The recipes in the Real German Cuisine Challenge are from the German recipe book Die echte deutsche Küche and will be translated by me over the next couple of years.
Blankenhainer Kirschkuchen (Blankenhainer Cherry Cake)
Schiller’s Favorite Cake
Ingredients for 4-6 portions:
- 6 eggs, separated
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 200 g (7 oz) flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 150 g (5.3 oz) ground almonds
- 500 g (17.6 oz) fresh, pitted, sweet cherries (Süßkirschen — can be replaced by frozen or canned cherries)
- 1 tsp butter for greasing the pan
- coarse sugar or regular sugar for decorating
Preparation time: about 80 minutes
Per portion: 570 calories
Directions:
- Beat the egg yolks and sugar until foamy. In a second bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).
- Sift the flour into the egg yolk mixture, stir in the cinnamon. Gently fold in the egg whites first, then fold in the ground almonds.
- Stir in the cherries. Grease a springform pan (28 cm / 11 inch) and pour in the cherry cake batter. Bake for 40 minutes in the middle of the oven [in the challenge, all participants needed to cook the cake longer than this]. Sprinkle the finished cake with coarse or regular sugar.
Want to read more about this recipe? Find out how the challenge went. Want more Real German Cuisine? Check out the full recipe list organized by German state. Do you have an alternative recipe for this dish or helpful hints? Please let us know in the comments!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Christina,
So we are going to be in Rostock on Monday, but I already posted about this cake! Oh man was it good! Good luck with folding those egg whites in. I ended up having to use the mixer to do that. It’s all in the post. But YUMMY!!!
http://jentryingermany.blogspot.com/2009/06/blankenhainer-kirschkuchen.html
~Jentry
If the recipe says folding in egg whites, it means that you should not use the mixer to mix it under the dough. That destroys the foamy texture and is senseless after all, meaning you might as well use a whole egg instead. Thats why the cake is dry.
Cherry pitting tool: Besides the version that clamps on the kitchen table and costs a arm and a leg, there is a smaller hand version, but hard to find. I don’t have a link to a picture, but try a houseware store or flea market for a cheap one.:)
@silvia: The egg yellow/batter mixture is very thick and dry (Jentry has photos of how it looks in her post, and says she tried folding the whites in at first, as did I). When I say the cake is dry, I mean it is a typical German cake, I didn’t find it drier than cakes normally gotten at a Konditorei here, it’s just that American cakes are VERY moist in comparison, so German cakes often take some getting used to for us Amis. Thanks for the tips on finding a cherry pitter.
erm, are you sure it’s not Blankenheimer Kirschkuchen? Blankenheim is about an hour from me (sort of near Cologne).
No, it’s a recipe from the Thüringen section, Blankenhain is near Erfurt
Hi Christina,
.
I read your recipe and tried it myself, knowing there must be some trick with the foamy egg white. I made the same experience as you – a thick eggyellow/sugar/flour mixture.
Then I asked my mother, who learned such things at school. And she asked me, why I forgot all she has told me about making “Biskuit” (this is the general german word for such a cake without butter and with foamy egg white). So I share my renewed knowledge with you:
Mix egg yellow and sugar until foamy, add the beaten egg whites (do not mix yet), sift the flour above, add the ground almonds, then use a egg whipp in following manner: dig it to the bottom of the eggyellow/sugar mixture, lift it gently up, then knock till the egg whipp is free of dough. Repeat in the same manner until the ingredients are united. You should avoid stirring the mixture, for it destroys the foamy texture. Now the easy way: buy a modern kitchen machine, read the instructions how to make a Biskuit – follow them. My kitchen machine would mix the whole eggs and the sugar until foamy, then I could have add the other ingredients as described above or with the machine.
I used my favourite canned cherries (Sauerkirschen, Abtropfgewicht 350g) for the cake, to avoid cherry pitting
My mother said, that as soon as the flour comes in contact with the eggyellow batter the batter begins to paste, so that is why it was so difficult to fold in the egg whites foam.
Good luck with your next experiments with german cuisine!
Anja
@anja: Thanks for your tips, they’re great. I never would have known what the problem was otherwise. Next time I’ll try it as your mom suggested. Thanks!
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