Oma's Bienenstich Recipe ~ Bee Sting Cake

➤ by Oma Gerhild Fulson

This Bienenstich recipe is my quick version of my Mutti's traditional German Bee Sting Cake with its sweet, chewy, and nutty topping and creamy filling. 

Mutti's Bienenstich was oh-so-good!

For some reason, though, it didn't find it's way into my oven. So, I decided to create a recipe that was quick and easy.

And, although yeast baking is easy, it is a bit time consuming. I needed something easy AND quick AND made without yeast.

You see, a couple of years ago, I'd been asked to post a "Bee Sting Cake" recipe in my Kaffeeklatscher group on Facebook and realized how much I missed having the cake my Mutti used to make. After all, this German food is SO good!

I combined several German recipes. I did some alterations, and, voila, I made my son, Mike, a Bienenstich birthday cake. WITHOUT YEAST!

Now, this may not be the traditional German recipe, but it is wunderbar lecker! It certainly satisfies our need for German deliciousness!

The traditional Bienenstich ...

Usually Bienenstich is made on a baking sheet, so the resulting cake is quite large. That's great for large parties since yeast dough is fairly inexpensive.

However, it really does need to be eaten the same day it's made because the yeast dough dries out fairly quickly.

The usual filling for this Bee Sting cake is either rich vanilla custard, whipped cream or buttercream.

If you're wanting to see how to make a traditional yeast version, take a look at this one, and you'll understand what I mean, as far as the time it takes, and extra work.

Oma's non-traditional Bienenstich

Tasting like the traditional one, but without the yeast, this one is a quicker version. Tastes so good, and doesn't dry out as quickly as the yeast one.

The only tricky part of this recipe is the timing.

You make the cake layer, bake it, and during the baking time you make the topping, which takes a bit of time.

The topping is put on the cake just as the cake is finished baking and then the whole thing is placed under the broiler to finish browning the top.

To make it all go smoother, have the topping ingredients already pre-measured and ready to go so that the topping is ready when the cake is ready.

Start with the cake ...

Get all the ingredients together for the cake ...

... and get the ingredients ready and measured for the topping as well. You'll be making the topping while the cake is baking and you don't want to find out that you're missing something. 

I like using slivered almonds for their added crunch, although sliced almonds are more traditional. You choose which you'd prefer.

After you make the batter for the cake, put it into a spring-form pan, and bake.

Immediately, start making the topping. You want the topping to be ready the moment the cake is finished in the oven.

As you're making the topping, keep your eyes on the cake. You want the cake to be just nicely lightly golden and firm to the touch.

As soon as the cake is ready, spoon the warm topping over the top. Meanwhile, turn the broiler on.

If the topping gets too thick, just before you go to put it onto the cake, add a bit of honey or cream and heat slightly.

Place the cake under the broiler.

Be careful because the top can burn quickly. This will only take a few minutes to get golden on top.

Carefully run a knife around the top edge while it is still warm to loosen the sticky topping from the edge of the pan.

Let the cake cool completely. Remove the outer ring and them carefully lift the cake off the bottom of the springform.

Once the cake is cold, cut it into two layers.

If you wish, to make cutting the finished cake easier, you may want to cut the top layer into 10 to 12 wedges.

In the cake pictured above, I didn't cut it into wedges, but left it whole.

Make the cream filling.

Place a cake ring around the bottom layer. If you don't hav a cake ring, just place the outer ring from the spring-form pan around the cake. Spoon the filling over the cake. 

Place the top layer over the cream and press down slightly.

If you've cut the top into wedges, just assemble them on top. This will actually make cutting the finished cake easier, eliminating any possibility of the cream being squished out during cutting through the nutty top layer.

Remove the outer ring and refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. Enjoy!

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