Rahm Kuchen is a German hybrid of a fruit pie with a luscious cream topping! This is an heirloom recipe from my Bavarian family. The crust made with butter, egg yolks and is sweetened with vanilla sugar and a little lemon zest. The crust has a thin layer of apricot jam (to prevent a soggy bottom) and then fresh sliced apricots are arranged on topped, then layered with a topping made with heavy cream and sour, eggs and sugar. It’s a perfect summer dessert.
It has been six years since I originally posted this German recipe for “Apricot Cream Cake”. Since I make this every summer, it was high time I took updated photos, now that I’ve learned a bit more about photography (and it’s on ongoing process, for sure). I’d describe this dessert as more of a tart, filled with fresh apricots with a baked creamy layer of sour cream, heavy cream, eggs and some sugar.
This is the photo that I took in 2006 with my old point-and-shoot camera. I still find it to be mouth-watering.
This recipe comes from my cousin. Like my Mutti, she was born and raised in Bavaria, but now lives in Northern California. Thank you, Ursula, for showing me how to make this recipe.
Ursula’s recipe is hand written, in German. I’ve done my best to convert her measurements into what we Americans are more familiar with.
Making pastry isn’t terribly difficult, but there are a few important tips. My cousins uses her own hands to make the dough, but she doesn’t overwork it. Personally, I use my food processor and I pulse it just enough times for the dough to combine enough for me to pat it into a round disk, and then shape with a rolling pin.
My original photos, dated 2009. 
Now, she pats the dough and brings the edges up a little higher (this will be filled with fruit and a cream topping, so you want the dough to accommodate that).
So, here’s my own attempt at working with this dough. See? There are plenty of finger prints where I pressed the dough, which cracked in a few places. Nobody will know.
The flavor of the dough is buttery, because..well, there’s butter in it! No lard. There are also egg yolks, vanilla sugar and lemon zest. This has become one of my favorite pie or tart shell recipes. 
I spooned on a thin layer of apricot jam– about 1/2 cup very lightly thinned with water. (My cousin says that this prevents the crust from getting soggy.) I’ve been doing this, ever since she first showed me, and I love it!
She used approximately 15 apricots. (Peaches would be delicious, too, I remarked…and she agreed). She also added that blueberries do very well with this recipe.
I got a little more “artsy” and so this is how I filled my springform pan.
My cousin uses her hand mixer to blend the sour cream, heavy cream, whole eggs, and sugar . (I simply whisked everything together until the sugar was dissolved.) This was poured over the fruit.
I baked mine for about an hour– until the topping jiggled just a bit, but was firm. Slightly golden on top is okay, too.
This”tart” should be cooled for at least an hour, and then refrigerated for the cream to “set”.
This is a photo of the Apricot Rahm kuchen that my cousin made (photographed with my old camera, before I learned what “white balance” is in photography. As you can see, the filling is much softer and creamier– and that’s because she didn’t let this cool and the tart was still a bit warm.
TASTING NOTES: A recent reader commented that her tart turned out with a soggy crust, and that she had trouble working with it. So, I tried to add some tips on how to avoid that, in my post. She also said her crust wasn’t cooked and that it took forever for the cream topping to set. That makes me sad, and I can’t really explain why that happened. I can only say, that the my own attempt at making this worked. I’d like to make this with peaches, as well.
Save the crust recipe, anytime you want to make a tasty crust. I love the notes of vanilla and lemon zest!
German Apricot Rahm Kuchen (Cream Cake)
Ingredients
PASTRY CRUST:
- 7 ounces flour about 1 1/2 cups
- 5 1/2 ounces unsalted butter cold; diced
- 3 ounces sugar scant 1/2 cup
- 2 egg yolks
- .32 ounce package Dr. Oetker vanilla sugar or 3/4 tsp. pure vanilla
- 1 zest small lemon or to taste
- 1-2 T cold water (optional) if the dough doesn't become cohesive
For the fruit filling:
- 1/4 cup apricot jam or peach; optional
- 2 pounds fresh apricots pitted, halved and quartered
TOPPING:
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 ounces sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
CRUST:
- Whisk together all of the dry ingredients and the lemon zest.
If mixing by hand:
- Create a well in the middle and add the eggs (and vanilla, if not using vanilla sugar), lemon zest and the butter.
