Sweden's favorite cake is having a moment (Princess Cake)

There has recently been a bunch of ‘life in 2016’ posts all over social media and it got me thinking that we jumped to 2035 the chance a domed green cake appearing somewhere in people’s feeds from 10 years prior is highly likely. Well, that and Matcha lattes.

Princess cake is having a moment YT cover

All about Jenny

What makes a Princess Cake

Dessert and culture collide

Leaning into joy

Video Essay

Hey, hi, hello, my name is Sylvie and welcome or welcome back to my channel. I’m a baker who has been studying the science and fundamentals of this industry, whilst also spending many many hours baking up cookies, cakes and other things for my website roamingtaste.com.

Though I run a baking website, I’ve not yet tried to make Princess Cake because it scares me a little, but today we are diving into this ultra feminine dessert, it’s history, the layers of what’s included in it and the link between Princess cake and our current cultural trends.

All about Jenny

In 1867 a Johanna, better known as Jenny Åkerström (pronounced OH-kur-strum) is born in Lohärad (pronounced Loo-HAIR-ahd), Roslagen which is located about an hour’s drive today north of Stockholm in Sweden. Jenny was the oldest of three children, all daughters, and became a governess before

enrolling in the Ateneum school cookery training programme, which she completed in 1897.

By 1903, just 6 years post graduating the cookery training programme, Jenny had become

head of a number of mobile school cookery courses throughout the Stockholm area

and by 1907 Jenny founded her ‘domestic sciences school for girls’ in Stockholm which saw pupils from a mostly wealthier section of society studying, along with all three daughters of Prince Carl, the Duke of Västergötland (pronounced VES-ter-yot-land)

Astrid, Margaretha, and Märtha, the daughters of Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg, all attended the school during the 1920s. Jenny Åkerström had a good head for business and understood how to utilize her royal pupils in order to bolster her business and thereby attract further pupils and students.

This understanding of using her Royal connections helped Jenny publish a cookbook in 1929 which google translates to ‘The Princesses' Cookbook. Home Cooking and Holiday Food’ with the three princesses images on the cover and references

to the favourite dish of each princess

You could say this was the height of popularity for these types of schools in Sweden where women were taught all about domestication which thereafter saw a decline with each decade; so Jenny utilized her connections at the pivotal moment to spread her business.

Most of Jenny’s background is taken from this ‘Swedish female biographical lexicon’ website. Thank you for existing!

Though Jenny had her school she was

also a regular contributor to various newspapers, including Bonniers Veckotidning (pronounced boon-NEER veck-o-tid-ning), in which she had a recurring food column which included menus and recipes. She also wrote for two magazines: Vecko-Journalen (pronounced whoooo-noo-lan) and for Bonniers Månadstidning (pronounced mooorn-art-stid-ning).

It wasn’t until the 1948 edition of the book that we see the first version of the originally named Gron Tarta. It was so beloved by the princesses that it was renamed to Princesstarta likely within the decade after it was first published, though it is a bit messier than that.

According to Tasting Table

Legend has it that Åkerström actually created three elaborately decorated cakes, one for each princess. While some say the princess cake is an amalgamation of the three, Astrid's cake most closely resembles the modern version of the beloved confection and the 1948 grön tårta.

So much of the Princess Cake’s story is well detailed, Jenny Akstrom created it thanks to her connection to the Swedish princesses and thanks to that connection she published a book. But so many details are really unclear - how three different cakes ended up becoming this beloved version which is not exactly like any of the cakes. Why it’s covered in green marzipan. How it went from being call Grontarta or Green cake to Prinsesstarta or Princess Cake and the last element - how did it become popular in pockets of the United States.

In my research, there was a mention in a couple of places of an Annika Larsson who was a baker in Stockholm combining all three cakes into one, but I couldn’t prove this and regardless of why its green or how Princess cake came to be in it’s current format, it quickly became popular throughout Sweden.

Regardless of these details, the popularity of Princess Cake in Sweden cannot be understated as Semi Swede states in their article

Princess cake demystified (prinsesstårta) that

Every year around 500,000 prinsesstårtas are sold in Sweden.

For a country of 10.6 million people this is an impressive amount, however, since 2004

The third week in September is officially prinsesstårta week. For every prinsesstårta purchased in Sweden during this period 10sek ($1.50) is donated to Crown Princess Victoria’s Fund that benefits chronically ill and disabled children and adolescents in Sweden.

