Baumkuchen Chocolate Cake Recipe w/ 3 Tips for Glaze and Ganache Spread | Great American Baking Show

Watch for 3 tips that work on any cake with a glaze. Recipe at: www.bakealong.com. Imagine a crepe with 19 of its closest friends layered in a neat stack and covered in ganache and chocolate glaze. May I introduce the Baumkuchen, loosely translated as “tree cake” for the visual layers reminiscent of a tree stump. Versions also exist in Japan, and these cakes share a fair amount of similarities to a pastry.

Nailing this cake involves precision weight of the batter, but we’re going to generalize 3 techniques that can be applied to almost any cake especially chocolate when we‘re looking for a flawless sheen.

1. Ganache spread
2. Strain the chocolate glaze
3. 92F/33C

Cake Batter
150 g (5 ¼ oz.) self-rising flour, sifted
65 g (2 ¼ oz.) almond flour
5 ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
10 egg yolks (room temperature)
10 egg whites (room temperature)
100 g (3 ½ oz.) unsalted butter (room temperature)
150 g (5 ¼ oz.) caster sugar
2.5 ml (½ tsp) almond extract
45 ml (3 tbsp) hazelnut liqueur

Spread Ganache
113 g (4 oz.) heavy whipping cream
143 g (5 oz.) semisweet chocolate

Candied hazelnuts
100 g (3 ½ oz.) sugar
7 blanched hazelnuts, plus some extra for mistakes

Chocolate glaze
100 g (3 ½ oz.) unsalted butter
30 ml (2 tbsp) corn syrup
30 ml (2 tbsp) hazelnut liqueur
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla bean paste
150 g (5 ¼ oz.) semisweet chocolate
Slivered pistachios to decorate

Method
1. In a small sauce pot combine orange juice, zest, and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer till reduced by half. Pour orange syrup into a clean dish to cool.
2. Sift the dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Separate room temperature eggs into two bowls.
4. Whisk the egg yolks to the ribbon stage, thick and a pale yellow.
5. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
6. Add the whipped egg yolks to the creamed butter and sugar and mix till combined.
7. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix till combined.
8. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into cake batter.
9. This is a fussy cake, take the extra measure and weigh the amount of batter. 20 layers from 1000 grams.
10. Grease an 8-inch round springform cake pan and line the bottom with a round piece of parchment.
11. A 1000 grams of cake batter means we will need to ladle 50 grams of batter into the cake pan for each baked layer. Use a scale to accurately weigh the amount and a pastry brush to evenly spread the layers.
12. Turn on the broil setting on the oven and place the oven rack about 4 inches/6 cm below the broiler. The first layer of cake will be baked for about a minute or 2 to a light color.
13. Remove from oven and ladle another 50 g of batter on top and bake for about 3 minutes till dark in color. Repeat with a lightly baked layer and then brush every third layer with the orange syrup.
14. Repeat this tedious process till you have 20 layers of cake, alternating light and dark layers with orange syrup brushed on every third layer.
15. Once the cake has slightly cooled you can remove from the cake pan and place on an 8-inch round cake board.
16. While the cake cools we can make the candied hazelnuts. Place the tip of a wooden skewer into the side of 14 hazelnuts and set aside. In a small pot on medium heat add sugar and heat until it turns a golden caramel color. To stop the cooking process, submerge the pot in an ice bath. Dip the hazelnuts in the caramel and suspend, letting the sugar drip and form a thin string.
17. To make the spread ganache, bring cream to scald and pour over chocolate pieces. Stir till well combined and let cool before spreading on the cake. Work quickly, because as the spread ganache is used it stiffens. You can always warm your palette knife over a flame and smooth the final layer for a perfect finish.
18. Make the chocolate glaze by heating butter and corn syrup in a small pot. Turn off the heat and add hazelnut liqueur and vanilla bean paste. Add chocolate and stir till combined. Run glaze through a strainer to remove air bubbles. Let glaze cool to 92oF/33oC. Pour the glaze over the cake making sure all the sides are coated. Let the glaze slightly set before moving to finishing touches.
19. To finish the cake, sprinkle slivered pistachios around the edge of the cake. Remove the candied hazelnuts from the skewers and arrange 7 in the center, making an interlocking wigwam pattern.