Today I am going to share with you the recipe for a childhood favourite of mine! Baumkuchenspitzen – An absolute classic in Germany at Christmas time! I know, the word is a mouthful! Not only figuratively speaking though, as these little Baumkuchenspitzen are the perfect treat that can be popped into your mouth in-a-oner!
These Baumkuchenspitzen look great among a selection of German Christmas biscuits/cookies, which are often brought out in the afternoon to enjoy with coffee and/or tea! I will leave a list below with other German Christmas biscuits for you to try. But now let´s first focus on these amazing “Baumkuchenspitzen”!
What are Baumkuchenspitzen?
Before we look into how to make them, let´s first discuss what Baumkuchenspitzen even are! A rough literal translation of the word would be something along the lines of “tree cake triangles”. “Baumkuchen” (tree cake) is a very traditional bake that the Germans have been making for years! Baumkuchen is a cake consisting of many thin layers of cake that resemble the inside of the trunk of a tree when cut! Hence the name!😉 You can check out the Wikipedia page for more info if you´re interested. It comes in many different shapes and sizes, but at Christmas it can often be found in the form of bite-sized triangles that are then coated in chocolate.
My recipe vs. the original…
I use some marzipan in my recipe, but you can hardly taste it! So don´t let that put you off if you don´t like marzipan!
You can find “Baumkuchenspitzen” that don´t contain alcohol, but my recipe below is flavoured with Caribbean rum! In Germany, we always used to buy the Baumkuchenspitzen flavoured with Jamaican rum from Lidl – and they taste amazing! I don´t even drink and usually dislike the taste of alcohol – but this is one of my two exceptions (the other one being Kirsch in Black Forest Gâteau, my favourite cake of all times)! The Lidl Baumkuchenspitzen are what I have tried to recreate in the recipe below – and you can see how mine compare to the originals in the pictures below, as my dad sent a box over to me the other week!
How do you make Baumkuchenspitzen?
You might be wondering how you make Baumkuchenspitzen and how you can create those tiny layers of cake? The answer is that tiny amounts of batter a baked at a time, adding the next layer on top once the previous is cooked. To do so, the cake is GRILLED – a method you may have never used before in cake making! Not exactly one of the 5 main cake making methods which you can read about here!
Each layer of cake mix is placed under the hot grill for about 2-4 minutes (depending on how hot your grill is), before the next thin layer of batter is added. This is repeated until all the batter in used up, and in the recipe below, that should be enough to make about 10 layers.
To make sure you´ll be able to see some distinction between the layers once baked and cut into, the alternating layers of the Baumkuchen are cooked for a different amount of times. One layer is grilled until slightly darker in colour, and the next is grilled for a little less time to make it lighter.
Other (German) Christmas Treats and Biscuits
The German love their Christmas biscuits, or “Plätzchen” as they are known there. Everyone makes them at Christmas and it is always important to have a wide array of different types of Plätzchen in your biscuit tin! Check out some of the other recipes below if you want to give them a try!
- Vanilla Crescents | “Vanillekipferl”
- German Christmas Stollen with Marzipan | “Marzipanstollen”
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
- Gingerbread Men
- Hazelnut Shortbread with Dark Chocolate “Haselnussbrot”
- Chocolate Orange Crescents | Schoko Orangen Kipferl
- Coconut Macarons | Kokosmakronen
- Spritzgebäck | German Piped Christmas Biscuits
- Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
Baumkuchenspitzen with Rum | German Christmas Baking Classic
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE BAUMKUCHEN CAKE:
- 75g marzipan
- 7-8 tbsp Jamaican/Caribbean Rum, 4 for the cake plus 3-4 tbsp more for brushing the cake with later
- 3 M eggs, 2 separated and one whole
- 125g butter or margarine, softened
- 125g caster sugar
- 75g plain flour
- 25g cornflour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
TO FINISH:
- 300g dark chocolate
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (or sunflower oil)
Method:
- Line a 25x25cm square baking tin with some baking paper. Preheat the grill to the highest setting (around 200-220°C) and arrange one of the shelves in the oven so that it is approximately 20cm under the grill.
- Separate two of the eggs, placing the egg whites in a clean glass bowl and then set the yolks to one side until needed. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk using a hand-held electric whisk (or a free-standing mixer) until it forms stiff peaks.
- In a separate bowl, break the marzipan into small pieces, add 4 tbsp of rum and then whisk/”smush” with a fork or spoon until the marzipan has fully “dissolved” in the rum. Add the softened butter and whisk (no need to clean after whisking the egg whites). Do this for about 2-3 minutes until everything is well combined and the butter is light and fluffy.
- Next, beat in the sugar for a further 1-2 minutes. Add the whole egg followed by the two yolks to the mix, whisking well between each addition.
- Sift in the dry ingredients and whisk briefly until fully incorporated. Use a large metal spoon or spatula to stir in a spoonful of the stiff egg whites, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Do this carefully to keep in as much air as possible.
- Spread about 3 tablespoons of the batter into the bottom of the prepared cake tin. Grill in the oven for 2-3 minutes until the top is a light golden-brown colour. Remove from the oven and spread the next 3 tbsp of batter over the top. Grill this layer for 2-4 minutes until a darker golden-brown colour than the previous layer, but make sure not to burn the top of the cake!
- Repeat this process of creating one lighter and one slightly darker layer until all of the cake mix has been used up. You should get about 10-12 layers out of the batter in this recipe.
- Once all layers have been baked place the tin on a wire rack to cool. Brush the top of the cake with some more rum while it is still warm. Use roughly 2-4 tbsp of rum depending on how strong an alcohol flavour you wish to achieve.
- Once completely cool, remove the Baumkuchen from its tin and carefully peel off the baking paper. Cut the cake into small triangles (I cut the cake into 4 rows and then each row into triangles by cutting alternating diagonals).
- Chop the dark chocolate and add 200g of the chocolate to a heat-proof bowl (I use a glass bowl). Set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl isn´t touching the water, and stir until fully melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 100g of chopped chocolate and the coconut oil.
- Dip the Baumkuchen triangles into the melted chocolate to coat, then set on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Leave at room temperature until the chocolate has set.
