Bienenstich
'Bee sting' cake: yeast cake with honey-almond crunch and vanilla cream filling
GermanBienenstich, 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
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (8)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
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.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Moist banana bread
The blacker the bananas, the better the loaf. This one is mixed in a single bowl with melted butter and a little brown sugar, so it's soft, deeply banana-y and keeps well for days.
American
Ma'amoul
Ma'amoul are delicate shortbread-like pastries made for Eid and Easter across the Middle East. A soft, rose-scented butter dough is wrapped around a filling of dates, walnuts, almonds and pistachios cooked with cinnamon, marked with a fork, baked pale and dusted with icing sugar. Makes 35; they keep well in a tin.
Tarte au sucre lilloise
In Lille and across the Nord, a sugar tart is not pastry at all but a flat round of soft brioche dough, dimpled and covered with brown cassonade sugar, butter and a little egg and cream, which bakes into a sticky, caramelised top over a fluffy base. Families buy it from the boulangerie for Sunday breakfast and goûter, or bake one when guests come for coffee. The Nord's own beet sugar, vergeoise, gives it a deep, almost molasses flavour; soft dark brown sugar is the closest swap. Chef's tip: press deep dimples into the risen dough with your fingertips before adding the topping; the sugar and cream collect in them and bake into little pools of caramel.
French