Today I want to introduce you to the buckwheat cake typical of South Tyrol, also known in Austria and Germany as Buchweizentorte mit Preiselbeeren or Schwarzplententorte. It is a very simple cake to make but with a distinctive flavor given by the buckwheat and hazelnuts in the dough. Moreover, the cranberry compote gives this cake a very good and not too sweet flavor, which I personally love. I prepared the buckwheat cake a couple of days ago for my birthday. But now let’s see together how to prepare it in the following recipe.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 20 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 14-16
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, All seasons
Ingredients
The buckwheat cake is quite caloric, so I replaced the sugar with erythritol. NOTE: I used the same quantity as the original recipe, which is 250g, even though erythritol is less sweet, and the butter with a lower-calorie version to try to make it lighter. Additionally, I used lactose-free ingredients, so it is also lactose-free. It is also gluten-free since buckwheat is naturally gluten-free. But the original recipe is still reported as follows.
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup cups butter (soft, I used one with 40% fat and lactose-free)
- 2 cups cups hazelnuts (ground)
- 1 cup cups sugar (or sweetener)
- 2 cups cups buckwheat flour
- 1 apple (grated)
- 1 packet vanillin
- 1 packet baking powder
- 1 lemon zest
- 10.5 oz oz cranberry jam
- to taste cranberries (I used wild cranberry compote)
- to taste whipped cream (optional for serving, I used lactose-free)
Tools
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 Springform pan 10 inches
Steps
Start preparing your buckwheat cake by whipping the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. Then mix all the dry ingredients: buckwheat flour, ground hazelnuts, and baking powder. In a second bowl, cream the soft butter with the sugar for about 3-4 minutes then add the egg yolks one at a time followed by the grated apple, then add the vanilla, the zest of an organic lemon, and mix in the dry ingredients one spoon at a time. Once you have finished with all the ingredients, leave the whisk (or the stand mixer) and fold in the whipped egg whites gently from the bottom to the top using a spoon. At this point, pour the batter into a greased springform pan, level it well, and bake in a preheated static oven at 350°F for at least 40-45 minutes. Do the toothpick test a few minutes before and extend the baking time for a few more minutes if necessary; the cake should be completely dry inside.
When the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it cool well for at least a couple of hours. Then cut it in half to obtain 2 layers and fill it with cranberry compote, be generous because the final taste will surprise you. Then dust with powdered sugar and serve your buckwheat cake with more cranberry compote and cream or simply with one of these two ingredients.
The buckwheat cake is soft and moist at the same time, so it does not need to be soaked. However, I still recommend serving it with fruit compote or cream to balance the flavors.
If you like this kind of cake, check out my HAZELNUT CAKES HERE.
Saby recommends…
If you can’t find cranberry compote you can serve it with red currant or even raspberry jam. The jam should be slightly tart and not too sweet.