The actual amount donated to the charity is not reported, though the fact Princess Cake is the most beloved cake in Sweden and is easy to find in Konditorei’s or bakeries throughout the country - either in slices or as a whole cake means it’s probably incredibly easy for people to support this initiative.

Also, there was a real influx of Scandinavians to the United States in the early 20th century, particularly on the West Coast with the Gold Rush boom, but that was well before the recipe was published. For some reason this cake has been featured in bakeries around San Francisco for years - clearly those immigrants brought the cake either the recipe in letters or knowledge of it through generations joining family already established there, but that is sheer speculation because its hard to confirm.

Now we somewhat know the background

What makes a Princess Cake

Before we get into the layers of Princess Cake it’s actually helpful to know that

The Princess Cake Gets Its Princess Moment - Eater

most people in Sweden get their princess cakes from bakeries

And in my research this comment on Eat your Books stands out

The princess cake’s ascendance by Eat your Books

This is my absolute favorite cake to eat. Never contemplated making one from scratch by DKennedy on May 11, 2025

So if you can buy the cake first, be like DKennedy, go ahead.

But if you want to make this cake, as per the Visit Stockholm website, Princess cake is made up of

Three layers of cake overlapped with vanilla cream and raspberry jam topped with a hefty layer of whipped cream, all covered by a thin layer of emerald green marzipan, some powdered sugar, and a marzipan rose.

This is much the same as La Pâtisserie du Monde on The History of Princess Cake

The original Prinsesstårta consisted of several layers of sponge cake filled with vanilla custard and raspberry jam.

Okay, now I tried to find the original recipe and it’s pretty clear that I don’t speak Swedish so this was kind of difficult, particularly as what Jenny created and what we have now aren’t the same.

However, there have been a few recent non Swedish bakers sharing their versions of this cake in some larger English speaking publications and two things stand out - one, mascarpone is not traditional for the cream layer, so if you follow one of those recipes be aware you’re not making it traditionally, but that is fine, if that is your preference. Second, this is thanks to so many Swedes in the comments of a large publication’s Princess cake (where they used mascarpone) vehemently swearing that a true Princess Cake has no jam - when it does, it’s a completely different cake.

Even though most Swedes don’t bother making this cake, I did some market research, you could say, with Swedish recipes of Princess Cake to see what the most consistent ingredients and process in making the cake was.

The research included 8 recipes and not all had ratings. Which is to say the website, whether its popular in Sweden or not, didn’t all have ratings to say that these recipes have been tested by the public.

With 1 exception, all cakes were three layers (the exception had four layers, but they also changed up things by only having a thin layer of cream)

5 of the cakes had an equal portion of wheat and potato flour. FYI the protein in wheat flour in Sweden is the same as all purpose or plain flour in the US - a standard 10-12%. Which means if you make this cake in the United States you’ll end up with the same results in your sponge cake as they do in Sweden.

And 1 cake had ⅓ cup + 1 ½ tablespoons wheat flour to 1 cup potato flour which means 75% of the Swedish cakes in my market research used wheat and potato flour in their sponge cakes.

All recipes whip the sugar and eggs until fluffy with a mixing time up to 10 minutes - a couple whip whilst heating until warm in a saucepan or double boiler, but all recipes added the dry ingredients thereafter and slowly incorporate. A couple stir through cooled melted butter before 7 of the cakes are baked in 1 tin and then divided in 3 layers (or 4 in the case of 1 recipe) and one recipe bakes the cakes spread over circles marked on parchment. But then they had to shape into nice uniform circles after baking - I fear that one just feels more high maintenance.

For the custard or pastry cream filling, 2 of the recipes, which will all be linked below, used an instant custard called marchan. 5 of the recipes used milk as the dairy with 1 recipe using equal parts milk and cream and 1 recipe used only cream as the dairy base. Of the 6 cakes that homemade custard for the cake, 4 recipes relied on cornstarch and the remaining 2 used gelatin to help set the custard.

Most of the custards were made the standard way of whisking egg yolks, sugar and starch in a bowl whilst the milk or cream is heated. Where it is added to the egg yolks slowly, whisking whilst adding and then the whole mixture is heated together and whisked until thickened. Where gelatin was called for it was bloomed the standard way in cold water whilst you make the custard, and then whisked into thickened custard until dissolved before cooling completely. All the homemade custards could be made ahead as they required cooling time.

