German Bee Sting Cake is a yeasted cake with a beautiful texture, fantastic honey flavor (hence the name), a beautifully caramelized almond topping, not to mention a thick, creamy vanilla filling. It’s honestly the best cake I think I’ve ever made, and it’s a recipe I’m super excited to share it with you!
Before I started baking, I was a little intimidated to tackle this traditional German cake. Our BFF’s have been to Germany many times over the years, and they’ve spoken so highly of this cake I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it justice.
Since I was gifting this Bee Sting Cake to them for the many thoughtful acts they’ve done for us in the past, I especially wanted it to be amazing! And, it was!!
Welcome to the 2nd Annual #SummerDessertWeek event hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife. This sweet week-long event is filled with fun dessert recipes from amazing bloggers and some great giveaways from our generous sponsors! We can’t wait to share all of these summer-themed desserts with y’all and celebrate summertime sweets all week long!
There are 23 wonderful bloggers participating in this year’s event! With over 60 recipes being shared this week we just know that you’re going to find a new summer favorite! Plus, don’t forget that we have 5 (five) great giveaways for you this week too!
**Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom of this post to enter for your chance to win some exciting prizes!
But now… back to today’s recipe…
**Please Note – The printable recipe card with detailed instructions and complete ingredient measurements for making German Bee Sting Cake – Kudos Kitchen Style is available near the end of this post.
The ingredient list for German Bee Sting Cake;
- all-purpose flour
- granulated sugar (I used Dixie Crystals)
- instant yeast (I use Red Star Yeast)
- salt
- milk
- eggs
- butter
- honey
- sliced almonds
- heavy cream
- instant pudding mix
- vanilla extract (I use Adams Extracts)
Our friends both loved my Kudos Kitchen version and proclaimed it the best Bienenstitch Cake (Bee Sting Cake) they’d ever eaten.
Of course, it’s been many years since they’ve been back to Germany so their recollections may not be all that accurate, but I’ll take the compliment and run with it! LOL
Once made, how do I store this yeasted honey cake, and for how long?
I made sure to place my cake on a domed cake plate, covered it, and stored it in the refrigerator. I made this cake two days before I was gifting and serving. It served up fresh and moist which makes it perfect for entertaining because it can be made in advance. Any remaining cake may be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (if it lasts that long).
How many people will this German honey cake serve?
Bee Sting Cake is rich, so a small slice will go a long way. This cake can serve 16 people comfortably.
Can you taste the yeast in the cake?
Yes, you certainly can, but if you’re worried that it will taste like bread, don’t be. The yeast lends a wonderfully light aroma that compliments the sweet honey flavor and gives the cake a uniquely dense, yet light and airy texture.
Is the vanilla filling you’ve used for this Bee Sting Cake traditional?
Nope, and that’s why I’ve coined the phrase “Kudos Kitchen Style.” While the filling I’ve used is not traditional, it has an excellent body which stands up to the texture of the yeasted honey cake, and allowed me to pile the filling high in the center of the cake! Is it so wrong?!!
Since this cake requires yeast, does that mean there is rise-time involved? How long does this cake take to make from start to finish?
Yes, there are two rise-times to be exact. The first rise time is 60 minutes but the dough will only grow a little in volume after that rise. The second rise of 45 minutes will still only cause the cake to rise a tiny bit, but it is during these rise-times (proofing) that the flavor of the cake is developing. During the baking is when you’ll see the cake rise and grow. Trust me when I tell you the smell of this German Bee Sting Cake baking in the oven will be intoxicating. This cake takes approximately 3½ hours to make (start to finish), but much of that time is rise-time and not fully “hands on.”
What are the steps for making German Bee Sting Cake?
- Assemble your ingredients and bring the eggs, butter, and milk to room temperature.
- Add the flour, granulated sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
- Add the eggs, milk, and butter to the center of the well. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 60 minutes. *Note – the dough will not rise much.
- Generously butter a 9″ round cake pan. **However, a 9″ springform pan may be a better choice. The directions will be the same no matter which pan you use.
- Fit the bottom of the buttered cake pan with a disc of parchment paper which has been sprayed with baking spray.
- Add the cake dough to the pan and spread it out evenly.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise again for approximately 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter, sugar, and honey in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir well and allow the mixture to cook, stirring frequently until the mixture deepens in color and turns a golden brown.
- Stir in the heavy cream, salt, and almonds.
- Stir frequently and allow the mixture to deepen in color but not burn. You’re looking for a light amber color.
- Remove the honey almonds from the heat.
- Spoon the honey almond mixture over top of the unbaked cake, making sure to spoon the almonds all the way to the edges of the cake. *Note – do not try and spread this mixture as it will tear the cake dough. Spoon it gently to cover as much as the surface of the cake as possible.
- Place the cake pan on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely on a wire rack.
- Once cooled, invert the cake on a second wire rack. *Note – if using a springform pan, no need to invert the cake (except to remove the parchment), release the collar and allow the cake to cool completely.
- Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
- Invert the cake one more time so it sits almond side up.
