Bienenstich
'Bee sting' cake: yeast cake with honey-almond crunch and vanilla cream filling
Bienenstich, the 'bee sting', is a sheet cake found in every German bakery: a soft, buttery yeast dough baked under a crackling layer of almonds caramelised with butter, honey and sugar, then split and filled with vanilla cream. The story goes that a bee, drawn to the honey topping, stung the baker. It's a Sunday afternoon cake, at its best on the day it's made. This version sets the filling with cornflour custard folded with whipped cream, no gelatine. Chef's tip: cut the topping layer into portions before you put it back on the cream; the hard almond crust otherwise squeezes all the filling out when you slice it.
- Total time
- 90 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the dough
For the almond topping
For the vanilla cream
Method
0/9 doneStep 1: Make the vanilla cream base first. Whisk 3 egg yolks, 2 ½ oz sugar, 1 ⅜ oz cornflour and 100 ml of the ½ cup milk until smooth. Bring the rest of the 1 ¼ cups milk to the boil, pour it onto the yolks while whisking, return to the pan and cook over a medium heat, whisking hard, until it boils and is very thick, about 2 minutes. Stir in 2 tsp vanilla extract, cover the surface with cling film and chill for at least 2 hours.
8 minStep 2: Mix 12 ½ oz plain flour, ¼ oz instant dried yeast, 1 ¾ oz sugar and ½ tsp salt. Add ¾ cup milk, 1 egg and 2 ⅛ oz butter and knead for 8–10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 45–60 minutes, until doubled.
60 minStep 3: Line a 23 × 33 cm baking tin. Press the dough evenly into it, cover and leave for 20 minutes more while you make the topping.
20 minStep 4: Melt 3 ½ oz butter, 2 ⅞ oz sugar, 2 tbsp honey and 3 tbsp double cream in a pan over a medium heat, stirring, and let it bubble for 1–2 minutes until lightly thickened and pale caramel coloured. Stir in 5 ½ oz flaked almonds and leave to cool for 10 minutes; it must be just warm, not hot, or it melts the dough.
13 minStep 5: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Spread the almond mixture over the dough in an even layer with a spoon.
Step 6: Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the top is a deep golden caramel and bubbling and the cake sounds hollow when tapped. Cool completely in the tin. If the topping browns too fast, cover loosely with foil.
28 minStep 7: Lift the cake out and cut it in half horizontally with a long serrated knife. Cut the top almond layer into 12 pieces and set them aside.
Step 8: Whip 1 cup double or whipping cream to firm peaks. Beat the cold custard until smooth, then fold in the cream. Spread it over the bottom layer about 3 cm thick, lay the almond pieces back on top and chill for 1 hour. A common mistake is filling a warm cake: the cream melts and slides.
60 minStep 9: Cut along the marked pieces with a sharp knife and serve chilled. Eat within 2 days, kept in the fridge.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 430 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 46 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bienenstich take?
- About 90 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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