Sawdust Cake

No, this cake is not as dry as sawdust!

I have never heard of it before when I found the recipe on Pinterest. Then I looked in to the history of the cake and found out, that it was a cake recipe from the former German Democratic Republic.

I asked my former coworker who has lots of relatives in the Eastern part,  and they send me their version of their well known recipe.

It is good for bigger groups of people, because it is made in a 25x35 cm sheet pan.

Recipe:

Base:

250 g soft unsalted butter, 250 g sugar

6 large free range eggs, pinch of salt

150 g AP flour, 2,5 tsp baking powder

5 tbsp cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Topping:

400 g double cream, 400 g Schmand 24% fat or mix 300 g creme fraiche and 100 g sour cream

1 1/2 package Dr. Oetker Paradise cream vanilla, 20 g sugar

2. Topping:

100 g butter, 100 g sugar, 100 g dessicated coconut

Use baking spray for the tin and heat up the oven to 160 C fan.

In a large bowl beat sugar and butter together. Then add one egg at a time and beat in between.

Sieve the dry ingredients in and add vanilla extract. Pour in the pan and level out with a cranked palette knife. Bake for 20 min.

Cool down completely and prepare the cream topping. Spread on top of the cold cake. To firm it up, stick it in the fridge for 2 hours or over night.

In a wide pan melt butter and sugar together and add the coconut. Now the fun starts.

If you ever roasted pine nuts, you will know that they take a long time and stay white, then turn to brown or black in an instant. That is the same here. Stir and watch constantly. It takes about 10 min to get them to the right color. Take them out of the pan and cool down.

Put on top of the cake as sawdust. Keep the cake cool until serving.