Chocolate Baumkuchen
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Paper thin cake layers make the Chocolate Baumkuchen a visually stunning grand finale.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: German
Serves: 16
Ingredients
Cake
  • ⅓ cup semi-sweeet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar, divided
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 7 eggs, separated
  • ⅔ cup flour
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
Sour Cream Layer
  • ⅔ cup sour cream
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • ½ tsp lemon juice
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
  • ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • ⅓ cup sour cream
  • ¼ tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
Garnish
  • Fresh strawberries, halved
Instructions
Cake
  1. Preheat broiler.
  2. Melt chocolate chips in microwave and cool.
  3. In mixer bowl, beat together butter, ½ cup of the sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir flour and cornstarch into butter mixture.
  4. Divide batter equally into two bowls. Stir the melted chocolate into one of the bowls.
  5. In a clean mixer bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold half the beaten whites into each half of the batter (batter may appear curdled).
  6. Spread scant ½ cup chocolate batter on the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Place pan about 5 inches under broiler and broil 1 to 2 minutes or until baked. Spread scant ½ cup plain batter over the chocolate layer and broil 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat, alternating the chocolate and plain, making 10 layers in all.
  7. Spread Sour Cream Layer over the top and broil about 1 minute.
  8. Cool for about 15 minutes, then remove sides of pan and cool completely.
  9. Frost sides of the cake with ⅔ of the frosting.
  10. Arrange strawberries on top and pipe the remaining frosting around the strawberries.
  11. Chill before serving.
Sour Cream Layer
  1. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, sugar and lemon juice.
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
  1. In a medium sized bowl, melt the chocolate chips and butter in microwave, stirring until smooth, and cool.
  2. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla.
  3. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until frosting is smooth and can spread easily.
Recipe by Webicurean at http://blog.webicurean.com/2013/02/10/chocolate-baumkuchen-sundaysupper/