FOOD + DRINK RECIPES + menus

A twist on the Schmandkuchen

Posted on April 5, 2010
Schmandkuchen recipe :: german cake with a schmand filling topped with glazed fruits

For her Easter brunch, our German-born friend Bettina Forget baked a Canadian version of a German sour cream cake often topped with fruits. That specialty cake is called Schmandkuchen. You sandwich the schmand mixture between a layer a cake at the bottom and a fruit topping. It is delicious and not too sweet.

Schmand is the main ingredient of any Schmandkuchen recipes. Schmand is heavier, thicker and more sour in taste than crème fraîche. You mix the schmand with vanilla pudding to make the custard part of the cake. You can substitute shmand with Western sour cream mixed with heavy whipping cream or simply, with crème fraîche. But you have to know that schmand does not melt in the oven, which is different than how crème fraîche reacts in the stove. So you may have to adjust your recipe.

Everybody enjoyed a taste of what is the traditional German Easter cake in Bettina’s family. Her mother used to make her with pickled sour cherries. Abricot and mandarin are also popular. Bettina used fresh berries instead.

April 6th, 2010 Update: Get Bettina’s Schmandkuchen recipe here

An ex-lifestyle and entertaining expert and UX designer who became a STEAM educator. At Bidouilleurs, I helped kids aged 5-12 become inventors and makers. An innovative mom who cares about gender equality and to get more girls and boys interested in STEM/STEAM.

  • lotusmoss
    April 5, 2010 at 13:44

    It’s frustrating when you post pictures of foods, but then no recipe. I don’t understand the point…

    • At Home with Kim Vallee
      April 5, 2010 at 14:19

      Lotusmoss: Simple. The point of this post is to discover a new ingredient and the culture of another country.

  • Twill Jill
    April 5, 2010 at 14:14

    Oh what a tease! Beautiful pictures, some cultural trivia, an interesting new food item to try…but no recipe and no link to one! What a blow!

  • Amber
    April 6, 2010 at 18:27

    Oooh, this looks yummy. The no recipe part just tempted me to google schmandkuchen and I came up with 31,300 results, then used google translate for many of them and I found a whole lot of wonderful new blogs, and other recipes and interesting finds. Thanks Kim for opening a new door for me. Silly people can be so nasty. I quite frankly love your posts.

  • lotusmoss
    April 7, 2010 at 10:33

    Wasn’t trying to be nasty! Looking forward to cooking this recipe–thank you for posting the recipe Kim.

    • At Home with Kim Vallee
      April 7, 2010 at 10:37

      Do not worry about that, Lotusmoss. It is normal to want the recipe of something that looks delicious.

  • Amber
    April 20, 2010 at 23:41

    I made this with a little necessary improvisation in ingredients. Love the filling and fruit part best. I always do.

  • darlene
    July 25, 2010 at 02:38

    I just returned from a trip to Germany where I had a piece of cherry Scmandkuchen which was absolutely luscious. However, when I got home and did a web search, I had no luck in finding a recipe until I found this post by you.

    It’ll be a challenge to make the conversions from grams to ounces, etc., but I’m anxious to try making it.

    THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!