Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen is a German cake made by applying batter to a rotating core and baking it one layer at a time. The tree-ring-like pattern visible on a cut surface consists of the marks left as each layer browned. In German, Baum means “tree” and Kuchen means “cake.” When the cake is sliced crosswise, the order in which the batter was baked layer upon layer, from the center outward, appears as a pattern.

Baking the Batter One Layer at a Time

Unlike cakes made by pouring batter into a mold and baking it all at once, Baumkuchen is made by repeatedly applying the next layer of batter to the baked surface and baking it. Each time, the surface browns, and fine light and dark lines build up on the cut face. In today’s pastry workshops, there is also a method in which a rotating metal core is dipped into a trough of batter, the batter that clings to it is baked, and the core is dipped again. To brown each layer without burning it, the baker must keep a constant eye on the rotation of the core and the heat.

In traditional rotary baking, each layer of batter is no more than 5 millimeters thick. A batter rich in eggs and fat is applied thinly, baked until set each time, and built up from the center outward.

A Batter Made with Plenty of Eggs and Butter

In the ingredient proportions set out by the German confectionery industry, at least 100 parts butter and at least 200 parts whole egg are used for every 100 parts of flour or starch. Some versions add almonds or other nuts, marzipan, or similar ingredients to this batter rich in eggs and fat. The batter is soft enough to be poured thinly over the core, and once baked and cooled, it crumbles gently in the mouth.

The Comb That Creates the Waves, and Finishing After Baking

Wavy ridges are sometimes formed on the surface as the batter is baked layer upon layer. There is more than one way to create them. The town of Salzwedel’s description of its method explains that the ridges grow as batter that is about to drip downward is set by the heat. In another method, partway through the layering, the baker gathers the batter with a special comb and continues building up the shape with the following bakes. At a pastry shop in Dresden, the latter part of roughly 20 layers is shaped with a comb; after the cake has cooled, the core is removed and the cake is cut into rings. Some Baumkuchen are made as smooth cylinders without waves. The finished cake is coated with a sugar glaze or chocolate. Baumkuchenspitzen, small cut pieces enrobed in chocolate, are also made.

Two Ways of Eating It: Shaving Off Thin Pieces or Cutting into Rings

At a workshop in Salzwedel, there is a way of eating it in which thin small pieces are cut off one after another, working around the surface from the top of a single upright cake. As these small pieces, called Schollen, are taken from the top down, each piece reveals the wavy outer surface and the baked layers.

If the core is removed and the cake is cut at right angles to its length, the tree-ring-like layers surrounding the central hole form a single ring-shaped slice. The ring can also be cut into four or eight pieces. Depending on whether small pieces are shaved off from the outside or the whole set of rings is sliced crosswise, the same cake looks different once cut.

From Dough Wrapped Around a Core to Batter Poured Over It

Some accounts trace its ancestry to ancient spit-roasted breads, but wrapping a leavened dough around a core and building up baked surfaces by pouring a runny batter over it are different methods. A German-language recipe (a set of ingredient proportions and instructions) from 1581 called for dough shaped into strands or sheets to be wrapped around the core and fastened. The 1692 “Brandenburg Cookbook” describes a process in which a liquid batter made mainly of eggs and fresh cream is poured over a spit, with the drippings caught in a pan and poured on again.

According to the town of Salzwedel, a 1682 work by Elsholtz also contains a reference to “Baumkuchen.” The EU geographical indication application document names an 1807 recipe by Johann Andreas Schernikow as one starting point of the town’s baking history, and states that a product bearing the place name was recorded in 1843. The time when the name of the confection was written down, the time from which recipes survive in the town, and the time when products bearing the place name appeared are each different.

Changes in the Home Hearth and the Shift to Specialist Workshops

In the early 19th century, as stoves with enclosed fireboxes spread through home kitchens, confections made by turning a core in front of an open fire became harder to make. Confectioners’ shops with dedicated equipment became the center of production. Berlin became an important place of production and consumption, and confectioners and shops also spread to towns in the northern and central regions.

Gas ovens and machines that assisted the rotation changed the work, and railways and the postal service supported shipping to distant places from shops in towns such as Cottbus and Salzwedel. Large confections that had adorned aristocratic banquets also came to be embraced for townspeople’s weddings and family celebrations, and as gifts to people living far away.

Salzwedel’s Baking History and Geographical Indication

Salzwedel’s producers recount that the cake was served during the king’s visit in 1841, and tell of the subsequent succession of the hotel and workshop. Wooden mailing crates depicted in an 1883 local history show that Baumkuchen made in this town was being sent to celebrations far away.

What was registered in 2010 as an EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) is the name bearing the place name, “Salzwedeler Baumkuchen.” It is made within a defined area, following the method of baking thin layers of batter poured over a core. Not every product called by the generic name Baumkuchen indicates the same place of origin.

1919: To an Exhibition and Sale in Hiroshima

In accounts of its introduction to Japan, the 1919 sale by German confectioner Karl Juchheim is well known. Held on Ninoshima Island as a prisoner of war during World War I, he entered Baumkuchen in an exhibition and sale of technical and craft works by prisoners, held at the Products Exhibition Hall in Hiroshima.

After the war, he opened a shop in Yokohama, and after the Great Kanto Earthquake he made a fresh start in Kobe. Even after his death, his wife Elise and the confectioners carried on the business and supported its spread in Japan. In Japan, too, a variety of forms that make the most of the layered pattern have spread, from a whole layered log given as a gift while still wound around its core, to ring slices, to small pieces wrapped individually.

The Soft Batter and Sugar Icing Developed in Japan

At Club Harie in Japan, how vigorously the eggs are whipped and how the ingredients are combined are adjusted according to temperature and humidity, and the cake is baked so as to retain moisture. After baking, it is left to rest for about half a day while the core rod continues to rotate, and fondant, its firmness adjusted to the season, is spread on by hand. In this process, the cake is cut before the sugar icing has fully set, and the core is removed. While keeping the basic principle of baking the batter layer upon layer, it combines a soft batter with the mouthfeel of a thin sugar icing.

Nenrinya, also in Japan, makes two distinct styles: the wavy “Mount Baum Shikkari-me” and the cylindrical “Straight Baum Yawaraka-me.” The former is characterized by a fragrant, toasty exterior and a moist interior, while the latter features a soft batter made with plenty of eggs. Products that differ not only in outer shape but also in how the surface is baked and in mouthfeel are sold side by side, even within a single shop.

Glossary