7 of the eight cakes used raspberry jam, of which 5 were storebought, 1 used frozen and one included a recipe for homemade raspberry jam. Which is to say, it seems raspberry jam is an essential element in Princess Cake nowadays, even if it wasn’t an original feature.

All 8 cakes called for homemade whipped cream.

With one exception, the marzipan fondant layer was storebought in 7 of the recipes and full recipe provided to homemake it in the one other recipe. That recipe is very specific in using gel food coloring.

Lastly, it was a 50/50 split on making the rose garnish versus just using a storebought rose garnish.

King Arthur Baking image of Princess Cake

The reason for this research was to find how Swedes make this cake so if you want to or have to make it yourself, traditional details can be confirmed, but it quickly became apparent that some portions are easily outsourced and not essential to be homemade and even the sponge cake layers were called for storebought versions in some cases.

There are so many components to this cake and though some details are really consistent such as using a combination of plain and potato flour in the sponge cakes or making the custard by heating your dairy whilst whisking egg yolks, sugar and starch and then heating together until thickened…the amount of patience and attention required to make this feels like you need to set a date in your diary to actually tackle assembling the layers and creating the right dome to the cream topping and nice smooth marzipan layer.

The sponge cakes are best made the day before assembly and due to the fact the custard needs to be cold, these two elements are best made 1-2 days before assembling.

Now we have gone over the many layers in this cake, Eater notes in their article The Princess Cake Gets Its Princess Moment - Eater

Because of these multiple components, bakers, including Lamb, sometimes find the princess cake intimidating.

That Lamb is referring to Nicola Lamb, writer of the James Beard awarded baking book Sift and now contributor to the NY Times where she has made Princess Cake — all be it adding some twists like only having two layers and using Mascarpone in place of the cream dome. Read the comments on that post and see how strongly Swedish people feel about that choice is all I’m going to say.

In the article It’s sexy! It’s Swedish! It’s everywhere! How princess cake conquered America - the Guardian reflects

This is, after all, a cake so difficult to construct that it served as an early technical challenge on The Great British Bake Off: its wrinkle-free marzipan dome is a fiendish feat of kitchen engineering.

And Hannah Ziskin, the pastry chef for Quarter Sheets who has become famous for her take on Princess Cake notes in the same article that

It’s kind of more in the world of professional baking … there’s something that’s a little inaccessible about it.

I share these comments to say that even people whose job it is to bake can find Princess Cake somewhat daunting. This isn’t to put you off and in fact after doing all this research I feel more inclined to make it myself than I did before. But, like any technical baking, it’s important to really take your time when making this. Tackle each step and don’t rush and you’ll be grand.

Dessert and culture collide

There is something about the Princess Cake’s rise in popular culture in the United States aligning at the same time as Tradwives and things ultra feminine. Even the clean girl aesthetic and Princess Cake all colliding in 2025 is not an accident - they play into each other.

In the article Miu Miu’s Aprons Turn the Tradwife Fantasy Inside Out, Sara Radin reflects that

tradwives offer one version of control in the chaos—what they’re really selling is the fantasy of simplicity. Their world is clean, color-coordinated, and eerily consistent.

Aesthetically pleasing, clean, perfectly sliced layers of Princess Cake bely how much effort is required when making it. How much work a Tradwife has to put into a simple loaf of bread. How many products or even injections go into the clean girl look.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. And with the shift away from the girl boss era - all things cozy, inclusive, being willing to take up space, particularly in professional spaces to owning the place in the home and dressing up for your spouse all colliding at the same time this smooth domed shaped cake topped with a single rose filters into our social media aligns with the message that being feminine is what we should own and the best women know their place and some even insist that their husbands speak for them at restaurants.

Which is hilarious to consider when you factor in how women have functioned, in leading paths of resistance and finding their voices even when society didn’t necessarily want to hear them throughout so much of history.

In my studies of food history, I have seen how over and over again women dominated or were expected to own elements of the work they did - one example is butter being a way for women to profit for their farms in the late 1700s. I’m currently doing a lot of research all about a butter episode, but let me know in the comments if there is anything you would like to learn about it.

Throughout human history, and in fact, many cultures even today, have an expectation for women to not just cook for their families and loved ones, but virtually slave over meals, and within that if some portions of a meal is storebought there is a kind of cheating to what we’re making.

