Bettina’s Schmandkuchen recipe

Many of you asked for the recipe of the delicious Schmandkuchen that my German-born friend Bettina Forget baked at Easter. I am delighted that she is sharing her recipe with us.

This a great cake to bake in advance; furthermore, it will feed many hungry guests. Before you start, notice that you serve the cake directly from the baking pan. Make sure that you get a large, deep baking pan.

List of ingredients

For the cake batter:

• 200 g butter
• 200 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 250 g plain white flour

For the Schmand filling :

For Canadian and US bakers, Bettina substituted the original ingredients with what’s available at your local supermarket. You will need:

• 750 ml milk
• 7 tablespoons vanilla custard*
• 100 g sugar (or to taste)
• 300 g crème fraîche*
• 300 g Quark (fresh cheese)*
• 2 egg yolks

If you want to bake the “German” version, you use 2 packets of Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding instead of the custard, and a mix of 400 g Schmand and 200 g sour cream instead of the crème fraîche/Quark combination.

For the topping:

• 2 large packets of strawberries
• 2 packets of raspberries
• 2 packets of blackberries
• 500 ml berry fruit juice
• 2 packets of fruit glaze

Step by step instructions

1. Baking the cake batter

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and start preparing the base:
Mix the soft butter with the sugar until you get a creamy consistency, then add the eggs one by one and stir vigorously until the mixture looks silky. Fold the baking powder into the flour and sift the flour into the mixture. Grease a large, deep baking pan and spread the batter evenly until the entire bottom is covered (about the thickness of a thumb). Pre-bake the base for 15 minutes.

2. Preparing the Schmand

Prepare the vanilla custard, doubling the amount of custard powder so you’ll get a pudding consistency rather than a sauce (if you’re using the Dr. Oetker pudding powder, just follow the instructions on the back of the packet). Let the pudding cool a bit. Mix the crème fraîche and the Quark (or Schmand/sour cream) and add the prepared vanilla pudding and the two egg yolks. Add sugar to taste.

3. Take the base out of the oven and let cool in the baking pan.

Leave the base in the baking pan and spread the Schmand evenly on the base.

4. Preparing the topping

Wash the fruit, you may have to cut the strawberries in half lengthwise if they are big. Cover the Schmand with the berries. Put the baking tray back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

5. Finishing

Once the cake has completely cooled, prepare the fruit glaze. Standard red fruit glaze recipes call for a mix of sugar and water, but I prefer to substitute with red berry fruit juice instead for flavour, and it’s also less sweet. Pour the fruit glaze evenly across the cake.

Once the fruit glaze is firm the cake is ready to eat. But I suggest that you put it in the fridge overnight, it tastes better chilled. Enjoy!