Baumkuchen
Tree cake- Yield
- 1 small cake (about 10 servings)
- Active
- 1 1/2 hours
- Total
- 2 hours
- Difficulty
- Advanced
The story
When the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV visited the small town of Salzwedel in 1841 and tasted the local Baumkuchen, he was so delighted that he asked to take the rest of the cake home to his wife. In 1865, King Wilhelm I named a Salzwedel baker purveyor to his court. The name, "tree cake," comes from the look of a slice: concentric layers of batter, each baked separately on a rotating spit before the next is poured over it, resemble the growth rings of a trunk. Baking a single cake takes up to an hour and a half of uninterrupted work by a baker who must watch the moisture of the batter so that it does not tear away from the spit, a skill once practiced by specialized, highly respected masters. Because of that complexity, Baumkuchen is rarely baked at home. Traditionally it is bought from a specialist baker or ordered ahead for festive occasions, Christmas among them.
This recipe contains alcohol. It is meant for adults of legal drinking age.
Ingredients and method
The full recipe, with US and metric measures and stand-ins for hard-to-find ingredients, is part of the Christmas edition. Buy it once and keep the PDF.
Want to try first? Zimtsterne is free to cook.