This delightful German layer cake was for 3G’s birthday. It was a huge hit! 3G’s word for it was “scrumpiducious” 🙂
Cake
10 medium eggs, room temperature, separated
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g (1/2 cup) granulated (white) sugar
170g (3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
100g (4/5 cup) powdered (confectioners) sugar
125g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
65g (1/2 cup) cornstarch
2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Glaze
200g (7oz) good quality milk chocolate, chopped
180ml (3/4 cup) whole cream
2 tsp light corn syrup
55g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
Directions
Note: This recipe uses a lot of bowls… For dividing the batter and egg whites, I weighed the bowls before I started then weighed them with the batter/egg whites in them, subtracted the weight of the bowl and weighed out half into another bowl. There’s probably an easier way. You could also do it using cups. Or just eyeball it, if you’re a good judge of these things.
Preheat oven grill (broiler) with the rack in the centre of the oven. Butter a 23 cm (9″) springform cake tin, line the base with parchment paper and butter the parchment.
In a very large bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until nearly stiff, gradually add the granulated sugar and beat until very stiff.
In a second mixing bowl, beat together the softened butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one by one and beat well after each addition.
In a third bowl, whisk together flour and cornstarch, add to butter mixture and fold in until just combined.
Divide batter in two. Add vanilla to one and cocoa to the other, folding until just combined.
Divide beaten egg whites in two and gently fold into the batters, trying not to lose too much air.
Spread 4 rounded tablespoons of the chocolate batter evenly on the bottom of the tin and cook for about 2 minutes under the oven grill (broiler). Take the tin out of the oven, spread 4 rounded tablespoons of the vanilla batter evenly over the first layer (the batter will thin as you spread it over the warm layer below, but don’t worry), and cook for another 2 minutes or until golden. Repeat, alternating layers, until all batter is used.
Let the cake cool in the tin for five minutes, take it out, remove the parchment and let the cake cool completely on a wire rack.
Glaze
Put the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream and corn syrup together in a small saucepan over medium heat just until it boils. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for one minute.
Using a spatula, stir the mixture until it is smooth and glossy and all the chocolate has melted. Add the butter and stir until it is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
Pour the glaze into a 2 cup jug (pitcher). Set aside to cool to about 32°C (90°F) before using.
Leave the cooled cake on the wire rack and set the rack on a baking sheet or a large plate to catch the glaze drippings. Pour half the glaze over the top of the cake, so the top is completely covered. Allow the glaze to set for 10 – 15 minutes, then pour the other half over the cake. Scrape the dripped glaze from the sheet/plate and spread it around the side of the cake with a spatula.
Allow the glaze to set completely, around 30 minutes, before moving the cake. The glaze should be firm to the touch. If your kitchen is warm, move the rack into the refrigerator until the glaze becomes firm, just a few minutes.
Run a hot offset spatula under the bottom of the cake to release it from the rack if necessary and transfer to a serving plate.
pizzarossa 
G’day and looks TERRIFIC Rachel, congrats on completing the challenge, true!
With this massive heat wave we just had and now weather warming up again, the baking challenge I was not sadly able to do as I really would love making this torte…your photo and recipe is GREAT!
Cheers! Joanne
P.S. have heaps of problems posting comments from my Firefox acct…yours is the only site have probs…thought you might like to know
Thanks Joanne! I hope the weather calms down for you – my family in Canberra are certainly feeling the heat! I don’t know why you are having problems, but I have them in Firefox when I comment on a Blogger post. Might be some browser/platform cookie issue?
Rachel what an eye and tastebud candy 😉
I ove so much your interpretation of the cake for the Darink Bakers challenge, you made me want to play with colours, which i think I’ll do soon.
Thanks for lovely recipe and inspiration 😉
Have a lovely week
Baci
Lou
Thanks for the lovely comment, Lou! xxx
It looks delicious!!! I didn’t use marzipan either 😉
Thanks, Aisha! Two of my youngsters don’t like marzipan, which is disappointing for the rest of us!
Lovely cake, hope you son enjoyed his birthday treat! My family didn’t fancy marzipan either!
Thanks, Jelena! He loved it and I had so much fun baking something different!
Oh, it looks delicious! Lovely cake! and I don’t like too much marzipan…. 🙂
Thank you! I will try the marzipan version one day, but this one was delicious!
look tasty
Thank you! 🙂
Your cake looks lovely! What a special birthday cake.
Thanks, Rebecca! The timing was perfect for my son’s birthday. 🙂 Yours looks absolutely scrumptious!
Scrumpiducious indeed! I never liked Marzipan as a child either. It was something that I had to grow into.
Thanks Anna! I’m hoping the others do grow into it because I love to cook with it! 🙂
It looks like a beautiful zebra! Nice job 🙂
Thanks, Rebecca! 🙂
Your cake looks so neat! And I love that you made the vanilla-chocolate version – must have been so tasty 🙂
Thanks, Agos! It was delicious! 🙂
Such a striking cake – the birthday boy was a lucky guy!
Thanks, Korena! And your friend was lucky too! 😀 It is a perfect celebration cake!
Wow!! That looks fantastic!! Was planning to make it for a long time and your recipe looks perfect! But I wanted to ask how moist it is, I mean I’m really fond of moist cakes and wonder how this one tastes. Looking very much forward to your answer=)
Hi Natalie! Thanks for the lovely comment! It is surprisingly moist – each layer is cooked for such a short time that it just has time to rise and brown a touch, then it’s protected from the direct heat by the next layer. I broil with the oven door open, too, so the only heat is radiated from above, meaning the lower layers don’t really continue to cook. Let me know when you make it – I’d love to hear how it goes!
Thank u so much for your answer, will make it in the nearest future and will write u how it turns out!=)
looks awesome (and fun too!) What a great birthday cake
Thanks so much! 🙂
Your cake looks delicious! I participated in this challenge as well, although I did use marzipan, and really enjoyed the final product! I only wish I had some left, it didn’t last long in my house
http://therapybread.com/2014/01/28/baumkuchen-or-schichttorte-german-tree-cake/