- Mix the butter into the dry ingredients with your hand or a pastry cutter.
- Using the heels of your hand, knead until all the ingredients are combined.
- NOTE: You can adapt this recipe using a food processor. Just pulse the ingredients until they are just combined.
- Roll into a circle and set into a lightly greased and floured spring form pan.
Food processor shortcut:
- Pulse the dry ingredients to combine. Add the diced, cold, butter and pulse until it resembles coarse sand. Add 1-2 Tablespoons water until the dough clumps together.
- NOTE: This is a very soft dough, and will most likely break apart. Don’t despair! You patch it all together and it will turn out fine.
- Flour the surface, so the dough won’t stick.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Filling:
- Thin the apricot jam with a splash of water and stir until spreadable.
- Spread a thin, even layer of the jam over the dough (this will prevent the crust from becoming soggy).
- Layer the apricots, skin side down, in one even layer. Do not overfill the fruit, because the topping should cover the fruit.
- Blend all of the ingredients for the topping and pour over the fruit.
- Set the pan on top of a baking sheet, in case of leakage or spillovers.
- Bake at 350°F for approximately 55 minutes. The topping should be lightly golden, but not brown.
- Allow the tart to cool until at room temperature, and refrigerate for at least one hour for the cream topping to set completely.
- Take one bite, and enjoy the creamy deliciousness!
Notes
This sounds so creamy and delicious! Yum!
And I love the pillsbury dough boy shirt!
This looks fantastic! I adore apricots. This will be a "must do" for me!
I would gobble this right up, it looks great!!
What a lovely post. I feel like I know Ursula from you writing about her. Her dessert looks beyond fantastic.
Love, love, love your new look! This recipe is amazing as is her Bavarian house and property. What a haven in the midst of California!
Gorgeous cake–I bet it was incredible. Love the shirt too and the measuring beaker. Looks like you had a great time at her lovely home.
Debby, I absolutely LOVE this story! There is so much history, experience and love baked into Ursula's Cream Cake. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Hi! I just now found your blog and added your glog to follow! I used to live in California, love horses too, and obviously love to cook, read blogs and read cookbooks like novels as well. Got a lot in common. I think you and I are also foodie friends on Foodbuzz. Please stop by my blog sometime and become foodie friends! Bella (Roz)
Lecker!
Apricots are in season…. maybe it's time to try it!
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Angie's Recipes
This sounds delish! And Ursula sounds amazing! Thanks for introducing us!
That cake's a keeper … I'd love to dig into that! And Ursula looks like shez used to ppl going gaga over her creations!
I love this post! I adore family recipes and I'm glad your lovely cousin let you document this. It looks incredible and yes I love her shirt 🙂
her home is amazing too. We just came back on a mini-vacation from a German town and her homw would have fit right in. All I lacked on vacation was this dessert!
Oh Wowow that looks so good! If you still have some, can I have a piece?
Hi, the photo of this caught my eye–it looks fabulous. So, since I just bought some nectarines, I thought I would try it with those. Reading the recipe kind of threw me off–I weigh ingredients when I cook, and I know a cup of flour weighs 4-5 oz. This says 7 oz.-a scant cup. Looking at the amount of dough she's working with, I will go with the 7 oz, more like a scant 1 1/2 cup. Thanks. I'll let you know how it turns out.
What a beautiful website. I just stumbled across it looking for a side dish for a luncheon and WOW! I have now added your site to my home page and cannot wait to try many of these recipes. I love all the pictures and the detailed recipes!
Jan
What a beautiful website. I just stumbled across it looking for a side dish for a luncheon and WOW! I have now added your site to my home page and cannot wait to try many of these recipes. I love all the pictures and the detailed recipes!
Jan
I am going to try this. It sounds great. I was looking for a kuchen recipe because my grandma used to make it when I was a kid and haven't had it since. I know she always made it on bread day, and I'm almost sure she used some of her bread dough for crust. But this is the only one I found that uses sour cream like she used to.
I saw the picture and since I just had fresh apricots given to me, I just had to try it. But I think I must have made a mistake with the sour cream……I thought a "small" container of sour cream would be the 250ml…….but it took forever to bake and the pastry was soggy. It TASTES good, but does NOT look like the pic. And I dont' think I used enough flour….had a lot of trouble getting it into the pan……finally just used my finger tips to try to get it up the sides. Would be great if you could be more precise with those measurements. Thanks for the post. I might try it again and adjust the amounts of flour and sour cream.
