Indian Princess Cake

Marzipan almost ended me....but I overcame

Hello friends!

I spent the last week forest bathing, covered in marzipan and then eating my way through Philly!

I spent a weekend away at Dawn Ranch (which I learned is desi-owned) in Guerneville, about 2 hrs north of SF, with Smarty Pants Vitamins! It was my first influencer trip, and it was so amazing! We sound bathed, forest bathed (which is essentially meditating in an outdoor setting), and practiced some self-care.

This weekend I went to Philly to see my best friends and eat at a bunch of new spots! My favorite by far was Mawn, which is a noodle house. The melon salad and miso peanut butter noodles are a MUST! Seasoned perfectly, super fresh and herbaceous, and the noodles were the right QQ texture!

During the week, I was covered in Marzipan and custard while trying to turn this Sabyasachi dress into an Indian version of a Swedish Princess Cake! I had to remake the cake twice and redecorate it three times, but in the end, I got it!

James Beard Platform Event in NYC- March 9th

In celebration of Holi and my newest book, Desi Bakes, I’m going to James Beard Platform to create a sweet afternoon of cooking and tasting. I’ll be demoing how to make her Masala Chai and Kesar Pista Cream Puffs, and you guys will get to taste a selection of decadent treats from my cookbook while sipping chai!

Indian Princess Cake

For this week’s inspiration for Runways to Recipes, you guys chose a Sabyasachi heritage red bridal sari. It’s elegant, chic and has just the right amount of bling to it! I decided to try and use it as inspiration to desi-fy a Swedish Princess Cake, which is a cake made up of layers of sponge cake, raspberry jam, vanilla custard and, diplomat cream. The cake is then covered in a mint green marzipan, or almond paste, and adorned with a pink marzipan rose.

To make mine desi- I opted for a red marzipan flavored with cardamom extract and rose water, a cardamom and vanilla custard, and guava rose jelly. I kept the sponge traditional. Also, instead of the flower on top, I used the Kundan necklace from the image as inspiration and wrapped some gold marzipan around silver dragees to mimic the look!

This cake tested me deeply. The marzipan is prone to tearing which can be extremely frustrating. My first version of the cake, the cake was not tender enough- so I swapped out AP flour for cake flour, the marzipan was tearing a lot - so I rolled it out thicker the next time, and the custard was too loose- so I thicked it with additional cornstarch the second time around.

The flavor combination really was out of this world! The guava rose jelly had a nice tartness to it that cut through the rich custard and diplomat cream. Also, the rose flavor was nice and light and didn’t overpower the cake. I ended up serving it to a bunch of 8-year-olds at Elara’s cub scout meeting, and every single kid finished their plate- so I count that as a major win.

This is a cake to make if you want to truly challenge yourself. You don’t need to go crazy and embellish it the way I did. You can totally just put the marzipan on and call it a day!

You can see Part 1 and Part 2 of the series on Instagram!

This recipe is for paid subscribers. If you’re looking for free recipes- check out my blog Milk & Cardamom.