Bienenstich: German Bee Sting Cake with Honey-Almond Crunch and Vanilla Cream

Cook the vanilla cream. Heat the milk until steaming. In a bowl whisk the yolks, sugar, cornflour and salt, then slowly whisk in the hot milk. Pour back into the pan and whisk over medium heat until it boils and turns very thick, then let it bubble for 1 min more so the cornflour is fully cooked. Off the heat beat in the butter and vanilla, spread in the shallow dish, press cling film on the surface and chill for at least 3 h.

Make the dough. In the mixer bowl combine the warm milk, egg and yolks, then add the flour, sugar, yeast and salt and knead on low for 3-4 min. Add the soft butter a little at a time and knead on medium for 8-10 min until smooth and elastic.

First rise. Cover the bowl and leave somewhere warm for 1-1.5 h until doubled in size.

Shape in the tin. Press the dough evenly into the lined tin, cover and leave for 30-45 min until puffy. Meanwhile heat the oven to 175 °C (155 °C fan).

Make the topping. Melt the butter, honey, sugar and salt in the small pan, boil for 1 min, then stir in the almonds. Cool for 5 min so it thickens slightly, then spoon it evenly over the risen dough.

Bake. Bake for 30-40 min until deep golden and a skewer in the centre comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if the almonds brown too fast. Cool completely in the tin.

Fill and cut. Beat the chilled cream with the hand mixer until smooth. Split the cake in half horizontally with the serrated knife and cut the almond top into 12 wedges; pre-cutting stops the crisp topping shattering later. Spread the cream over the base, set the wedges back on top, chill for 30 min and cut through along the wedges.