Prinzregententorte: Royalty tastes like heaven
Prinzregententorte or the Prince Regents Cake is a speciality item from the city of Munich. It stands among the top three food items of Germany with the famous white sausages or the Weißwurst and the pretzel.
Just like the locally brewed beer, Bavaria is also famous for its tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen or coffee and cake. This is one of the main reasons as to why Bavarian cakes are renowned globally. Furthermore, the Prinzregententorte is in-fact a part of the very same tradition and is held prestigious by the local communities.
History of Prinzregententorte
The story here begins in the year 1821 within the household of prince Luitpold of Bavaria. He was the youngest born male child of the King of Bavaria, Ludwig I and of his wife Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Furthermore, their wedding was also the reason for the commencement of another popular festival, the Oktoberfest. Luitpold of Bavaria was only able to ascend to the throne after his uncle, Ludwig II was declared mental unstable. Ludwig II is probably best known for his pet project – the Neuschwanstein castle.
Furthermore, even before the instability of Ludwig II, Luitpold of Bavaria was engaged in satisfying his duties as an administrator and representor of the empire. However, he could not be declared King because of his uncle was still alive and well. It was only in 1886 that the declaration was passed and Luitpold was named Regent. It is important to know that being a regent did not imply being a king as it was the brother of Ludwig II, Otto of Bavaria who rightfully commanded the throne. Now, the case became slightly complicated here as Otto of Bavaria was also diagnosed with a certain kind of mental sickness. Considering all of these circumstances, Luitpold did preside over the empire as a king but he never really was given the title.
As far as the citizenry of Bavaria is concerned Luitpold was their absolute favourite and his popularity knew no bounds. Luitpold, when he was elected the Regent, one of his first actions as the authority was to construct and open numerous vivid parks and palaces for public viewing. He was known to be a liberal man who boasted a long beard and often behaved as though he was a commoner. He was high spirited but always calm and composed. His was a peaceful reign which lasted from 1886 to 1911. It is due to this reason that people started referring to this period in time as – Prinzregentenzeit or for the Anglophones, Prince Regent’s time. Prinzregententorte was thus created in the honour of Luitpold, the Prince Regent. A certain Heinrich Georg Erbshäuser who was a baker by profession is said to have created the cake in the year 1886 honouring Luitpold.
The Prinzregententorte usually comprises of either 8 layers of sponge cakes or buttercream made using biscuits and chocolate. The outer layering of the cake in any case was covered in chocolate as well. It is further interesting to note that the number 8 also carried certain significance. The figure 8 represented the eight Bavarian districts – Swabia, Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia, Upper Franconia, Upper Palatinate, and Rheinpfalz or the Rhenish Palatinate. Today however, Bavaria only has seven districts and the very last in the above list – Rheinpfalz or the Rhenish Palatinate is no longer considered as a district. It is a part of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.
Heinrich Georg Erbshäuser, the baker upon introducing took Luitpolds permission in christening the cake as Prince Regent’s cake and it is since that day that the cake came to be known so. It was thus inculcated within the traditions of Munich and Bavaria at large.
Another interesting fact encompassing Prinzregententorte is that if you wish to have it in the same way as it was made first. In that case upon your visit to Munich make sure that you go to Café Erbshäuser which still exists. The coffeehouse might be a little difficult to find as it is nicely tucked behind the Bavarian Ministry of Finance in Kardinal-Döpfner-Straße and is quite close to the Odeonsplatz. So, make sure you visit the spot.
Recipe
The following recipe is traced upon the very original and will take a total 90 minutes of your time including preparation and baking.
In addition to the ingredients you will also need a 26 cm. spring form tin, baking parchment and some quantities of fat.
For an inexperienced cook the process might be slightly challenging, hence if you or anyone else is having troubles the first few times then it’s alright.
Ingredients:
For the cake mixture:
- Butter or margarine: 250 grams or 9 oz.(buster should be softened before use)
- Sugar: 250 g. or 9 oz.
- Vanilla sugar: 1 sachet (or 2 to 3 drops of vanilla essence)
- Salt: A pinch
- Eggs: 4 medium
- All-purpose flour: 200 g. or 7 oz. (plain)
- Cornflour or corn-starch: 50 g. 2 oz.
- Baking powder: 1 tsp.