- Use a serrated knife to gently slice the cake evenly in half, lengthwise.
- In a medium bowl whisk heavy cream, vanilla pudding mix, and vanilla extract until it becomes thick and creamy.
- Place the bottom half of the cake on a serving platter, and drizzle honey liberally over the cake bottom.
- Spoon and spread the pudding mixture in an even layer over the bottom half of the cake.
- Gently place the top of the cake, almond side up, onto the cream layer and press gently.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready serve.
- Note – This cake can be made up to two days prior to serving.
For additional recipes I’ve shared for #SummerDessertWeek (2017 and 2018), please click on the following titles for;
- Copycat Toasted Almond Ice Cream Bars
- Lemon Drop Cheesecake
- Triple Chocolate Cherry Kahlua Ice Cream
- No-Churn Banana Walnut Ice Cream
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Filled Eclairs
Below is the printable recipe card for today’s German Bee Sting Cake or (German Honey Cake).
If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment to give it some feedback by way of stars near the comment section at the end of this post, OR in the recipe card feature itself. 🙂
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2¼ teaspoon (1 packet) active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups sliced almonds
- 2¼ cups heavy cream
- 1 box (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-
Assemble ingredients and bring the eggs, butter, and milk to room temperature.
-
Add the flour, granulated sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
-
Add the eggs, milk, honey, and butter to the center of the well. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough.
-
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 60 minutes. *Note - the dough will not rise much.
-
Generously butter a 9" round cake pan, however, a 9" round springform pan may be the better choice.
-
Fit the bottom of the buttered cake pan with a disc of parchment paper which has been sprayed with baking spray.
-
Add the cake dough to the pan and spread it out evenly.
-
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise again for approximately 45 minutes.
-
Meanwhile, melt the butter, sugar, and honey in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat.
-
Stir well and allow the mixture to cook, stirring frequently until the mixture deepens in color and turns a golden brown.
-
Stir in the heavy cream, salt, and almonds.
-
Stir frequently and allow the mixture to deepen in color but not burn. You're looking for a light amber color.
-
Remove the honey almonds from the heat.
-
Spoon the honey almond mixture over top of the unbaked cake, making sure to spoon the almonds all the way to the edges of the cake.
*Note - do not try and spread this mixture as it will tear the cake dough. Spoon it gently to cover as much as the surface of the cake as possible.
-
Place the cake pan on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
-
Cool the cake completely on a wire rack.
-
Once cooled, invert the cake on a second wire rack. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
-
Invert the cake one more time so it sits almond side up.
-
Use a serrated knife to gently slice the cake evenly in half, lengthwise.
-
In a medium bowl whisk heavy cream, vanilla pudding mix, and vanilla extract until it becomes thick and creamy.
-
Place the bottom half of the cake on a serving platter, and drizzle honey liberally over the cake bottom.
-
Spoon and spread the pudding mixture in an even layer over the bottom half of the cake.
-
Gently place the top of the cake, almond side up, onto the cream layer and press gently.
-
Cover and refrigerate until ready serve.
**Note - This cake can be made up to two days prior to serving.
Tools and equipment;
large bowl, small bowl, wooden spoon, measuring cups, measuring spoons, medium saucepan, large spoon, 9" round cake pan OR a 9" round springform pan, baking sheet, parchment paper, scissors, butter for buttering the pan, baking spray, serrated knife, medium bowl, whisk, cake plate or serving platter, cooling racks.
I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed today’s recipe for German Bee Sting Cake (Bienenstitch) Kudos Kitchen Style, as much as I’ve enjoyed bringing it to you for #SummerDessertWeek 2018.
For more delicious sweets and treats, please check out the amazing #SummerDessertWeek recipes from today’s bloggers!
Sweet Summertime Cakes:
- White Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caramel Espresso Buttercream from The Food Hunter’s Guide To Cuisine
- Bee Sting Cake from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
- Coffee Cake from A Blender Mom
- Tropical Summer Cake from Daily Dish Recipes
No-Bake Treats:
- Banana Pudding No Bake Cheesecake from The Bitter Side of Sweet
- Strawberry Cloud Dessert from Shockingly Delicious
Baked Desserts:
- Homemade Blueberry Cream Cheese Danishes from Big Bear’s Wife
- Black Cherry Kolaches from The Spiffy Cookie
- Blackberry Bread Pudding from Eat Move Make
- White Cake with Vanilla Cherry Buttercream Icing from The Beard and The Baker
- Lemon Poppyseed Scones from Mildly Meandering
- Cherry Sweet Rolls from Comfortably Domestic
Sweet Sips:
- Watermelon Slushies from The Domestic Kitchen
And now, without further ado, here is the sponsor information, and the prizes are they’re offering to our lucky winners for #SummerDessertWeek 2018
PRIZE #1
Prize #1 — Dixie Crystals is giving away one (1) Instant Pot (8 Qt) to one lucky winner!
