Baumkuchen, or 'the tree cake' (because
of the rings/layers the cake has, which resembles a tree cut open), is
originated from Germany however is widely popular in Japan. To be honest, I
would think even more popular in Japan, but that's really just my own opinion,
but also probably because I knew of this from a Japanese outlet; anime^^''.
Speaking of which, I first stumbled upon this cake when I was watching Yumeiro
Patissiere (amazing anime, I LOVE it.), although it didn't look as fancy and
dressed up as the other cakes shown in the anime it was special because it
looked so simple and looked delicious despite it being in an anime; though I
must admit, almost all food in animes looks ridiculously mouth watering =^=
like a simple onigiri, gah.
Baumkuchen is usually made with this
special spinny oven, where the batter would either be poured on, or rolled
in.
So even after watching the anime, this cake was one of the cakes
that was imprinted in my mind, I never thought I would be able to try it unless
if I traveled to Germany or Japan or found special places where they sold them,
so I was really surprised when I found quite a variety of baumkuchen cakes in
Muji during my holiday at Hong Kong (which backs up my point about the Japanese
loving this cake as Muji is more popular with their stationary and furniture
stuff). Bought an original flavoured mini baum cake home and after one bite I
simple couldn't stop, I was like ''*0*, so this, THIS IS THE TASTE OF
BAUMKUCHEN?''. It was sooooo good! Buttery goodness and all, ahhhh. Bliss.
Mini Baumkuchen from Muji!
Well after tasting a baum cake I could understand why it is so
popular, it most definitely bumped up to my top favourite cakes of all time. As
London would never have a place that would sell baum cakes (although there
could be, just never got round to baum cake hunting :P) I'm pretty much stuck
with having to make it myself but being a home baker obviously I wouldn't have
these ovens ;w;. So I decided to adopt the method that was used in Yumeiro
Patissiere.
^screenshots of the main bits that teach you how to make it at
home. The rest was finding a suitable recipe and using my own common
knowledge! :D
My first attempt on a Baum cake! Far from being as perfect and as
fine as the one that can be bought but I definitely will try again, this time
making the layers thinner and getting a bigger pan so we get more..==. My
hopeless, tiny square pan only managed a cake around 15cm probably? And only 4
proper nice cuts! (Chomped on the trimmings of course). The taste of the cake
was actually very nice, in the original recipe I replaced the ice cream with
more butter as the cake I bought from Muji had a rich buttery taste, and I
didn't want to lose that, I also thought that the cake was going to be too wet
from the ice cream too. I was worried that the cake wasn't going to be sweet
enough, but it turned out to had just the right amount :D, not too sweet and
not too bland. The corn flour really gave the cake an interesting 'crumb', it
also made the cake a little like a soft, biscuit?
After slicing the roll, I was surprised at how the cake didn't fall apart and weren't all flimsy because when I tried to make egg rolls with it, it was possible the most easily separable thing I had made ==. I figured that the loose bits of
cake that won’t stick properly together were the bits that was thoroughly
cooked through, in which I realized that this method needed the cake to be only
half done or at least a thin layer of cake batter left uncooked to act as an
adhesive in addition to other rolled layers.
Ingredients:
- 60g
plain flour
- 40g
corn flour
- 80g
sugar
- 60g butter
- 2
eggs
-As the batter
needs to be quite thin (so that it'd be easier for to spread around the pan)
the butter can be melted in advance. As I made this at night and my kitchen is
rather cold, the butter in the batter solidified after a while after being left
alone. If the batter turns out to be at a thicker consistency or the butter has
solidified a bit, place the bowl over a bain-marie being careful that the bowl
is not touching the water. Keep stirring the batter so the batter doesn't cook.
This method is just used to make the batter thinner by melting the
butter.
-Make the foil
roll in advance; adjust the size of how big you want the middle of your cake to
be by adjusting the width of the foil roll. Trimming may be needed to adjust to
fit your square pan.
- Cream
the room temperature butter and sugar together until light and
fluffy.
- Incorporate
the eggs in one at a time (the batter can split and curdle if the eggs are
added all at once)
- Sift
the cake flour and corn flour into the batter and whisk lightly. No folding
is needed as the air isn't really important in this cake, though you don't
want to over mix the batter so all air is knocked out, some will help create a
fluffier cake.
- Heat
the pan up and brush a light layer of butter in the pan to prevent
sticking. Pour a thin layer of the cake in the pan; wait until each layer
is nearly cooked through. Place the aluminum roll at the top of your
square pan, and gently roll the cake towards yourself. Make sure the layer
of cake is quite tightly rolled around the foil roll so ensure no loose
bits.
- Carry
on with each layer until the outer layer can no longer wrap around the the
entire cake roll.
The original recipe I got was from here. Do check her blog out if you're interested in Japanese food and cooking.
^leftover batter: a Baum sqaures? haha.
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