Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Bee Sting Cake



This bee sting cake recipe or bienenstich is popular in German-speaking countries and Hungarians have borrowed it from their neighbors.

The cake can be made with or without yeast and filled with pastry cream or whipped cream or a combination of the two as it is here. What is common among the varieties is the honey-butter-almond topping, which creates a crispy, crackly top. If you like honey, this is the cake for you -- it's in the batter, the topping and filling.

Bee Sting Cake

Ingredients:

Topping:
  •     7 tablespoons unsalted butter
  •     1/2 cup honey
  •     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  •     1/2 cup sliced almonds


Cake:
  •     1 3/4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  •     1 tablespoon baking powder
  •     1/2 teaspoon salt
  •     4 ounces (1 stick) butter, slightly softened
  •     5 tablespoons sugar
  •     1/4 cup honey
  •     2 large eggs
  •     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  •     1/2 cup milk


Filling:
  •     1/3 cup cornstarch
  •     1 1/2 cups milk
  •     1/4 cup sugar
  •     1 large beaten egg, room temperature
  •     1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
  •     1 cup heavy whipping cream
  •     2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  •     1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

For the Topping: In a medium saucepan, melt butter and honey. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Add vanilla and almonds, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

For the Cake: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut a parchment circle to fit the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Coat pan bottom and sides with cooking spray. Place parchment circle in bottom of pan.

Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream 4 ounces butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in 5 tablespoons sugar, about 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup honey and beat 1 more minute.

Blend in eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla and half the flour mixture, and mix briefly. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add milk, then remaining flour, beating briefly after each addition.

Scrape into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle top with remaining 1 tablespoon flour, then pat top of cake smooth with your hand. Pour topping over batter, gently spreading evenly. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick tests clean. Do not overbake. Cool cake in pan completely on a wire rack.

For the Filling: In the top of a double boiler over medium heat, combine cornstarch, milk and 1/4 cup sugar. Stir constantly until thickened, at least 3 minutes. Add in 1 beaten egg and keep stirring constantly for about 2 minutes until very thick. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract, if using.

Chill in an ice-water bath, stirring occasionally. Place plastic wrap in direct contact with surface of pastry cream and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.

Whip the cream with the cream of tartar and confectioners' sugar until stiff. Add a dollop of cream to the pastry cream and stir to lighten the cream. Then fold in remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate while you prepare to assemble the cake.

Run a knife around the edges of the cooled cake and remove the springform ring. Invert cake onto a plate. Peel off the parchment paper and invert again on a serving platter, so the almond side is showing. Cut cake in half horizontally and fill with pastry cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

15 comments for "Bee Sting Cake "

  1. cannot wait to make this cake! has everything I love...honey, almonds, pastry cream! YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  2. cannot wait to make this cake! has everything I love...honey, almonds, pastry cream! YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  3. "4 ounces (1 stick) butter, slightly softened"

    So which is it? 4 ounces or 1 stick? A stick is 8 oz here in the states.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "4 ounces (1 stick) butter, slightly softened"

    So which is it? 4 ounces or 1 stick? A stick is 8 oz here in the states.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think someone is confused between tablespoons and ounces.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This cake was a HIT! My husband loved it.. But I have a few suggestions about the cream and topping. I made everything as directed except I sub the milk in the filling for half & half. The topping I made which was made as directed was too runny and it leaked through the springform pan so make sure you place something under the springform pan before you put in the oven. So I suggest maybe reducing the amount of butter and honey in the topping. And the filling took 10 minutes of continuous stirring on the double boiler before it started to thicken.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This cake was a HIT! My husband loved it.. But I have a few suggestions about the cream and topping. I made everything as directed except I sub the milk in the filling for half & half. The topping I made which was made as directed was too runny and it leaked through the springform pan so make sure you place something under the springform pan before you put in the oven. So I suggest maybe reducing the amount of butter and honey in the topping. And the filling took 10 minutes of continuous stirring on the double boiler before it started to thicken.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sounds amazing and I can't wait to try it out, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I don't understand all the confusion. This is a very well written recipe and the ingredients and instructions are precise and easy to follow. If this is a difficult recipe for anyone to follow, maybe a cakemix would be best to start with?

    ReplyDelete
  12. 2 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar in 1 cup of cream? I was wary, but followed the recipe anyway. The whipped cream tastes horrible! And looking at other sources, it seems that only like 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar would typically be used to stabilize a batch of whipped cream. So now what do I do? Dump the nasty cream or risk continuing and ruining the entire recipe?

    ReplyDelete