If we don’t disclose that some parts are storebought is it lying by omission? I think those of us who grew up with the easy ability to open our own bank account, solo travel, buy our own homes without a spouse. We don’t care if it’s perceived as lying, in fact there might even be a sense of pride of having made something, but not having slaved over every detail of it. I’ve never made marzipan and I don’t intend to. And that is a beautiful thing because we have the freedom to choose how to spend our time as every human being on earth should.

In this Post Covid world it became clear with how many women were both working full time but also expected to teach their children during the Pandemic and the mental load we are expected to carry without complaint. If I turned up to an event with every facet of my Princess Cake homemade no one would cheer on the hours of effort it took whilst slicing into it, even if I lost sleep or had to sacrifice a meal to get it done for the event.

In the last couple of years we’ve seen a rise in women supporting the idea that feminism is the problem for the male crisis and if we just go back into our homes then so many of the world’s problems could actually be solved. If we align with the reproductive organs we’re born with, the skills we lean into should benefit the systems that have existed throughout humanity, not our personal strengths that don’t necessarily have anything to do with those organs. So Princess Cake’s rise outside it’s homeland, with its truly feminine shape, name and layers all covered in a smooth fondant places a kind of mirror of the world happening around us.

Leaning into joy

Another element of Princess Cake’s rise in 2025 is as simple as how the year began. There was the ushering in of a new US President following a staggering 70 countries holding elections in 2024 with more than half the world’s population affected. Add on 393 recorded nature related disasters in 2024, the obliteration of getting hired thanks to AI in 2025 (I applied for probably 100 jobs that I have relevant skills for and got 1 interview), yay! As well as the constant increase in costs with no or minimal increase in incomes and the Princess Cake in her bright colors and party vibes suddenly feels right at home because what else is there to do when the world is chaos, but lean into joy even harder.

For Charlotta Zetterström, co-founder of the bakery Fabrique, which opened in Stockholm in 2008 and has locations in New York City and London, the princess cake is a symbol of “celebration and positivity.” It’s her “all-time favorite,” she says. The cake is as essential as a Swedish cinnamon bun.

From the Eater article ‘The Princess Cake Gets Its Princess Moment’

And in Cristy Sharp’s substack (a season 14 contestant on Great British Bake Off FYI), Cristy declares

There’s something so joyful and sweetly nostalgic about this cake: the pastel green marzipan, the pink rose, the softly whipped cream dome. It’s beautiful and elegant, but also fun and whimsical. I think we could all use more cakes like this in our lives—not because it’s important, but because it’s nice. And that’s enough of a reason.

The first time I opened my Instagram feed to see a post about 2016 I was getting onto a train where I would, within a week or so later open that same app in the same location and watch as a second person was executed in the street by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis. 2026 started with mayhem, chaos - crane and train crashes, people hunted from door to door or children killed in the streets by the government and it becomes apparent why people went looking back, ten years back to a different time. One that no longer exists. Even then, those posts only reflected the handpicked things of 2016 - we probably were all going through some pretty stressful things, but it was still pre all this!

In the NY Times article Why We Reach for Nostalgia in Times of Crisis

Things just seemed easier in the Before Times

and that

In times of trauma and overwhelming stress, it’s a natural instinct to feel nostalgic and rely on those feelings for comfort and a sense of normalcy, said Valentina Stoycheva, a clinical psychologist specializing in traumatic stress and the author of “The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications.

nostalgia serves as a kind of emotional pacifier, helping us to become accustomed to a new reality that is jarring, stressful and traumatic.

quoting there from Valentina again in that same article.

Yes, when we feel overwhelmed with life, the state of the world or both we reach for things that feel safe. That’s probably why we watch the same shows over and over again - I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen New Girl or Ugly Betty and we also lean into joyful things.

Last year I played with my own lego for the first time since I was a kid and though I was playing in my living room and not my childhood bedroom I didn’t even bother thinking about looking at a screen as I got to making my beloved Lego creation.

Whether it’s returning to an old hobby, finally learning that skill we wanted to when we were five, listening to music from our favorite times or making and baking things that just make our souls feel calm and restored.

There is nothing practical about Princess Cake, but there is a place for it in our world and so whether we buy it or make it, we’re reminded that things don’t always have to have a reason to be worth our time and effort.

As Cristy Sharp says it's