The German bee sting cake is one of the finest classic sheet cakes: the cake with delicious almond crust tastes simply brilliant!
Hey all!
I didn't believe that a simple, classic bee sting cake could taste so good for a long time. I have always given the cake a wide berth. The cake seemed somehow dull to me. But no way! From now on, the German bee sting cake is one of my absolute favorite pastries - filled or not filled.
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Taste and Occasion
The best thing about such a German bee sting cake is that an incredibly fluffy yeast dough joins a lush caramelized almond sugar crust. This combination is a match made in heaven – and it is best eaten while still lukewarm from the oven (as is usually the case with butter tarts).
Ingredients
The foundation of this easy bee sting cake is my basic yeast dough recipe. The only difference: I use a full cube instead of half a cube of yeast on 500 grams of flour. After all, the cake should rise quite a bit, as we will later cut it into two pieces horizontally.
A filled bee sting cake should be cooled so that it gets more stable. It was important to me to create a bee sting cake recipe without raw eggs. Especially in summer, you should not underestimate the risk of salmonella. And due to this risk, at many summer parties, you don't want food with raw eggs anymore.
In addition, I did not want the traditional lush buttercream filling or gelatin in the mass. Therefore, the filling of my German bee sting cake is common vanilla pudding enriched with whipped cream. Wonderfully airy and creamy!
How to make the German Bee Sting Cake
Let's get started! First of all, you need to crumble the yeast into a cup of lukewarm milk. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir the mixture with a spoon until the sugar and yeast have dissolved. Then, put the flour in a bowl and make a mold in the center. Now, add the lukewarm yeast milk mixture.
Add the remaining sugar and mix with a little flour in the hollow. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it in a warm place for about 10 minutes. After this, add the egg, softened butter, and salt. Knead the dough – preferably with a food processor – until smooth. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Knead again briefly and roll out on a deep baking sheet covered with baking paper. Let rise again for 20 minutes.
During the rising time, prepare the almond crust and preheat the oven to 380°F/190°C. For the topping, melt the butter in a large pan. Bring to a boil with the cream, sugar, and honey. Remove from heat and fold in the flaked almonds. Let cool slightly, spread on the risen yeast dough and bake the cake for about 20-25 minutes until golden. While baking, cook the pudding for the filling - using the milk, 200 grams of cream, sugar, and pudding powder. Allow cooling to lukewarm while stirring now and then so that no skin forms. It's time to cut the finished yeast cake into 16-20 pieces (completely cooled and with cream, it isn't easy to do). Cut each piece in half horizontally with a large sharp knife.
For the cream, whip the remaining cream with cream stiffener until stiff and fold into the slightly cooled custard. Lastly, spread a little cream on each cake "base" and top with the "lid". Before serving, refrigerate the bee sting cake for approx. 1 hour. Now it's time to enjoy this delicious German bee sting cake!
Top Tip
German bee sting cake without filling is at least as great a treat as with cream. The Florentine crust itself is magic! Of course, you can also bake a butter cake here. The cake can be frozen without any problems and tastes freshly baked even after defrosting.
Recipe Card
German Bee Sting Cake
Equipment
- deep baking sheet (15x10 inches)
Ingredients
For the yeast dough
- 250 milliliters (1 cup) milk, lukewarm
- 42 grams (3 tablespoons) fresh yeast, (1 cube)
- 70 grams (⅓ cup) sugar
- 500 grams (4 cups) all-purpose flour, preferably Viennese semolina flour
- 1 egg, medium
- 70 grams (⅓ cup) butter, soft
- 1 pinch salt
For the almond crust
- 150 grams (¾ cup) butter
- 3 tablespoons cream , or milk
- 100 grams (½ cup) sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 200 grams (¾ cup) almond flakes
For the vanilla cream
- 500 milliliters (2 cups) milk
- 400 grams (1 ¾ cups) cream , 200 liquid, 200 whipped until stiff
- 80 grams (7 tablespoons) sugar
- 2 sachets vanilla custard powder
- 2 packets cream stiffener
Instructions
- Crumble the yeast into a cup of lukewarm milk. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir with a spoon until the sugar and yeast have dissolved. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Now add the lukewarm yeast-milk-mixture here. Add the remaining sugar and mix with a little flour in the hollow. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes.
- Add the egg, softened butter and salt. Knead the dough (preferably with a food processor) until smooth. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Knead again briefly and roll out on a deep baking sheet covered with baking paper. Let rise again for 20 minutes.
- Prepare the almond crust during the rising time and preheat the oven to 380°F/190°C. For the topping, melt the butter in a large pan. Bring to a boil with the cream, sugar and honey. Remove from heat, fold in the flaked almonds. Let cool slightly, spread on the risen yeast dough and bake the cake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
- While baking, cook the pudding for the filling - using the milk, 200 grams of cream, sugar and pudding powder. Allow cooling to lukewarm while stirring now and then so that no skin forms.
- Cut the finished yeast cake into 16-20 pieces (completely cooled and with cream, it isn't easy to do). Cut each piece in half horizontally with a large sharp knife.
- For the cream, whip the remaining cream with cream stiffener until stiff and fold into the slightly cooled custard. Spread a little cream on each cake "base" and top with the "lid". Refrigerate the Bienenstich for approx. 1 hour before serving.
Ingredient substitutions
Variations
The custard cream in the bee sting cake is, as you can see, "naturally" not entirely homogeneous. If you like a slightly smoother and more cut-resistant filling, you can also use my basic buttercream recipe.
Nutrition
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About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
Please, what are the dimensions of your "deep baking sheet"? It could just but a regional thing, but are we talking "half sheet" pans? "Quarter" sheet pans? 9" x 13" pan? It's a yeast treat, not a batter/cake treat, so it won't spread around, but knowing the preferred size would be great! I'm in the United States, where we're stuck using inches and ounces and so forth, but I can handle centimeters and grams! Thanks!
Hi, thanks for your question; yes, it´s a regional thing snd I should have clarified it better, You will need a sheet pan with round about 10*15 inches, depending on how high the cake should be. If you only have a 9*13 pan, it might be too much and you should only use round about 3/4 of all ingredients
Can u use vanilla pudding instead of vanilla custard sachet? Can u delete the stiffener and just use whipped cream?
Hi, do you mean ready-to-eat pudding?
And yes, you can delete it but then it might get a little less firm.
Can u use vanilla pudding? Can u omit the whipped cream stabilizer?
Hi, as I wrote before: Do you mean ready-to-eat pudding?
And yes, you can delete it but then it might get a little less firm.
How much yeast is in a “cube” of yeast. I only have the packets? Is it the quick ride yeast?
one cube is 42g (see updated recipe). In this case it is fresh yeast, no quick ride yeast. If you want to use instant yeast, you should take 14 grams (4 tsp).
The recipe looks amazing. After living in Germany for 11 years, I crave this cake often. Could you share the size baking pan you use?
Hi, thank you so much! You will need a sheet pan with round about 10*15 inches, depending on how high the cake should be. If you only have a 9*13 pan, it might be too much and you should only use round about 3/4 of all ingredients