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Bienenstich - hints and how to's?

Kouign Aman

By Kouign Aman
in Pastry & Baking

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Kouign Aman

Kouign Aman

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I used to get a bienenstuck (or 2) every year for my birthday. I'd get them from the Viking Bakery in Clairemont Square. The bakery closed some time ago :sad: , and I havent found another source.

I'm addicted to the pastry, cream, caramel and general sticky gooey decadence. :wub:

Has anyone made one of these? Do you have a recipe you favor? Helpful hints?

Or even better, another source, located within a 30 mile radius of San Diego?

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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sanrensho

sanrensho

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Posted (edited)
I used to get a bienenstuck (or 2) every year for my birthday.

Is this anything like a bienenstich (bee sting cake)? Google doesn't produce many results for "bienenstuck."

Edited by sanrensho (log)
Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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Kouign Aman

Kouign Aman

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It could well be the same. The bakery used u with an umlaut, and the pronounciation is much the same. The bakery could easily have been guessing at the correct spelling.

Google does have a few hits for bienenstuck which are good descriptions. I'd like to be able to make it at home, and given that I dont have a lot of experiment and optimization time*, I'm hoping someone has experience with this and can recommend a tried and true recipe.

*oh so much more time than I did have tho! :)

I went a-googling (again) and it seems that its "stich". I found this link:

Bienenstich link (the coffee cake)

Edited by Kouign Aman (log)

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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Caroline923

Caroline923

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I used to get a bienenstuck (or 2) every year for my birthday.

Is this anything like a bienenstick (bee sting cake)? Google doesn't produce many results for "bienenstuck."

The German Cook book by Mimi Stewart has a good one in it...

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Kouign Aman

Kouign Aman

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Caroline, you've made it? Oh cool. I shall ask the library to find the book for me. Merci!

(before I get myself carried away, how long did it take, with cake, filling, assembly and all?)

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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Caroline923

Caroline923

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Caroline, you've made it?    Oh cool. I shall ask the library to find the book for me.  Merci!

(before I get myself carried away, how long did it take, with cake, filling, assembly and all?)

I have mad it many many times and my German friends say it is great. Oops - the author is Sheraton not Stewart.

I have used boxed pudding when in a pinch..and it is a few hours with the rising times.

I do it either in a 9X13 pan and let them cut the squarers..or for a pretty presentation it works in a 12 inch spring form pan and you can remove the sides for serving...

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Kouign Aman

Kouign Aman

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I saw the Mimi and read "Sheraton" - I didnt realize you'd typed anything different. How funny!

The bakery I purchased it at baked the cake in a round springform. But it would be so much easier to serve in squares.

I'm so excited! Now I have to actually find the time and make something baked. I shant hold my breath. Im hoping to do this before Xmas. (Along with the kouign aman's I promised FrogPrincesse a little more than a year ago. Ay yi yi yi.)

Thanks tons. Do you have any pix?

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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gfron1

gfron1

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Whoa mama! I just looked up a picture of this...drool...this is my type of comfort food. Thanks for introducing me to something I had never heard of before. (Sometimes I feel like I could eat a new pastry every day and never have tried them all by the time I die.)

Chef, Bulrush & Squatters in St. Louis, MO

BBC Write-up

Smithsonian magazine story

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sanrensho

sanrensho

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Pierre Herme also has a recipe for Tarte Tropezienne in his Desserts book, that is along the same lines as a bienenstich cake (brioche cake with vanilla custard/buttercream) filling.

Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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  • 3 months later...
ludja

ludja

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Looks tasty, gfron1! Beautiful piping work as well!

Just to add though, that the traditional Bienenstich I've seen are usually completetly covered on top with a thick layer of sliced almonds. For example see the link to this photo: click

I really like this cake a lot although I haven't tried making it myself yet. A local German bakery in Sunnyvale, CA makes a wonderful version that they sell at the Saturday Farmer's market in downtown Sunnyvale. It's my favorite local breakfast!

It's also often baked in a tray and cut into "Schnitten" or "Stuck" (umlaut over the "u") or "slices" or "pieces" and then it looks like this: click

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Badiane

Badiane

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There's a couple of different styles..

One is as pictured above...kind of a yeasted type of cake. I believe that is more a 'High German' style.

The second is Mennonite or 'Low German' style...a rich yellow cake baked in a square pan with a sliced almond and sugar topping, almost like a broiled icing, but actually baked on the cake. It is then either split and filled, or, if you used a jelly roll pan, cut in half and layered with filling in between.

Both very tasty indeed. Although being Mennonite, I do have my preference :smile:

But gfron1 could probably convert me. That looks amazing!

Don't try to win over the haters. You're not the jackass whisperer."

Scott Stratten

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gfron1

gfron1

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I think the cake in both of the ones you are describing sound great. I was expecting more from the cake. This was basically a brioche which can tend to be dry. To compensate, I brushed the bottom layer with some thinned honey which made it better. Thanks the comments and info!

Chef, Bulrush & Squatters in St. Louis, MO

BBC Write-up

Smithsonian magazine story

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  • 1 month later...
chefpeon

chefpeon

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I just got a request from a customer to make this, and I too, found from internet research,that there are the two types.....the ones with the yeasted dough and the ones that are actual cakes.

At first I wondered which one might be better or more authentic, but then I deduced from gfron's comments that because the cake has to be stored under refrigeration (the custard), and the yeasted dough can be a bit dry, I will make the cake-like one for the sake of better shelf life. :smile:

Annie's Cake-o-Rama

Confessions of a Burned Out Pastry Chef

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chefpeon

chefpeon

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That's the route I would go for a customer...unless they are trying to eat memories, in which case I would ask them to describe what they remember. I do a lot of pastry forensics in my kitchen.

Very good point. Eating memories. I like that.

Pastry forensics, huh? Do you think we could sell a CSI show to the Food Network? :laugh:

Annie's Cake-o-Rama

Confessions of a Burned Out Pastry Chef

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BarbaraY

BarbaraY

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The baker in the small town I lived in when I was a kid was locally famed for his "Beehive". I searched for it for years before I stumbled across a recipe that called it bienenstich.

The only difference was that he topped his with walnuts instead of almonds and the topping was quite carmelly.

Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

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patris

patris

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If you haven't found a recipe yet, I think there's one in Bo Friberg's The Professional Pastry Chef. If you'd like, I can check when I get home this evening and PM you the recipe if my recollection is correct.

Patty

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