Swedish Princess Cake with a Detroit Red Wings Makeover

I made a manly princess cake. Ok, let me back up a bit.   One of my baking buddies, Megan, asked me to do a cake for a surprise birthday she was throwing for her dad's 60th birthday.  For the design of the cake, she wanted it to be something related to Detroit Red Wings (the hockey team).    She left the cake flavor petty much up to me, but gave me a few hints about her dad's taste:

  • He makes a mean chocolate/raspberry sacher torte (which he has always loved)

  • Hates apricots and pumpkin pie :)

  • The family is Scandinavian so they are big on flavors like almond paste/cardamom/etc.

I didn't want to try to compete with Megan's dad's sacher torte....and I also had never heard of it before that... so I went with the one Scandinavian cake I have made before -- a Prinsesstårta (Swedish Princess Cake).  This photo below is more or less done in the the "classic" style of the swedish princess cake.

IMG_0917_c2

It's delicious and one of my favorites.  It has no apricots or pumpkin and it's covered in marzipan (almond paste)!  Now, all I had to do was figure out how to make it less "princess" and more "hockey fan".  I made a little Red Wings Inspiration Board (that might be the first time that phrase has EVER been said) to get my wheels turning...

detroit red wings

and then I went to the drawing boards (or iPad Drawing app) and came up with this cake design, which would keep the classic dome shape of the princess cake.

Untitled

And here is how it came out, with a few small modifications from my sketch.

IMG_9184_p-2

I made my own marzipan, which is actually quite easy to do.  But it does usually have a bit of a yellow color.  To get it to look like ice, I painted on white food coloring powder mixed with vodka with a drop of almond extract.  The hockey puck, red striped border, dad flag, and the "60" plaque were all made with fondant.

IMG_9193_p2e

I think that counts as a successful manly makeover for the princess cake!

IMG_9194_p-2

The best part, though, was the cake hand-off to Megan, which involved me literally cutting through the Bay to Breakers race (the early morning runners) with cake in hand like a game of frogger.

Thanks again Megan for the order and hope the birthday was an awesome day & big surprise for your dad!