Donauwelle {Marble Cake with Cherries, Buttercream & Chocolate}

Yesterday after I published my vegan month of food post, I realized that I had cheated, I posted a recipe with A followed by two with B. And now I have a recipe for D as in Donauwelle to share. I skipped the C for valid reasons though. C is not used in German words, we use K instead. We use the letter C in some foreign words of Latin or Greek origin, often in combination with H as in Christstollen. And Christstollen in September? No way! (The Christmas candy at the grovcery store at this time of the year has to be enough!) That is why I left out the C.

Like Bienenstich Donauwelle is a large sheetcake. Regular and chocolate batter are layered, the cake is sprinkled with canned tart cherries and baked. Once it has cooled you top it with buttercream and chocolate. I remember that I had my first piece of Donauwelle while attending a tent camp. I had never seen this cake before and I was completely blown away by it. At first I couldn’t comprehend why our cook decided to make a cake for about 100 people. But after I made this recipe myself, I understand that this is the perfect cake for a large crowd. You get a lot of flavour for a little work, compared to what it would take you to make for example Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte for 100 people. Of course this works perfectly for smaller crowds, too. All you need in this case is a 8 x 8 inch brownie pan. For this recipe I decided to make a version of buttercream that calls for fat, sugar, and pudding. It’s quite a popular filling for many German cake recipes. For example, you can use it for the Bienenstich cupcakes.

Donauwelle (8 x 8 inch pan)

Batter:
100 g (1/4 cup plus 3 1/3 tablespoons) very soft refined coconut oil
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
120 g (1/2 cup) soy yoghurt
5 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons soy milk
190 g (1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
10 g (1 3/4 tablespoons) Dutch processed cocoa powder
350 g (1 1/3 cups) canned tart cherries, drained well

Buttercream:
240 ml (1 cup) soy milk
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
20 g (2 1/2 tablespoons) cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g (1/4 cup plus 3 1/3 tablespoons) very soft refined coconut oil
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Topping:
130g (4.6 oz) chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

To make the batter:
Line a 8 x 8 inch (20×20 cm) square pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). In a narrow bowl cream together coconut oil and sugar. Add vanilla, salt, and soy yoghurt. Carefully beat into a smooth mass, add 5 tablespoons soymilk and repeat. In a second bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add liquid ingredients and mix well. Pour 2/3 of the batter into the pan. Mix remaining batter with 2 tablespoons of soy milk and cocoa powder. Pour over the light batter and distribute evenly. Place cherries on top and lightly press them into the batter. Bake for 40 minutes.

Buttercream:
Place sugar and starch in a small pot. Add soymilk and bring mixture to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil for about one minute until the mixture has thickened. Set aside and let cool completely. (This is a very important step. If the pudding is warm, the coconut oil will melt while beating the buttercream and your cream will turn into a soup.) Cream coconut oil (narrow container etc.) and add half of the cooled pudding. Beat until the mixture is smooth and add remaining pudding. Add powdered sugar, beat again and pour over the cake. Distribute evenly.

Topping:
Melt chocolate and oil, mix well. Pour over the buttercream and distribute evenly. Let set for about 10 minutes then use a fork to draw waves into the chocolate. You can place it in the fridge so that the chocolate will set faster. Remove it 1 hour before serving, so the chocolate is softer and the cake can be cut easily.

Merken