Bienenstich Cake
The name comes from the top: honey, butter and almonds bake into caramel, and getting a nut out of it is supposedly like robbing bees. The trick is not in the dough but in the order of work — the cake is split while still hot, when the caramel is soft, or it shatters and the squares slide apart. The cream has to be firm, or the weight of that lid pushes it straight out.
- Prep
- 50 min
- Cook
- 22 min
- Rest
- 3 h
- Total
- 4 h 12 min
- Servings
- 12
- Level
- Challenging
- Per serving
- 520 kcal
Ingredients
For the dough
For the almond topping
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What to use instead
Chopped hazelnuts work instead of flaked almonds, though the lid comes out denser and darker.
For the cream
Makes: One 23 × 33 cm tray, 12 squares
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
Oven
190 °C · top and bottom heat, no fan
With a fan: 170 °C
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Step 1: Make the dough
Mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Pour in the warm milk, add the egg and yolk and work for 5 minutes, then add the soft butter and knead 8 minutes more to a smooth elastic dough. Cover and leave 60 minutes, until doubled.
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Step 2: Cook the cream
Whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornflour to a smooth paste. Bring the milk almost to the boil, pour it into the yolks in a thin stream while whisking, and return everything to the pan. Cook over medium heat, whisking without stopping, until thick and bubbling — another 1–2 minutes after the first bubbles.
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Step 3: Chill the cream
Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and the cold diced butter. Push it through a sieve, press cling film onto the surface and chill completely, at least 2 hours. Warm cream holds nothing up.
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Step 4: Make the topping
Melt the butter, sugar, honey and cinnamon in a small pan and simmer for 2 minutes, until smooth and golden. Off the heat, stir in the flaked almonds and let it cool a little.
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Step 5: Assemble and prove
Heat the oven to 190 °C. Press the dough into a 23 × 33 cm tray lined with baking paper, stretching it to the corners. Spread the almond mixture evenly over the top and leave 20 minutes to rise.
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Step 6: Bake
Bake for 20–22 minutes, until the almonds are amber and the dough pulls away from the sides. If the nuts colour faster than the base, lay foil over the top.
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Step 7: Split it hot
Rest 10 minutes, then lift it on its paper onto a board and split the cake horizontally with a hot knife, cutting the top half straight away into 12 squares. Hot, the caramel cuts; cold, it shatters.
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Step 8: Fill and chill
With a mixer, whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold it into the cold custard in two goes. Spread it thickly and evenly over the base and set the caramel squares back on top. Chill for at least an hour.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Spread the almond mixture warm but never hot: hot, it melts the yeast dough and the rise is gone.
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Variation
Some bakeries stir two tablespoons of rum into the cream, which cuts the sweetness of the caramel well.
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Swap
Chopped hazelnuts work instead of flaked almonds, though the lid comes out denser and darker.
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Storage
The cream gives it two days in the fridge. The caramel softens on day two, which is normal and bothers nobody.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 12 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 520 kcal | 6,240 kcal |
| Protein | 9 g | 108 g |
| Fat | 30 g | 360 g |
| Carbohydrates | 52 g | 624 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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