OK! I’m gonna start sharing some pastries and other sweet things from where our visitors are from! There’s so many yummy things. This is a yummy German cake with a fun name translation. The Bienenstich Cake, or in English the Bee Sting Cake!
Why is it called that? Well there’s a couple of legends about it. One is the first person to make it was stung by a bee that was attracted to the honey used in it. The other is that German bakers from the 15th century lobbed beehives at raiders from a neighboring village. When that made them go away they celebrated by inventing this cake!
You will need!
Ingredients
Filling
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups whole milk
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons butter, cubed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
CAKE:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup butter, cubed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
ALMOND TOPPING:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup sliced almonds
Equipment needed
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Bowls
- Muggle stand mixer or your wand and the stirring spell
- Tea towel
- 9” spring-form pan
- Saucepan
- Wand and cauldron
- Wax paper or plastic wrap
Instructions
- For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks. Whisk a small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; return all to pan, whisking constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in butter until melted. Immediately transfer to a clean bowl; stir in vanilla. Cool 30 minutes. Press plastic wrap or wax paper onto the surface of the filling; refrigerate until cold.
- Whisk custard gently. Fold in half the whipped cream. Fold in remaining whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate.
- While custard is chilling, make dough. In a large bowl, mix sugar, yeast, salt and 1 cup flour. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat on medium speed 1 minute. Add eggs; beat on high 1 minute. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
- Turn dough onto a well floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- While the dough is rising, make almond topping. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, honey and sugar. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in almonds. Cool slightly and set aside.
- Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; roll into a 9-in. circle. Transfer to greased 9-in. springform baking pan, pressing to evenly fill the pan with dough. Spoon almond mixture over dough and gently spread to cover the entire surface. Cover pan with a kitchen towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled, 25-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake until topping is golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides from the pan with a knife. Cool 1 hour longer.
- Remove cake from base of springform pan. Using a long serrated knife, cut cake horizontally in half; spread filling over cake. Replace top of cake. Serve immediately. Chill leftovers.