PRIZE #2
Prize #2 — Adam’s Extract is giving away – One bottle of Adams Best Vanilla Flavor, Adams Best Prize Winning Pound Cake Mix, Adams Extract Twice as Stong Vanilla and Adams Extract Lemon Extract
PRIZE #3
Prize #3– Red Star Yeast is giving away an Insulated Tote Bag, “I Knead to be Loaved” Apron, “The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” Cookbook, Printed recipe ebook, Yeast (three 3-strips of Platinum), French Rolling Pin, Measuring Spoons, Bench Scraper/ Dough Cutter, Dough Whisk, Oven Mitt and Kitchen Towel
PRIZE #4
Prize #4 — Susquehanna Glass Co. is giving away one set (4 glasses) of Mermaids Stemless Wine Glasses. (like the Mermaid glasses you’ll see in some of our recipes this week!)
PRIZE #5
Prize #5 — Lodge Cast Iron is giving away one (1) 12-inch Cast Iron Skillet.
Giveaway open to US Residents 18 years or older. No PO Boxes Please. giveaway runs from July 9th until July 15th at 12AMEST. Winners will be selected soon afterward and contacted by e-mail. Winners will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. There are a total of 5 (five) prizes and therefore we will have a total of 5 (five) winners.
Disclaimer: These posts and recipes are part of the week-long event, #SummerDessertWeek but all opinions are 100% mine! We would like to Thank our amazing sponsors: Dixie Crystals, Adam’s Extract, Red Star Yeast, Susquehanna Glass Co. and Lodge Cast Iron! These wonderful sponsors provided the prize packs for our giveaways and also sent samples and products to the #SummerDessertWeek bloggers to use in their recipes.
Should you have any questions regarding this recipe for sweet German Bee Sting Cake, or anything else you’ve seen on my site, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly or leave me a comment in the comment section below. It is always my distinct pleasure to get back to you with a reply just as soon as I possibly can!
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Kudos Kitchen by Renée ~ Cooking up artistically delicious family-friendly dishes from my Kudos Kitchen to yours!
Until we eat again, I hope you have a delicious day!
I’ve been to Germany but somehow missed out on this cake. Guess I’ll have to make yours!
We finally made it to Germany last spring. Unfortunately, we didn’t have it there either. Glad to be able to make it at home. It’s SOOOOO good!!
I’ve never made this kind of cake before but I am SO intrigued! Can’t wait to try it out!
I’ve only made this cake once, but I’m anxious to make it again…soon! I love that it’s so simple to make. I know you’ll love it, Meghan!
Wow! What a pretty cake!
Thank you.
I love the flavors of this cake! So perfect for summer!
Glad you think so. Me too. The honey is nice and light and so is the flavor of the filling!
This cake is amazing! I love the name of it, too.
It’s fun. I love the name too, and it makes perfect sense!
I didn’t know bee sting cake was a thing but oh man do I LOVE everything about it! Great recipe!
I didn’t know about it either until some friends of ours kept talking about it. So glad I made it. It’s amazing! I do hope you’ll try it.
I am so curious about this cake! I have never eaten or made a cake with yeast. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
I never had either, Dorothy! It’s amazing. I do hope you’ll try it!
I love this beautiful cake! I’ve never heard of this before, and I’m really looking forward to giving it a go! Lovely!
Thank you, Patricia. I’d only heard of it because of our friends. SO glad they told me about it!
I’ve never heard of this before but it sounds amazing! I love changing things up so this is a must try!
Please do, Sabrina! You’ll go crazy for it!
Now that’s a cake I need to try soon! It looks amazing!
I really hope you do. You’ll love it!
Looks delicious and so easy to make! !
Not hard at all. Just a little time consuming with the two rises, but those are hands-off.
Looks delicious!
Thanks.
How delicious is this cake! Love it!
Thank you!
Oh! I love this so much. Thank you for sharing!!
Thank YOU for the 5-star rating!!
My husband’s family is from Germany – I can’t wait to make it for them!
Your family will LOVE it!!
My roommate is of German descent with her grandmother being from the “old country”. This cake looks divine so I asked her if she had ever seen her grandmother make this cake and she had not…
Hi, Darlene.
Perhaps it’s a regional thing.
In any case, I hope you’ll try this recipe and maybe even make it for your roommate. I know you’ll love it!!
Thanks for the comment.
Take care,
Renee
My wife just made this for me-fantastic! Thanks for sharing.
That’s wonderful to hear, Donald. So glad you enjoyed this cake. We loved it too, and I can’t wait to make it again!
Thank you for letting me know!
I have never heard of this, but what a delicious combo of flavors!
I had never heard of it either until friends told me about it. I knew I had to make it. Now I dream about it! It is an amazing cake. I hope you’ll make it, Aimee!
I bet the cake is nice and light and love the idea of a rich honey taste. Of course, I bet you can’t beat that yummy looking almond topping!
You’re right, Linda! This cake is nice and light, and the honey almond topping is to-die-for!
This is absolutely gorgeous!! I’ve never heard of this cake, thank you for sharing. Hope to try it some day!
I hope you do, Michelle! So glad you stopped in for the recipe. Thanks!!
Renee