Bee sting cake, or bienenstichkuchen as it is referred to in Germany, is a dessert consisting of a yeast leavened dough, similar to a brioche, topped with a caramelized almond topping, and filled with pastry cream. I wanted to do a take on it, as a nod to my winters spent in the German Christmas markets, but with a few twists and spins. The first was with the topping – usually you would just combine caramelized honey, butter, milk and almonds together and top the unbaked cake with that prior to baking it. In my case, I also used sesame seeds, because I love the subtle crunch of a toasted sesame seed, and sesame pairs really nicely with honey! With the sponge, instead of going with a brioche, I used a slightly lighter dough, using egg whites instead of egg yolks, to achieve an almond tteok-like texture – my reason for this was two-fold. The first being I used egg yolks already for a pastry cream filling in this recipe, and the second being that I wanted to make sure that the dough was light and airy, not dense and heavy, to counteract the richness of the pastry cream. I also used a soak for the cake just so that it will not eat dry. With the pastry cream, I used burnt honey, made by caramelizing honey first, then combining that with the other ingredients to create this ultra-silky custard filling. Lastly to pay homage to the bee aesthetic, I used dulcey(caramelized white chocolate) to create these honey comb patterned garnishes to decorate the entire cake with!

In terms of advice on executing this cake, the yeasted dough needs to be the first thing you start. Yeast needs time to proof, and the entire cake needs to be baked and cooled before you can assemble the whole thing. Yeasted desserts aren’t that common in the states outside of doughnuts, but in Europe, you can see all kinds of yeasted dough desserts, like tropezienne in France, maritozzo in Italy, or bienenstichkuchen in Germany! That is to say, yeast in desserts is actually not that uncommon. The topping and the pastry cream both require you to heat up honey, which can burn easily. Keeping a close eye on the honey while you are heating it up in both components, especially for the pastry cream, is a priority to prevent it from burning/you having to waste fairly expensive honey. So long as you are attentive with the honey components, and give the cake ample time to rest before you bake it, you will find this recipe to be relatively doable. Using a thermometer can help with the honey portion anyways – don’t let your honey go above 310 degrees F or it will begin to burn completely and go from burnt honey to a nightmare to scrape off your pan/pure acridness. A little burning of the honey is fine since it adds complexity and balances the cloyingly sweet nature of the ingredient, but too much is straight up inedible. Aside from monitoring the temperature of your honey and giving your dough ample resting time prior to baking, the pastry cream is where you may find some challenges in that it requires you to whisk eggs, dairy, and in this case, burnt honey quickly so that it does not scramble. It may take some prior experience with making pastry cream first, which I would recommend doing a non-honey pastry cream if this is your first time making pastry cream!

Makes 1 6-inch cake, or 6-8 servings:
For the yeasted sponge:
1 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp lukewarm water
.5oz honey
1/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1 stick unsalted butter

In a bowl, mix the ingredients together until a smooth, elastic, and super soft dough forms – it should almost resemble a batter, but still be a solid. Allow the dough to proof at room temperature for 1 hour in a lightly oiled bowl, covered, before transferring the bowl to the refrigerator, allowing it to rest refrigerated for another 3-4 hours, or overnight. Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled 6-inch ring mold that has been placed onto a parchment or silpat-lined sheet tray. Allow the sponge to sit in the ring mold at room temperature for at least 30 more minutes, but no longer than 2 more hours, before attempting to add on the topping and bake.

For the honey-almond-sesame topping:
1oz honey
2 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp milk
1/3 cup toasted white sesame seeds
1/2 cup flaked almonds

In a pot, heat up the honey, butter, and salt until the butter and salt are fully melted into the honey. Add to that your milk, then your sesame seeds and almonds, stirring until everything is combined. Allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature before spreading in an even layer on top of your prepared yeasted sponge. Bake the sponge at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes, then lower the oven to 325 degrees F and continue baking for another 25 minutes. Allow the sponge to fully cool before attempting to unmold and cut in half horizontally.

For the burnt honey-brown butter pastry cream:
2oz honey
3 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk, room temperature or lukewarm(do NOT use cold milk for this)
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot over high heat, bring the honey, butter, and salt to a boil. Once the butter is fully melted into the honey, and the entire mixture registers to roughly 300 degree F on a thermometer(or if going by sight and smell, the mixture should start to be a dark amber color and smell like peanut brittle), turn the heat of the pot to low, and add in the milk, stirring gently to make sure that the honey is fully dissolved into the milk. In another bowl, mix together the egg yolks and cornstarch. Pour half of the burnt honey milk over that while whisking. Then transfer the egg yolk mixture back into the pot with the remaining honey milk and vigorously whisk all of that together over high heat for 4-5 minutes – the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and register to roughly 205 degrees F on a thermometer. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps and transfer it to a bowl. Press the surface with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes – it needs to be completely cold to the touch. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag before using in the assembly process.

For the dulcey garnish:
1.5oz dulcey
a pinch of salt

In a bowl over a double boiler, melt down 1oz of the dulcey with the salt completely. Take the bowl off heat and add the remaining dulcey to the bowl, stirring until that has been fully melted in as well. Pour the mixture over either bubble wrap or an acetate honeycomb mold and refrigerate the dulcey until it has fully solidified and can cleanly peel away from the acetate/bubble wrap. Store in an airtight container.

For the honey milk soak:
1 tsp honey
1/4 cup lukewarm milk
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix everything together until combined. Allow the milk to cool down completely before using in the cake itself.

For assembly:
Brush the insides of the sponge with the soak. Pipe the pastry cream inside of the cake. With any spare pastry cream, pipe small dollops on top of the cake and place on top of those dollops your dulcey garnish. Garnish the sides with dulcey as desired too.