Mary Berry’s Swedish Princess torte challenge, bake yeast-leavened cakes and dobos torte on this week’s Great British Bake Off, pushed the bakers to their limit in European cakes week.

Mary sets the bakers a demanding technical challenge with a Swedish Princess torte bake, that has 14 different stages and 26 different ingredients. The bakers were given just two-and-a-quarter hours to make this traditional cake.

A Swedish Princess Cake is a traditional Swedish layer cake consisting of alternating layers of airy sponge cake, raspberry or strawberry jam, pastry cream, and a thick domed layer of whipped cream. This is topped by marzipan, giving the cake a smooth rounded top. The marzipan overlay is usually green, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and often decorated with a pink marzipan rose.

For their signature challenge the bakers are asked to bake yeast-leavened cakes; a tricky cross between cake and bread.

For their showstopping finale the bakers must make their own contemporary version of the dobos torte. Traditionally a multi-layered Hungarian cake, the bakers must go one step further and make a two-tiered dobos torte with an emphasis on all things caramel in every way they can imagine.