Dear Anonymous,
Arrrrrrrrrgh, that makes me sad when someone doesn't have success with one of my recipes. Coincidentally, I just made this again and shot new photos. I also updated the recipe card to say "one cup" of sour cream. My Aunt wasn't using measurements, so I wanted to update the information. Mine turned out great the second time. I wish you had emailed me (foodiewife@gmail.com)so I could trouble shoot with you. First, with pastry crusts, you have to make sure that the dough goes by "feel". I've made so many pies, that I can tell when I've used enough flour. This crust was easy to drape over, that it did fall apart in a few places. I simply patched those areas and all was good.
I will repost this in the next few days, and I hope that you can it again. Again, I'm so sorry you didn't have success. I had to convert a lot of my cousin's recipe from metric into US measurements- and that's quite a challenge.
Debbie,
This looks delicious! I especially love seeing your original photos – what a difference! Great food will always photograph well but a wonderful photo like the ones you take now does really elevate the entire recipe. My husband isn't a fan of apricots but I'm thinking I may try it with plums? I suppose any stone fruit would work, even cherries…
Hi Lisa!
Thanks for the photography kudos. I loved my little point-and-shoot, but my DSLR definitely helps to improve my shots. As for using other stone fruits–absolutely! Peaches are what I'd like to use, next. Let me know!
Want to try this but cannot find a printable recipe card
Dear Anonymous,
I wish you had emailed me at foodiewife@gmail.com I have that printed on my blog all over the place! I could have sent you a direct link to my recipe card, but since you are "anonymous", I can't respond directly to you.
Did you scroll down to the very end of my post? If you had, there is the recipe card! I can see it using Mozilla, Explorer and Google Chrome. I can see it from my iPhone, and my iPad. I don't know why you don't see it. Look again. If you still can't see it, then email me at the above address and I will gladly send the recipe card to you.
I have been craving apricots something fierce lately..and this cream cake would hit the spot!
Love the creaminess of this cake Debby! I need to learn a little bit of German now, since I'll be going to Munich to teach a seminar this December. Any recommendations on where to go, what to see and what to eat?
I made this today. It took forever to bake–1.5 hours to set, but I think part of that is due to me using a 9″ springform pan. I think a 10″ would work much better for the amount of filling. It is presently cooling. Originally, I just had the recipe, not the photos. I just found this website.
In my usual kuchen recipe, I pre-bake the crust for 20 minutes, then put the fruit in, then the cream topping and bake it. So I will find out how the crust is when it has cooled.
I made this yesterday using fresh plums from our tree. It came out wonderfully and the crust recipe will be used for other things as well. I made my crust by hand and it was the easiest and tastiest crust I’ve ever made. After reading that someone had a mushy crust, I chose to prebake the crust for ten to twelve minutes in the preheated over before filling. Since I did that I skipped the jam spread on the bottom. In my experience a short prebake helps homemade crusts gets just the right texture.
Thank you for letting me know. I think the pre-bake is a great idea, and one I’ll try next time. I am obsessed with the crust, too. It’s much better than a more traditional lard based crust, I think. It’s buttery, with a background of vanilla– and I love the lemon zest, too.
To be honest, I’ve been making this recipe for years now. It’s my favourite. I am german, and I have yet to find a more perfect filling and it goes very well with the super crisp Mürbeteig.
I usually use Mirabelles, Reine Claudes (greengage?) or Rhubarb, as the slight tartness works very nicely with the sweet filling.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
My family was never good at preserving recipes so I love finding other families inherited ones ^^
Thank you so much for the positive feedback. This recipes comes from my Bavarian cousin– born and bread in that country. I was smitten, the first time I tasted. I love your variation.
To be honest, I’ve been making this recipe for years now. It’s my favourite. I am german, and I have yet to find a more perfect filling and it goes very well with the super crisp Mürbeteig.
I usually use Mirabelles, Reine Claudes (greengage?) or Rhubarb, as the slight tartness works very nicely with the sweet filling.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
My family was never good at preserving recipes so I love finding other families inherited ones ^^