Rehruecken

Good Food listener Teresa Walter shares her recipe for rehruecken, a German cake. This recipe,which has been in her family for generations, is usually served on birthdays.

Rehruecken translates to "venison saddle cake," which is largely due to its shape and decoration. The slivered almonds on the chocolate icing resembles either the back of a deer (Teresa's family lore) or a larded, sauced venison roast.

While Teresa's recipe contains flour, the traditional way of making rehruecken is with cake crumbs or strictly with almond meal.

1 cup sugar
1 ¾ cup ground almonds
3 Tablespoons flour
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 ½ tsps cinnamon
7 eggs

Separate the yolks and whites from 5 eggs. Combine 5 yolks, 2 whole eggs and sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add chocolate, almonds, cinnamon and flour, and fold in stiffly beaten egg whites a little at a time. Stir and put in pan and bake at 325° for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let stand 2 minutes. Turn out of pan immediately on to a rack.

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 heaping Tablespoon and 1 level Tablespoon cocoa
4 Tablespoons hot water
1 Tablespoon melted shortening (not butter)

Stir water one tablespoon at a time into sugar and cocoa until glazed and thick as cooking candy. Add shortening and stir to combine. Spread on cake and decorate with blanched almond slivers.