A traditional German yeast cake whose folkloric name supposedly refers to a bee drawn to its honeyed topping, Bienenstich is a German dessert of yeast dough with a caramel-almond crust and a cream filling.
A pillowy yeast crumb sandwiches a thick layer of cool vanilla cream, all crowned with a brittle, golden almond brittle that shatters at the bite. Sweet, nutty, and lightly honeyed.
Yeast fermentation gives the dough its soft, airy crumb, while cooking sugar with honey and cream past the syrup stage caramelizes it into a crisp almond topping that sets hard as it cools.
Variations
Buttercream filling instead of custard, individual portions, vanilla-rum cream, sheet-pan family version
On the Palate
Where Bienenstich sits in the German flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12
How it's made
8 steps · 30 min
- 115 min
Make an enriched yeast dough with flour, milk, butter, sugar, and egg, then knead until smooth.
- 260 min
Cover and let the dough rise until doubled in size.
Watch outLet it rise until doubled and a poked dent springs back slowly — rush this and the crumb bakes dense instead of airy.
- 38 min
Cook butter, sugar, honey, and cream to a light caramel, then stir in sliced almonds.
Watch outCook the sugar-honey-cream just to pale amber before the almonds go in — too dark and it sets rock-hard and bitter as it cools.
- 45 min
Press the dough into a tin and spread the warm almond topping evenly over it.
- 530 min
Let it proof briefly, then bake until the top is golden and crisp.
Watch outBake until the almond top turns deep gold and crisps up — that caramel layer needs to set hard, not stay sticky.
- 630 min
Cool completely, then slice the cake in half horizontally.
- 710 min
Whip up a thick vanilla pastry cream and spread it over the bottom layer.
- 830 min
Replace the almond-topped lid and chill before cutting into squares.
