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Bienenstich, or “Bee Sting” as it would translate to literally, is another German Baking Classic! This cake is made with an enriched dough, that is cut in half and filled with a custard whipped cream, and topped with a crunchy, caramelised almond topping! Probably one of my favourites when it comes to German cakes and an absolute delight to eat!
The Bienenstich is an absolute afternoon “Kaffee and Kuchen” (coffee and cake) classic and can be found at nearly every bakery in Germany. Usually, a Bienenstich is a large, round cake, but you can also find traybake versions of it. The cake is actually a lot lighter than it may look, and is perfect for summer’s day!
Check out the video here:
What is a Bienenstich Cake?
Bienenstich in German literally translates to “Bee Sting”. Now, you might be wondering why exactly this cake is called “bee sting cake” when there isn’t any honey or anything of the sorts involved?! I asked myself the same question!
The real origin of the name is not known, but there is an old folk tale that could explain where the Bienenstich got its name from. According to Wikipedia, in 1472 a small town in Germany called Linz decided to attack the village of Andernach. The Kaiser had promised that Andernach would receive the money from taxes that Linz had previously received, so the villagers planned an attack on Andernach. On the morning of the attack, however, two baking apprentices from Andernach were eating some honey from beehives when they saw the attackers approach. They threw the beehives at the attackers, who were stung by the bees and had to flee. To celebrate, they baking apprentices made a special cake that they named “Bienenstich” – the “bee sting cake”.
How to make a Bienenstich?
The Bienestich cake consists of three main components: An enriched dough, a custard cream filling, and a crunchy almond topping. I will briefly go through each element in turn, but make sure you check out the video here for a more visual explanation on how to make the Bienenstich.
THE ENRICHED DOUGH
Enriched dough, or “Hefeteig” as it is called in German, is very common to many German bakes. More traditionally, it is shaped into plaits that can be plain or filled, but in this recipe the enriched dough replaces the sponge you’d find in other cakes. I have made things with Hefeteig on my blog before, so make sure to check out the recipes for a German Nusszopf, Nussschnecken, and a Neujahrsbrezel, too!
To “enrich” the dough, i.e. add more “fatty” components to the dough rather than the typical flour, salt and water found in bread dough, this recipe uses sugar, an egg and milk. In the below recipe, I would also recommend using fresh yeast, as this is the preferred type of yeast in Germany and yields better results in my opinion. Most UK supermarkets (e.g. Morrisons, ASDA) sell fresh yeast in the fridge section or from the in-store bakery, however, if you cannot find fresh yeast you can also use the dried version. But I´d recommend using fresh yeast if you can.
The dough is quite sticky to work with so I use the dough hook of an electric whisk to knead the dough, however you can also use your hands if you like. Once made, the dough is left to prove for an hour, before it is moulded into a 26cm round spring-clip tin, covered with the almond topping and baked.
German off-brand custard powder 
German “original” Dr Oetker custard powder 
UK off-brand custard powder 
UK branded custard powder
THE CUSTARD CREAM FILLING
Another very common thing to Germany is custard powder, or “Puddingpulver” as it is called in German. In this recipe, it is used to make a thick vanilla custard that is folded into the whipped cream for the filling. I have checked and you can also buy vanilla custard powder in UK supermarkets (e.g. Morrisons) so use the equivalent amount of that if possible. If not, you could always make a thick custard yourself by following this Baking Basics post for custard here, but only using 350 ml of milk.
The custard is then left to cool (make sure it has cooled completely otherwise it will melt the cream) before folding it into some whipped double cream. Make sure not to overwhip the cream and that all of your ingredients and equipment is cold before using. You can check out more tips on how to whip cream perfectly here.
THE CRUNCHY ALMOND TOPPING
Arguably, the best part of this Bienenstich cake is the crunchy almond topping! It is very simple to make, all you do is melt together some butter, caster sugar, and a tablespoon of the cream before adding the flaked almonds. Make sure to use flaked almonds as they need to be very thin to ensure a crisp topping – slicing them yourself will probably not get them thin enough!
Make sure to only briefly stir the almonds into the butter and sugar mix and not burn it, there will be plenty of time for them to crisp up and caramelise in the oven. If the top of the cake is browning too quickly, you can always cover the top with some tinfoil for the rest of the baking time.
The almond topping can be fairly difficult to cut, so I would recommend slicing it before assembling the cake (see video and recipe instructions below). This means that when you are serving the cake, only the base remains to be cut and prevents all of the filling oozing out as you cut a slice.
