Easter desserts to do now

Images of rebirth and renewal are everywhere at Easter: hatching chicks, rabbits hordes and emerging flower pimples. The return, caused by the occasion and a crowd to eat, are seasonal bakers, rested from the holidays and revitalized for spring.

Easter is an opportunity to cook for dear beings, and these two recipes, charming Easter “cakes” and a resplendent princess cake, are opportunities for beginner and advanced bakers. The first is as simple as possible – barely requiring a recipe – and perfect for cooking with the whole family. The second can surprise you. Although it looks like a big business, a princess cake is much easier to make than you think, thanks to a rationalized method and technical shortcuts that do not compromise on flavor or presentation.

Let’s start with the humble nest cakes. The favorite Easter dessert of Great Britain, they are a mixture without fodder of chocolate, butter and crunchy cereals, filled with candy, preferably chocolate eggs (these are nests, after all). A pillar of sales of school pastries and family meetings, they are one of the first things that young British cooks learn to do and could not be easier: simply melt, stir, portion, then relax until it is a wonder that we even call them cakes.

The origins of the Easter nest date back to the Second World War. A recipe for “chocolate crisplets” appeared in the “recipes of war -mixed warlifts from 1941”, calling for the melting “of the propagation of desired chocolate” and mixed with “enough cereals” until they are “stiff”, then left to settle. Wave instructions – no specific measures or cereals called – are typical today.

The exact composition of an Easter nest varies from family to family, and debates continue on the “good” cereals to use – grated wheat (for the most realistic nest), rice krispies (undoubtedly delicious) or cornflakes (my choice) – as well as the addition of golden syrup and butter. But with regard to decoration, there is a universally respected rule: keep it kitsch. Plus the more miniature Easter paraphernalia, chocolate eggs with tiny plastic chicks, you can get involved, the better.

At the other end of the spectrum is Prinssettårta,, or Swedish princess cake. Although this is not traditionally the price of Easter, it certainly resembles the game, with its pastel green contours evoking a flourishing hill. The light and airy interior layers, far from highly spicy winter cakes, make it an ideal spring centerpiece.

Prinssettårta was created by Jenny Åkerström, author and professor of domestic economics, and published for the first time in his 1948 edition of “Prinsessornas Kokbok”, “The Princesses’ Cookbook”. Initially called Gröntårta, Green Cake, the dessert was so loved by Princesses Margaretha, Märta and Astrid, students of Mrs. Åkerström, that he is finally known as “Princess Cake”. The royal association remains strong. When Princess Estelle was born in Sweden in 2012, Princess Cakes sold across the country.

The original Recipe of Gröntårta called for three layers of soft spongake and custard, covered with rigid whipped cream and covered with a thin layer of mandelmassa in the shape of green (almond paste), finished with a single pink pink. Although the essence and the palette of colors have endured, the almond paste has been replaced by mounted, softer and smoother mass and the dome -shaped shape – supposed to refer to a crown – is a modern addition. Purists can say that Jam, who did not appear in the original recipe but is an element of contemporary versions, does not belong, although the pie is welcome among the sweet confusion of soft and creamy layers.

It is estimated that half a million princess cakes – about four million tranches in a nation of only 10 million people – are sold each year in Sweden, which makes the country’s best -selling pastry by far. Even a week ago every September by honoring the beloved cake.

Make one, however, can be difficult, involving several components and a meticulous superposition, and the finish of the mass capacity may seem intimidating. But don’t worry: rationalization is absolutely possible. In this recipe, the sponge is reduced to only two layers, and the jam and the mass bought in high quality stores intervene to considerably reduce the workload. The pastry cream, which generally requires a method of soaking back and forth, has been simplified by whisking all the ingredients in a single saucepan and heating up to thickness. The whipped cream – often stabilized with gelatin – is rather fortified with the simpler addition of mascarpone.

The best song? This princess cake is entirely built in a bowl. No stacking of the layers and draping of the mass over (in my opinion, the frightening part). This gives you as much time as you need to line the bowl with mass (you can even start again, if necessary) and superimpose the elements without any concerns about stability. Once, it turned out, it reveals a beautifully smooth dome, adapted to any princess.