Vegan Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
Baking a bee sting cake without honey is impossible. Right? Not quite! We've prepared a vegan "Bienenstich" for you that doesn't contain milk, eggs, or honey. But how do you replace honey with a plant-based alternative?
To be honest, before I looked into the topic, only two alternatives immediately came to mind: agave syrup and rice syrup. However, the list of possible vegan substitutes is much, much longer: maple syrup, pear syrup, apple butter, beet syrup, daisy honey, coconut nectar, or coconut blossom syrup. You're sure to find one of these options at your local supermarket or organic store!
Aside from honey, there are two other potential pitfalls when preparing a vegan Bienenstich. The first one is making the pudding. You absolutely must use soy milk for this. If you make the pudding with oat or rice milk, it will firm up briefly but turn runny like water once it cools. You definitely want to avoid that. The second pitfall is the whipped cream. Make sure to use a plant-based cream that is actually suitable for whipping. Many vegan cream alternatives are only meant for cooking and won’t stiffen up, no matter how much stabilizer you add.
And before we let you start baking, we want to share one last tip: During our research, we came across a clever trick: don’t place the cake lid on top as a whole, but rather cut it into 12 pieces first and then reassemble them on top of the cake. This is such a smart idea! If you skip this step, cutting the cake can turn into a real mess. The pressure applied to the top layer while slicing can cause the cream filling to squish out. By pre-cutting the top layer, you can smoothly glide through the cream and only need to cut through the bottom layer of the cake.
Vegan Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
Ingredients
For the yeast dough:
- 180 ml (0.75 cups) plant-based milk
- 10 g (0.33 oz) fresh yeast
- 20 g (0.75 oz) sugar
- 300 g (10.5 oz) wheat flour (Type 550)
- 1 tsp salt
- 20 ml (0.66 oz) neutral vegetable oil
For the pudding-cream layer:
- 200 ml (0.85 cups) vegan whipping cream
- 8 g (0.25 oz) stabilizer for whipping cream
- 37 g (1.33 oz) vanilla pudding powder
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sugar
- 5 g (0.25 oz) agar powder (27% agar agar)
- 500 ml (2 cups) soy milk (divided)
- 100 g (0.5 sticks) vegan butter
For the almond layer:
- 50 g (0.25 sticks) vegan butter
- 50 g (1.75 oz) sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 50 ml (0.25 cups) vegan cooking cream
- 200 g (7 oz) sliced almonds
Additionally:
- Vegan butter for greasing
- Flour for dusting
Instructions
Warm the plant-based milk until lukewarm. Crumble the yeast into a bowl and mix it with the sugar and lukewarm plant-based milk. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes until bubbles form on the surface. Then add the flour, salt, and vegetable oil, and knead everything for 7–8 minutes until a smooth dough forms. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rest in a warm place for about 90 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.
In the meantime, prepare the pudding-cream layer. Whip the vegan whipping cream with cream stabilizer and refrigerate.
For the vanilla pudding, mix the vanilla pudding powder with sugar, agar powder, and 100 milliliters (about 1/2 cup) of plant-based milk. Bring the remaining milk and vegan butter to a boil. Then add the powder mixture and cook everything for at least 1 minute while stirring constantly. Pour the pudding into a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and let it cool until it reaches room temperature and sets.
Stir the cooled pudding until smooth, gently fold in the whipped vegan cream, and refrigerate the mixture until the cake is ready to be filled.
Grease a springform pan (Ø 26 centimeters / 10 inches) with plant-based butter and dust it lightly with flour. After the resting time, place the yeast dough into the pan and press it evenly into shape. Let it rest for another 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F (convection). For the almond topping, bring vegan butter, sugar, maple syrup, and vegan cooking cream to a boil in a small saucepan, then let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Add the sliced almonds and mix well.
Carefully and evenly spread the almond mixture over the yeast dough using a spoon. Then bake at 180°C / 350°F (convection) for about 30 minutes. Let the cake cool completely afterward.
Once the cake has fully cooled, remove it from the springform pan and cut it in half horizontally. Cut the top layer with the almond topping into twelve evenly sized pieces.
Clean the springform ring and place the bottom half of the cake back inside. Carefully spread the pudding-cream filling evenly over the cake base, then arrange the pre-cut top pieces on the cream to recreate a closed cake lid.
