Sponge Cake: TREE CAKE

Preparations:

1. Place the marzipan in the freezer for an hour. Then it can be grated super. Heat the rasp with the Cointreau over a water bath and stir to a paste. Let it cool down again. Line the bottom of a 24cm springform pan with baking paper and set aside.
2. Separate eggs into yolks and whites. Whip the egg white with a pinch of salt to a very stiff egg white and place in the refrigerator. Mix the flour, cornstarch and baking powder and sift.

Making dough:

1. Beat the butter, egg yolks, sugar + vanilla sugar until very frothy. Add the marzipan pulp and mix thoroughly with the batter. Fold the stiffly beaten egg white into the butter mixture with a spatula so that it doesn’t lose too much volume.

Baking setting:

1. Set the oven to the first grill function. IMPORTANT … baking is done on the bottom rail of the oven.

To bake:

1. 3 Spread heaped tablespoons of batter onto the bottom of the springform pan. Works best with a small angled pallet. Put in the oven until the surface has got a fawn brown layer (takes about 3 minutes)
2. Remove the mold from the oven, pour 3 tablespoons of batter onto the browned surface and smooth it out. Put in the oven again and bake until this layer has also got a light brown color (approx. 3 minutes). Take the mold out of the oven and spread 3 tablespoons of dough again and bake … etc., etc. … until the dough is used up (complete duration approx. 30 min.)
3. Do not take your eyes off the baking pan while baking, as the dough will get too dark very quickly.
4. After finishing the last baking process, pull the mold out of the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then use a knife to loosen the cake from the edge and pull off the ring. Let the cake cool completely on the wire rack.

Finish:

1. Crush the couverture and liquefy it over the water bath. DO NOT let it get hotter than max 40 °, otherwise the coating will no longer shine. Place the cake with a grid on baking paper and pour all of the couverture onto the cake in one go. Spread the angled palette on the surface so that everything runs evenly down the sides. Let the couverture solidify.
2. The excess couverture that has run onto the baking paper can be used again. When it has dried, simply remove it from the paper and keep it for later use (maybe the Christmas bakery ??).
3. I love this cake and will definitely not buy a Baumkuchen anymore. It is so nice and relaxed … my birthday guests were thrilled too :-)))