Bee Sting Cake

When I was little I used to watch my Mom make a Bee Sting Cake. She would make a feather light cake dough and then fill it with vanilla cream custard and top it with almonds that had been cooked in brown sugar and honey. Oh My gosh it was good. But even then, I remember thinking it was too much work with all that kneading and punching and waiting. I found that old recipe this past weekend and it sounded as hard I as remember it looked. So I decided to make a few changes to make it easier and the results are what you see here. I call it the modern day Bee Sting Cake and I made a basic yellow cake, a creamy custard and topped it with a walnut topping instead. One of the best cakes I've ever made. This thing is as delicious as it looks and I can't get enough of it. It's going to the freezer today so I can stop eating it! 

Bee Sting Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large eggs

Topping                                                                          

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick, 3 ounces) butter
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) sugar
3 tablespoons (2 ounces) honey
2 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) heavy cream
2 `1/2 cups chopped walnuts
pinch of salt

Melt the butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the sugar, honey and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil it for 3 to 5 minutes, until it’s taken on a very light gold color. Stir in the walnuts, let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 8-inch cake pan. Then line with parchment paper and leave an overhang to lift cake later. In a large mixing bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter, milk and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, occasionally scraping sides of bowl. Add egg, beat for 3 more minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Spread topping over cake batter and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Lift cake with parchment paper and allow to cool thoroughly on wire rack.

Custard

4 Egg yolks
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup sugar

Heat up the milk, the sugar and salt.. Bring it to a simmer and let the sugar dissolve over medium heat. Whisk the cornstarch and egg yolks until creamy.

Slowly add in the hot milk mixture with the egg yolks to temper them. Do not add too much hot milk into the eggs at the same time, it can curdle the eggs. Bring the egg and milk mixture to a slow boil while stirring constantly. When thickened remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and make sure it touches the top of the custard and refrigerate it.

To assemble cake. Once cake is cooled, use a long serrated knife and cut cake in half horizontally to make two layers. Cover bottom layer with filling and place top of cake back on. Refrigerate before serving. 

TIP: Freeze the cake until you are going to serve it. If you slice it while it is frozen it won’t squish all the cream out. Then just let it sit for about half an hour before