I wanted to recreate this extraordinary gazillion-layer, apricot-laced, chocolate-glazed torte for my son’s birthday. I made it in my single years, when I had a lot more time on my hands. I remember it being divine. The flavors and textures in this cake take you to a heavenly place. It’s a 30 layer “layer cake,” so it’s serious business.
Traditionally, the layers for this cylindrical cake would be made over a revolving spit. The resulting cake resembles a tree. There is a similar cake in the Polish culinary repetoire, called “Sekacz,” which I have yet to try. In the home baker’s version of Baumkuchen (also called Baumtorte), you have to stand by your broiler for 2 hours or so. But who’s counting?!
The recipe has quite a few steps, including preparing an almond-based batter and folding in the egg whites.
Then comes the hard part of standing by the broiler, broiling thin layers of batter. Applying the batter was tricky. Using a brush was not easy, so I ended up using a small off-set spatula. Here I am almost at the end of broiler duty.
I also like to slather apricot jam in between the layers of the almond-based batter, though I do not believe this is traditionally done for this cake–especially if it’s being made on a rotating spit! The apricot adds another flavor profile to the cake, so while perhaps not traditional, I’m going to stick to it.
I was first introduced to this cake by my ever patient and grand master baker mom. In addition to the almond, apricot, and chocolate flavors, she also added some ground pistachios as a garnish. She made this cake for my birthday many, many years ago, and I am forever indebted to her for it. I wanted to pass on this wonderful cake to my son for his birthday, so here we are, fast forward to the present day.
I left off the nut garnish, but it’s still a very special cake.
Be forewarned: the cake basically takes an evening and part of the following day to complete, so careful planning is required. It is all worth it. I just need another excuse to make it again!
| Servings |
10 inch or 9 1/2 inch, multi-layer cake
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- 3 cups apricot preserves (about three, 12 oz. jars)
- 13 ounces almond paste
- 6 tablespoons half and half cream
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 10 large eggs, separated
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of one lemon
- 1 cup cake flour, sifted
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
- 1/4 cup ground almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or pistachios (optional)
Ingredients
Cake
Chocolate Glaze
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- Butter bottom of a springform pan, either: 10-inch (25 cm) [flatter cake] or 9 1/2-inch (24 cm) [taller cake].* Line bottom with parchment paper. Set aside. With the back of a large spoon, press apricot preserves through a sieve into a small bowl. Measure out one cup of the sieved preserves and refrigerate for glazing the cake later. Keep remaining preserves at room temperature for making cake.
- Break up almond paste with your fingers and place in large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, beat almond paste with half and half cream for about 4 minutes on medium speed. Gradually add butter and 1/2 cup sugar to almond paste mixture and beat until light and fluffy. Reduce speed and mix in egg yolks (one at a time), rum, vanilla, and lemon zest until incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat for about 30 seconds more.
- In a separate bowl, combine sifted flour and cornstarch. At low speed, mix flour into almond paste/butter mixture until just combined.
- In a large, clean bowl, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar until whites are stiff.
- Prepare oven: Set the oven rack on the second rung from the top broiler. Turn on broiler.
- Carefully fold 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the batter to lighten, and then fold in the remaining egg whites. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter into prepared springform pan and spread using the back of a soup spoon, offset spatula, or pastry brush. The layer will be very thin. Broil until lightly browned, about 1 1/2 to 3 minutes, depending on oven. Remove pan from oven and quickly spread another 1/4 cup of the batter over the broiled layer. Return the pan to the oven and broil until lightly browned (about 1 1/2 to 3 minutes).
- Remove cake pan again and brush a thin but generous layer of apricot preserves (about 1 1/2 tablespoons preserves) to within 1/4 inch from the edge of the pan. Then spread 1/4 cup of the batter over top the apricot layer, trying not to mix the apricot preserves into the batter to the extent possible. Return the pan to the oven and broil until lightly browned (about 1 1/2 to 3 minutes). The time it takes to brown each layer varies, so be vigilant to avoid over-browning the layers.
- Remove the cake pan and spread 1/4 cup of the batter onto the broiled layer and return to the oven. Broil until lightly browned (about 1 1/2 to 3 minutes). Remove from oven.
- Repeat previous 2 steps until all of the batter is used up. Make sure that the last layer is the batter layer. Approximate number of layers is 28-32.
- After the last batter layer has been broiled, remove pan from oven and cool on wire rack to room temperature. Refrigerate in pan overnight before glazing.
- Remove cake from refrigerator and remove sides of springform pan. Invert the torte to remove the springform bottom and parchment paper and then invert cake back again onto wire rack. Trim the sides all the way around so that they are even and to trim off any overcooked edges.
