shaped princess cake series where she’s doing unique flavor/color variations to match each Disney princess. The shape is so smart – no struggles trying to get the marzipan to lay flat on a round cake. Then I saw this recipe in Edd Kimber’s Chocolate Baking and it jumped to the top of my to-bake list.

The tart raspberry jam balances out the sweetness of the crémeux. The slice shot is giving PB&J. Does the almond in the marzipan count as a nut butter? Close enough!

The non-pink marzipan I made wasn’t light enough to pull off the pale daisy petal look so I ended up painting them with a water icing.

I’m so impressed the whipped cream held its shape when I cut into it. Warm knife + confidence = success!

Peep the actual daisies blooming in the background!

Instead of my tried-and-true pastry cream, I went with Edd’s white chocolate crémeux. It’s texturally the same, but instead of setting it by adding cornstarch and cooking til thick, you make a thin custard and set it with chocolate and gelatin. I was a little skeptical but it worked out surprisingly well.

Immersion blender swooping in to smooth things over, literally.

Ready for a fridge nap.

Day-before item #2: cake layers. Splitting these 4-5 element bakes into a two day process is my new move.

Bain-marie blitz.

Floof!

Part of me always wants to stop at the swirly stage. Temporary art at its finest.

Edd’s recipe suggests using a balloon whisk to minimize how much air is knocked out of the batter. While it feels counterintuitive, it worked like a charm!