More German Baking Classics
Having grown up in Germany, I have had a lot of exposure to German baking and have very much enjoyed baking things traditional to the country. There are loads more recipes for other German Baking Classics on my blog, so make sure to check out some of my favourites listed below:
- Black Forest Gateau | “Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte”
- Laugenbrezeln | German Pretzels
- Baked Chocolate Cheesecake | “Russischer Zupfkuchen”
- Seeded and Carrot Loaf | “Muntermacher”
- Strawberry Flan Cake | “Erdbeerboden”
- Marbled Traybake with Cherries and Chocolate | “Donauwellen”
- Beesting Cake | “Bienenstich”
- Enriched Dough Plait filled with Chocolate and Nuts | “Nusszopf”
- German Baked Cheesecake | “Käsekuchen”
- Bauernbrot | Classic German Bread Baking
- “Haselnussbrot” – Hazelnut Shortbread Biscuits dipped in Chocolate
- Chocolate-Orange Crescent Biscuits | Schoko-Orangen Kipferl
- Plum Crumble Cake | Zwetschenkuchen mit Streuseln
- Kirschlikuchen | Cherry and Chocolate Cake
- Neujahrsbrezel | Enriched Dough Plait for New Year’s Day
- Laugenzöpfe | German Breakfast Rolls
- Chocolate and Hazelnut Bundt Cake | Nusskuchen mit Nussglasur
Bienenstich | “Bee Sting” Cake | German Baking Classics
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE DOUGH:
- 250g flour
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 40g caster sugar
- 21g (½ cube) fresh yeast (or 7g sachet dried yeast)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 80ml milk, lukewarm
- 1 M egg, beaten
- 40g butter, melted
FOR THE ALMOND TOPPING:
- 100g butter
- 100g sugar
- 1 tbsp whipping cream
- 130g sliced almonds
FOR THE CUSTARD CREAM FILLING:
- 300g double cream
- 37g (1 sachet) vanilla custard powder
- 40g caster sugar
- 300ml milk
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- Round, 26cm spring-clip tin
- Electric hand whisk
- Round cake lifter (optional)
- Angled palette knife (optional)
- Silicone spatula
Method:
- To make the dough, mix together the flour, caster sugar and salt and set aside. Crumble the fresh yeast into the lukewarm milk and stir to dissolve. Pour the mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients, followed by the vanilla extract and egg. Mix briefly until the dough starts to come together, then add the melted butter.
- Knead with the dough hook attachment for 4-5 minutes until the dough is smooth, glossy and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl to form a ball. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave the dough to prove for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- In the meantime, prepare the custard for the filling. Whisk together the custard powder and caster sugar with 4 tbsp of the milk, then pour the remaining milk into a small saucepan. Set over a medium-high heat and bring the milk to the boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, remove from the heat, then pour and stir the custard powder mix into the hot milk. Return to the heat for about a minute until thick, stirring constantly.
- Pour the custard into a shallow bowl, then place a piece of clingfilm over the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool.
- Lightly grease a round, spring-clip 26 cm cake tin with butter. Once the dough has doubled in size, shape it into a disk. Flatten into the prepared cake tin, gently easing the dough into to the sides until it covers the entire base.
- Next, prepare the almond topping. In a medium sized pan, gently melt the butter, sugar and 1 tbsp of the double cream (from the filling ingredients above) and stir until well combined and the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then turn off the heat and stir in the flaked almonds.
- Spoon the almond mixture over the dough in the tin and spread it out evenly across the surface. Set aside and leave to rise again whilst you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Bake the cake for 25-35 minutes until the dough is cook and the top is golden-brown and caramelised. Keep an eye on the cake near the end of the baking time to make sure the almond topping doesn´t burn! If the top is getting to brown, cover the cake with some tinfoil for the remainder of the baking time.
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes. Then carefully remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
- When the cake has cooled cut the cake horizontally using a sharp knife. Try to make the two halves as equal as possible, but make sure to leave enough dough under the almond topping so that it doesn’t fall apart when you lift it.
- Once separated, place the bottom half of the cake onto a serving plate. Then cut the top half into 12 equal segments, as if you were cutting a cake.
- To finish making the filling, pour the remaining cream into a bowl (for more tips on whipping cream, check out the Baking Basics post here). Use an electric whisk to whisk until the cream forms stiff peaks.
- Stir the cooled custard to loosen it up and get rid of any lumps (if it is too lumpy you can push it through a sieve), then mix in a spoonful of the whipped cream. Then gently fold in the remaining cream, a little at a time, until the custard and the cream are fully combined.
- To assemble the cake, close the 26cm spring-clip rim around the bottom half of the cake. Evenly spread out the custard cream filling over the top of the cake, levelling the surface with an offset palette knife or the back of a metal spoon. To finish, arrange the 12 pieces of the top half of the cake on top of the filling.
- Leave the Bienenstich cake to chill in the fridge for at least an hour before carefully removing the spring-clip rim. Then the cake is ready to serve and enjoy!
