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Princess Cake With German Buttercream

A beautifully fluffy and moist sponge cake filled with homemade red currant jam and not overly sweet German buttercream that's made with pudding to create a delicious and beautiful looking princess doll cake.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time50 minutes
Chill Time1 hour
Total Time2 hours 50 minutes
Course: Baking, Cakes
Cuisine: European, German
Keyword: Elsa cake, Elsa doll cake, princess doll cake
Servings: 16 Portionen
Author: Ester | esterkocht.com

Equipment

  • 26 cm(10 inch) bundt cake dish
  • Pipping bag

Ingredients

For the sponge cake

  • 300 g (1 ¼ cups/ 10.6 oz) margarine/ butter room temperature
  • 250 g (1 ¼ cups/ 8.8 oz) sugar
  • 6 medium eggs room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
  • 300 g (2 ½ cups/ 10.6 oz) plain flour (all purpose flour)
  • 4 baking powder baking powder

Buttercream with custard powder

  • 750 ml (about 3 ¼ cups/ 26.4 fl.oz) milk
  • 72 g (about ½ cup + 2 tablespoons/ 2.5 oz) vanilla pudding powder (custard powder)
  • 150 g (1 ½ cups/ 5.3 oz) powdered sugar (icing sugar)
  • 250 g (about 1 cup/ 8.8 oz) Butter, room temperature
  • blue food coloring

You'll also need

  • 12 tablespoons red currant jelly or similar

Instructions

  • Grease a bundt cake dish and dust with flour or bread crumbs. Next combine plain flour and baking powder and sieve. In a bowl beat butter, vanilla sugar and sugar together until creamy. Stir in eggs three at a time. Now add the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time while whisking. Repeat the process until you’ve had used up all the flour mixture. Transfer the batter to the prepared cake dish and bake for 50 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Remove the cake from oven and let cool completely (preferably overnight).
  • Make pudding with pudding powder: Bring about two- thirds milk to a boil. In the meantime add vanilla pudding powder (custard powder) to the jar with the remaining milk and stir well. Once the milk starts to boil stir in pudding - milk mixture. Keep stirring until the pudding starts to bubble and has thickened. Remove from the heat, stir well once again and transfer the pudding to a chilled bowl. Cover with cling film and let cool to room temperature.
  • While the pudding is cooling to room temperature, Cut the completely cooled sponge cake horizontally four times, such that in the end you have five layers. Simply put the cake on a cake board/ platter. While holding a long knife with the right hand, place your left hand on the cake to hold it, while lightly applying pressure and split it in half. Put the top half onto another cake board/ large plate or platter, enlarge the hole in the middle (so that the doll will fit) and cut into three layers. Next enlarge the hole in the middle of the bottom part as well and then cut into two layers. Lift up the cake layer from the bottom layer and put it aside.
    You could also use a thread to split the cake.
    Once the pudding has cooled to room temperature it's time for the next step. It's very important that the pudding and butter are at room temperature!! Otherwise the cream will not emulsify!!
  • Make buttercream with cooked pudding: In a bowl combine sugar and butter cut into chunks and beat well. Now stir the pudding very well and take one tablespoon of pudding (at room temperature) at a time and add to the sugar and butter mixture while whisking. Repeat the process until you've had used up all the pudding.
  • Next transfer half of the pudding to an extra bowl, color it with the blue color and chill. The blue colored buttercream is for decorating the cake whereas the uncolored buttercream is for filling the cake. Now take a knife or something similar and divide the surface of the uncolored buttercream into four parts. This just makes it easier to divide the buttercream among the layers.
  • Spread the bottom layer with about 3 tablespoons jam and then spread a layer of buttercream on top, about ¼ of the buttercream.
    If you're using jam just make sure to heat it for few seconds in the microwave or over a water bath so that it will become easier to spread. Next, cover with the next middle cake layer, that's already spread with jam or jelly. Using your hands gently press the cake layers nicely together. Then spread with part of the buttercream. Repeat the process until you've filled the first four layers with jam and buttercream. Cover with the top cake layer with cut side facing down. Using your hands gently press the cake layers nicely together. Then chill for 1 hour.
    - The first three bottom layers require lots of jam and buttercream in comparison to the top layers. Leave some uncolored buttercream for decoration and chill as well.
  • After chilling the cake, we wanted to insert the doll at the center of the cake. Unfortunately it was taller than the cake. So my mum in law found a plastic bowl with a flat base and my father in law made a hole in the middle. The bowl was placed under the cake. After the doll was wrapped in a cling film (so that the princess dress will stay clean) before placing the doll in the middle of the cake.
  • Now fill the pipping bag with the blue buttercream and pipe small swirls around the cake, such that in the end it looks like a princess dress. Use also the remaining uncolored buttercream to decorate or make the princess dress the way you want. Keep the princess buttercream cake in the fridge until consumption. Enjoy!

Notes

  • This recipe uses vanilla pudding powder/ custard powder, but if you don’t have access to it, just use cornstarch /cornflour of the same amount and add 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean pod. Follow the same steps of making the pudding. Once you remove the pudding from the heat, add an egg yolk and stir well. Then transfer to a bowl.