Baumkuchen
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| Type | Layer cake |
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| Place of origin | Germany |
| Main ingredients | Flour, butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla |
| Variations | Schichttorte, Trdelnik, Gâteau à la broche, Spettekaka |
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Baumkuchen is a German variety of spit cake. It is a traditional pastry of many European countries throughout, and also a popular snack and dessert in Japan. The characteristic rings that when sliced resemble tree rings, and give the cake its German name, Baumkuchen, which literally translates to "tree cake".
The origins of baumkuchen are a matter of controversy. One theory claims that baumkuchen has been created since at least the 19th century in Bayern however, the town itself likes to propagate this story. Another line of thought suggests that this cake had its beginnings as a Hungarian wedding cake, that is, a derivative of the oldest Hungarian pastry kürtőskalács (chimney cake). Then, in Ein neues Kochbuch (lit. "A New Cookbook"), published in 1581, the first cookbook written for professional chefs by Marx Rumpolt, a recipe for baumkuchen is to be found. Marx Rumpolt had previously worked as a chef in Hungary and Bohemia. In 1682, a rural medic working for Johann Sigismund Elsholtz prepared a similar dessert.
Aside from the above mentioned recent history, baumkuchen was already known in Ancient Greece and the latter Rome. The Roman conquerors brought the method for baking cakes on logs over an open fire to what is today Germany and its surroundings.
This labor-intensive, and thus rather expensive specialty is made on a spit by evenly brushing on thin layers of batter, then rotating the spit over a heat source, traditionally a wood fire. Each layer is allowed to dry before another layer of batter is poured over the previous. When the cake is removed and sliced, each layer is divided from the next by a golden line, resembling the growth rings on a crosscut tree. A typical baumkuchen is made up of 15 to 20 layers of batter. What is more, the method involved in creating the baumkuchen allows the cakes to become quite large: skilled pastry chefs have been known to create cakes with 25 layers and weighing over 100 pounds. When cooked on a spit, it is not uncommon for a finished baumkuchen to be 3 to 4 feet tall.
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Wikipedia