For preparing the buttercream
- Custard powder: 45 g. or 1 ½ oz. (chocolate flavoured)
- Milk: 500 ml. or 2 ¼ cups or 17 fl oz.
- Butter: 250 g. or 9 oz. (softened for use)
For the final chocolate coating
- Plain chocolate: 200 g. or 7 oz.
- Cooking oil: 2 tsp.
Method:
To begin with, first you can preheat the oven at exactly 180 °C or 350 °F.
Next, take the precise spring form tin as mentioned above and begin by greasing it on the inside and then line it with the parchment paper. You can use butter as a greasing agent.
For the next step you will require a medium to large sized mixing bowl. Make sure that the bowl is made of an unreactive material such as glass or ceramic. Now, begin by working on the softened butter. Work on it till it turns into a paste and using a spatula made out of fibre or plastic for the mixing is the best way to go about it. Just in case butter is unavailable, margarine is the best substitute. Additionally, you can also use a hand held mixer to evenly smoothen the butter or margarine. Furthermore, while you are whisking gradually go on and add sugar along with vanilla essence and a pinch worth of salt. You will have to go on mixing this mixture till the point it combines evenly and its texture becomes thicker. Next, you will have to add each of the four eggs one at a time and spend as much as half a minute on whisking each egg and while you are doing that turn the mixer to its highest setting. Finally, when the mixture gets combines put the bowl on the side for the time being.
Next, in a bowl of similar dimensions as mentioned above go on and mix together the all-purpose flour with corn-starch and baking powder after sifting them neatly. In this bowl add butter or margarine deepening upon the availability and finally the mixture from the previous bowl. It is important that you add the above mixture to this bowl in two stages. When you add it for the first time it might be a little tight to mix through but keeping a strong and firm hand mix it nicely. Then you can add the remaining mixture and make the perfect batter out of it. Also remember to keep the mixer on its medium setting else the flour might just spill on the side.
This step concerns with the preparation of the 8 layers of the cake. For each of the layers you will have to scoop out 3 tablespoons full of the mixture and paste it on the base of the spring form tin. Keep on repeating till the point you have all your layers ready. The one precaution that you will have to remember is that towards the edges the layers should not get too thin else there is a high chance for it to get an ugly dark colour whilst it is in the oven.
With that done turn to the oven and reduce the temperature to 160 °C or 325 °F. You will be required to bake each of the layers independently which usually does not take more than 8 minutes’ worth of time in a fan forced oven. Also remember to not place the ring on the spring form tin till and bake till the point a nice even brown colour appears on each of the layers.
Also, when each of the layers get ready independently you must go ahead and place them on a rack so that they cool down as quickly as possible. When they get cooled, remember to remove the parchment paper from their base.
When the layers are ready, then comes the time to prepare the butter cream. The German styled buttercream is brilliantly smooth and rich in taste. Typically, it has a custard base though with the cake gets tinges of the natural yellow colouring. You can prepare custard the same way or simply follow the instructions on the pack. Furthermore, in addition to the usual ingredients you will also be adding 100 g. or 3 ½ oz. or ½ cup of sugar. When the custard is prepared you must allow it to cool down properly but refrigeration is point blank prohibited. Instead what you can do is stir the custard from time to time so that the trapped heat underneath can escape and hasten the cooling process.
Again take a separate medium sized bowl and add some of the butter or margarine in it and using a whisker mix till the point it becomes homogeneously smooth. Then you can add the cooled custard one tablespoon at a time. Another matter of advice concerns the temperature of both the custard and the butter, they should be at room temperature as otherwise they might curdle.
Now comes the time of the assemblage of the cake. To have a rough idea, its final appearance should be somewhat like a gateau. Each of the layers carry a sumptuous spread of butter cream and then some more butter cream on top and then the final chocolate.
For the final chocolate coating you will be required to chop the chocolate chunks coarsely and then melt them in a bain-marie along with oil on low heat. The trick is to continuously stir the melting chocolate so that it does not burnout. Now when the chocolate is ready pour it nice and evenly on the cake. You can begin to pour it from the centre and then gradually spiral outwards, covering the entire top surface. Allow some of the molten chocolate to drip on the side. Lastly, you can use a broad knife so that you are able to smoothen the chocolate coating on the side. As far as the top is concerned you will have to flatten it by first evening it out using the same knife and then refrigeration does the rest. The prinzregententorte is ready to be served.