Easy German Raspberry Cake Without Flour ~ Einfache Himbeertorte

➤ by Oma Gerhild Fulson

An EASY raspberry cake, aka Himbeertorte??? Something that is so delicious, so scrumptious, so delectable and so pretty ... just can't be an easy recipe, can it? Or can it?

Well, if it's this delicious cake from my dear German friend, Heidi, then yes. It's ALL that! Heidi, who is a fantastic baker, likes to take cake recipes and change them to suit her style. This one is a perfect example of this. And it's not just easy, it's VERY easy! Really. And it's even gluten-free, using very few ingredients.

This is such a great example of a traditional German torte, one of the best cakes for special occasions or even a Sunday afternoon Kaffeeklatsch with family and friends. It's absolutely perfect when you have fresh raspberries available, however using frozen fruit works as well. Other fresh fruit will work as well, but you'll need to read my info on using them below.

For the raspberry cake above, I used fresh raspberries and loved how fresh berries brought such a wonderful flavor. My cake layer is made with ground hazelnuts. Oh, that was so delicious. Hazelnuts are difficult to find here, but when I do, they make a wonderful cake.

Heidi's recipe calls for using ground almonds. Because of that, her cake layer is much lighter in color. Here's the very first time I had a piece of her cake. As soon as I tasted it, I knew I NEEDED that great recipe!

Above, you'll see that Heidi's looks different than mine, but not just is the color of the cake, but in the raspberry cake filling as well. She used frozen raspberries and frozen blueberries (a Canadian addition). The fruit has been thawed and well drained before being put on the whipped cream layer.

Heidi's original recipe, using the almonds, comes from the "Kochbuch der Frauengemeinschaft Wettrup" and is subtitled "Freude beim Zubereiten" meaning "Joy while preparing".

What kind of fruit to use?

There's a reason one uses raspberries for this. Well, maybe two reasons. The first is that it tastes heavenly. The second is that it allows one to easily cut the cake.

Yes, those berries are sitting on top of a whipped cream layer. It has stability due to the stabilizer, nevertheless, it's still just whipped cream. If you have a firm berry, such as a blackberry, it is be difficult to make nice slices.

For Heidi's cake above, she used frozen raspberries and blueberries. She thawed them and drained them very well to remove as much juice as possible. She used the juice to make the glaze. The cake slices well.

Take a look at my latest one below, that I used frozen raspberries and frozen blackberries, thawed and well-drained. It worked as well, BUT, I struggled to get nice looking slices because the blackberries didn't cut through easily. They squished out as my knife came to them.

So, using soft fruit is needed. Soft when fresh or frozen. For me, it'll be just raspberries from next time. However, I'd love to make this as a strawberry cake, but I'd only try that using thawed frozen strawberries so they would be softer.

Hmmm ... but I do like the raspberry flavor. Perhaps I'll have to make both!

Blueberries work well since they are small berries and push aside easily when cutting, I'd probably put more than one layer of blueberries on to give the cake some height.

How to cut this torte?

You'll see in my first cake at the very top, when using the fresh berries, the cake layers are nicely separated. There are distinctive cake, cream, and fruit layers. It cuts nicely, keeping those layers.

For Heidi's cake using the frozen berries, you'll see that the berry juices are running down into the whipped cream layer. Still tastes absolutely amazing. This happens for two reasons.

1. If the cake is kept refrigerated overnight, those juices from the thawed berries bleed into the cream layer. Still amazingly delicious.
2. When you are cutting the cake in a normal way, the knife will actually 'push' those juices into the cream layer.

If you're wanting distinctive layers, you'll need to serve the cake the same day it is made and cut it differently. You'll need to insert your knife right into the middle of the cake so it is perpendicular to it. Then using very small up and down motions, cut towards the edge of the cake. That way the knife doesn't 'push' those juices into the cream and the cake will have distinctive layers.

It was cutting the cake using a perpendicular knife that caused my blackberries to be squished out the end. LOL ... but you know, no one complained. Instead, everyone still wanted seconds.

What nuts to use?

You'll see by the difference in the torte colors, that Heidi and I used different nuts. I used ground hazelnuts in my first photo above and she used ground almonds. Both delicious, yet slightly different in taste.

In my last photo, I used ground almonds. Which is better? Hmmm ... I like both. Which would you prefer?

I'm actually thinking that next time I make it, I'll add a bit of almond flavoring to the ground almonds. That will amp up the cake layer to taste almost like marzipan. (I have a soft spot for marzipan!)  I think that would taste so heavenly.

How to make this Raspberry Torte

Here's a quick look-through of the main steps in making this. You'll see that I use a cake-ring instead of the springform outer ring when I assemble the cake.

Wouldn't this be the perfect dessert to make for Mother’s Day or Valentine's Day?

I can see it being made in a heart-shaped pan and sitting on a pretty cake stand. :)

Ready for this Himbeertorte?

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