When the dishes are waiting at home, or the ironing is waiting, I am going to cook or bake, I like to listen to some nice spicy music; but I also really enjoy an audio book or a fun podcast. Without realizing it, I actually listen quite a lot and some jobs are suddenly done very quickly. A new podcast has been online for a few weeks now: De Bakcast. In this, 2 former Heel-Holland-Bakt participants from the 2018-2019 season, Liesbeth and Kim, chat a lot. It is so nice to see that the baking adventure is not over for many former participants as soon as they leave the tent. The ladies' first podcast was about the favorite: Cake! In addition to talking about baking cakes, they also often taste home-baked special ones. here were several cakes that I would like to bake, but this Sandkuchen Austrian cake with cornstarch appealed to me the most. The ladies were very enthusiastic about the taste on the broadcast and I am curious about the taste and texture of cornstarch in this recipe. The result is really very tasty, a particularly soft cake that is baked in a special way.
You have to cut this sandkuchen after 5-10 minutes, is that okay?
The preparation of the recipe is different from other cakes. For example, you must preheat the oven to 250 degrees (convection oven) and as soon as the cake goes into the oven, lower the temperature to 200 degrees. The heat quickly creates a light brown crust after about 5-10 minutes. At that point you need to make a cut in the top with a sharp knife. Opening the oven while the cake is just in there feels so contradictory to me because I have always been taught: you should only open the oven when the cake is almost done otherwise it will collapse! Even though it made me insecure, because this can't go well, I thought, I did it and I now know that it works. You just have to concentrate on following the recipe and stay near the oven for a while. After cutting, reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees after 10 minutes.
The Baking Cast: "The scored top of the cake should break open during baking and push out the soft inside."
Would you like to save the recipe for later on Pinterest? You can do this easily via this link.
Sandkuchen Austrian cake with cornstarch
Supplies for a 23 cm cake tin (25 cm will probably also work)
110 grams of flour
100 grams of cornstarch
4 grams of baking powder
1 egg yolk
4 eggs
200 grams of butter plus extra for greasing the baking tin
200 grams of fine sugar
10 grams of vanilla sugar
1 lemon, the zest and 30 grams of lemon juice
1 pinch of salt
Breadcrumbs for sprinkling butter in baking tin
2-3 tablespoons of apricot jam
No lemon in the house, a large tablespoon of lemon curd is a handy alternative
Sandkuchen Austrian cake with cornstarch
Grease a cake tin and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.
Melt the butter and set it aside. Beat the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla sugar and fine sugar with the lemon zest and lemon juice until a white and airy foam; this takes about 8-10 minutes.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 250 degrees (all temperatures are from a convection oven).
Sieve the flour, baking powder and cornstarch into the egg mixture and gently fold it together with the melted butter until combined. The batter has a slightly liquid consistency.
Fill the cake tin, try not to touch the side with the breadcrumbs and leave at least 2 cm between the cake batter and the top of the cake tin.
Remember the time you put the cake in the oven.
Put the cake in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 200 degrees.
Bake the cake for 5-10 minutes until a light brown crust forms on top of the cake. Make sure the cake has not risen too far, so stay nearby to keep an eye on this.
Dip a small knife in oil or melted butter; open the oven and cut a large slit across the length of the top. Stay a few cm away from the outer edge. This gives your cake the typical cracked crust with a soft inside that is pushed out through the cut like a kind of lava.
Bake the cake for another 10 minutes at 200 degrees and then lower the oven to 150 degrees.
After about 55-60 minutes the cake is done. Carefully remove the cake from the mould. Please note: the cake is done but is a lot softer than usual cakes! Let the cake cool.
Heat the apricot jam in a pan over a gentle heat. I always add a small dash of water to make it a little thinner. You can puree the jam so that the apricot pieces disappear. Brush the top with the jam. Since I still had some jam left, I buttered the sides as well; This way the sides will also shine slightly and it will become slightly darker.
As soft as the cake tastes, it is also in the shape
The cake needs 1-2 cm top edge as stated in the recipe. With my cake you can see what happens when the cake overflows with just over 1cm of space. The cake does not rise firmly but falls to the side. So it is better to choose a mold that is long enough and has at least 2 cm of space between the cake and the top of the baking pan, so that the cake has enough room to rise. My cake tin is adjustable and I was able to set it to 23 cm; that is useful because this is not a very common length of a cake tin.
What is the best way to store cake
The cake is tastiest fresh and just cooled. You can keep the cake out of the refrigerator for another week. Then wrap it well with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. It is better not to keep it in the refrigerator.
Cake can also be frozen for later!
The baking cast; the best podcast about baking!
Every other week Liesbeth and Kim present a new podcast with a theme. There is baking, tasting, talking about the subject and looking to see if there is any historical information about the theme. The ladies also talk about what happened in the Heel Holland Bakt tent that did not make it to the broadcast. You will find the recipes from the broadcast later on the website.The Bakcast; an inspiring podcast for beginners, but also for the advanced home baker. Can be listened to on the website and on Spotify.
Finally
The ladies tell more about this Sandkuchen on the website, which you can read in this link .
The recipe for this Sandkuchen; Austrian cake with part cornstarch comes from the baking book Konditorei Zauner.