Bamkuch

Tailored to help discover the foundational dishes that define Luxembourg's culinary heritage, the series Tastes of Luxembourg aims to bring Luxembourgish cuisine to the homes of the country's big expat community.

Each month, Anne cooks another Luxembourg classic in her kitchen. Anne will make a sweet Bretzel for Bretzelsonndeg, Gromperekichelcher during Schueberfouer season, and Boxemännchecher in December.

With Luxembourg's National Day just around the corner, it's officially Bamkuch season – and this year, you can recreate the iconic layered tree cake at home, baking it in a simple tin under the grill, one golden layer at a time.

Ingredients

Makes 2 cakes in 2 cake tins measuring 25x20cm – Prep: 2h + 1 day of resting

500g butter, at room temperature
500g sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
12 eggs
150ml rum 
400g flour
100g cornstarch
4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

For the layers:
3 tbsp sugar
150ml water
3 tbsp dark rum 
2 jars apricot jam

For the icing:
360g icing sugar
4 tbsp dark rum
4 tbsp water

Instructions

Grease two 25x20cm cake tin and line the bases with baking paper.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Add the eggs and beat. Add the rum and beat again.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mix to the wet ingredients, beating between additions.

Preheat the oven grill to high.

Spread a thin, even layer of batter onto the base of one cake tin and grill just below the oven grill for about 3 minutes until the top has browned.

Meanwhile, spread a layer of batter into the second cake tin.

Put the sugar, water and rum (for the layers) into a small saucepan and heat until all the sugar has dissolved. In a second saucepan, heat up the apricot jam so it becomes runny.

Take the cake tin out of the oven, and put the second tin in – grilling the cake for about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, brush the surface of the baked cake layer with some apricot jam, then add another thin, even layer of batter.
After 3 minutes, alternate the cake tins again, brushing apricot jam onto the freshly baked cake layer and topping it with another layer of batter.

Once the second layer is baked, brush some of the rum syrup over the cake.

Spread another layer of batter on top of the cake, pop under the grill for 3 minutes, then brush the grilled surface with apricot jam.

Repeat this process until all the dough is used up – alternating between apricot jam and rum syrup (you will get about 10 layers for each cake).

Once you get to the last layer, turn off the grill and heat the oven to 180°C fan. Bake the two cakes at the same time for 10 minutes – this ensures all the layers are fully baked.

Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Once the cakes are cool, prepare the icing by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Spread over the top of the cake and leave to set for a few hours.

Once the icing has set, wrap the cakes in foil and set aside for at least 1 day before cutting. The flavours will develop and the cake will become more moist.

Storage: The Bamkuch keeps wrapped in foil for 4 days. I usually freeze big chunks of Bamkuch once the icing has set. I then defrost the cake at room temperature on the day I want to serve it. It’s quite incredible, but I found that the defrosted Bamkuch tastes even better – somehow the freezing process renders the cake even more moist and succulent!

Tip: Depending on your oven grill, it might burn the surface without baking the cake enough, or not grill the cake surface enough. When either of these situations happen, I turn on the oven in fan-mode at the same time as the grill, usually at around 180°C fan. Like that, the cake is grilled and baked at the same time.

Recipe by Anne's Kitchen.