- Heat the remaining 1 cup of apricot preserves in a small saucepan over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until a candy thermometer registers 225°F. Remove from heat. Spread the warm preserves evenly over the top and sides of the cake with a spatula. Let the cake stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before glazing the cake with the chocolate glaze.
- When the cake is ready for the chocolate glaze, in a saucepan over low to medium heat, combine butter, rum, corn syrup, and salt (if using) and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until completely melted. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Spread the glaze evenly over the top and sides of the cake, covering the apricot glaze. Let the glaze set for 15 minutes. If using nuts, press ground nuts with a metal spatula around the sides of the cake. Let set and then transfer to a serving platter. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
* The cake in the photo was made in a 9 1/2 inch (24 cm) springform pan. A cake baked in a 10 inch (25 cm) springform pan will not be as high.
12 Comments
Great recipe, get ready from broiler duty. 40 times oven open and close.
Thanks for your comment! It’s a lot of work, but worth every second and all the sweat by the broiler.–Ania
I made one of these in the 1980’s for a German-themed party. It was incredibly delicious. The recipe came from Gourmet or Bon Apetit magazine. As I remember, it was 30 layers. It was memorable to say the least!I have a photo but do not see that I am able to leave it.
Yes, that’s it! My mom found it in Cuisine magazine in the 80s, which is a magazine that is no longer around unfortunately. We loved it so much that we made it a bunch of times for birthdays and special occasions. I’m not sure how we had so much time back then, but those were sweet memories!–Ania
Thank you for the recipe! I made this for Christmas in the 80’s, from Cuisine Magazine. I have been searching for the recipe as I misplaced the magazine. It does take a lot of time but so worth it. What changes did you make to the original recipe?
That’s fantastic (re: Cuisine from the 80s and Christmas cake)! I believe the biggest difference is that the recipe calls for ground pistachios in between the layers and mine leaves the out. I made no changes to the list of ingredients for the batter, except to use the zest of one lemon (instead of 1 tsp of lemon zest) and I upped the apricot jam from 2 cups to 3 cups (I suggest three 12 ounce jars) because I noticed that I’d run out of apricot jam towards the end if I followed the original recipe. The Cuisine recipe called for 1/2 cup shelled and unsalted pistachios (3 ounces). Between every other layer, you need to sprinkle 1 teaspoon of ground pistachios on top of the apricot layer. Pistachios are a delicious addition to the cake, but not always on hand! [I believe the traditional German cake would use almond on the sides of the cake, and not necessarily on each layer.] Finally, the chocolate glaze proportions in the original recipe didn’t seem to be enough, so I increased the butter by 1 tablespoon, reduced the rum by 1/2 tablespoon (the original said 1 1/2 T–probably not a problem to keep it that way), increased the corn syrup (original said 1 T + 1 t) and increased the chopped chocolate to 4 ounces. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
WONDERFUL! Thank you so much for this! I have been missing Baumkuchen since leaving Germany! Special request: your recipe for the chocolat diplomat cream that is pictured in the recipe of your polish chocolate cake 🙂 Thank you in advance, we’ll eat Baumkuchen to your health at Christmas this year!
Cheers! Thanks so much for your feedback. It’s one of my favorites cakes! On the chocolat diplomat cream – I started to draft a post on that a while ago but other things came up so haven’t had time to finish it. You’ve inspired me to take a look at that again. Maybe I’ll end up posting without the step-by-step instructions + photos. Stay tuned!
I used to make this cake back in the 80’s. Was a spectacular dessert at holiday parties. So it was great to stumble across your recipe. It worked perfectly. The only changes I made was to include ground up pistachios to every layer I added apricot to. I can’t wait to make this for Christmas dinner. Yes it’s time consuming. I just plug in my headphones and listen to my Spotify playlist. The compliments from all make it so worth while.
Agree it is well worth the effort! I need to try adding ground up pistachios to every layer – that is a great tip for adding more flavor. I made the cake last year and had a heck of a time anticipating what my broiler was going to do, so the number of minutes for each layer seemed to vary greatly. And some layers were too brown . . . . Watch out for that broiler!
My Grandma made this torte, every Sunday for the family dinner…She made it in a 9 by 11 pan, and also added Apricot preserves. When it was cooled she’d cut into diamond shapes, and serve with coffee or milk for us kids. I remember watching her make it but at 11 you forget the finer details and the recipe was never wrote down. She passed when I was 12. I am 48 now soon to be 49…I have looked, googled, paged thru every old cookbook…and then I found this. I now know how to make it again and make it a part of my own family’s Sunday dinner.
Thanks so much for sharing with me your wonderful story. I hope the recipe will help you recreate your grandmother’s magic. Thanks for the idea of making it in a rectangular pan! I have to hand it to your grandmother for having the dedication (and stamina!) to make this torte each week. What a treat for the family!