For a cake the Germans call "the king of cakes" and the Japanese call "the ultimate wedding cake," the baumkuchen doesn't really look like a cake or behave like one. But it more than makes up for its oddities with rich flavor, history and symbolism.
It resembles a hollowed cross-section of a craggy tree trunk, or a planet's rings, depending on how you make it. It can have up to 21 delicate, sugary stratums, which give it a light yet chewy texture.
The crowning quality of this specialty cake is the unusual method of preparation. To make the nearly paper-thin layers, a baker coats a spit with sponge cake batter, mounts it over a heat source — originally an open fire, today in a specialized oven — and bakes it rotisserie-style, rotating the spit slowly until the first layer is baked. This process is repeated 12 to 20 more times until the spit forms the cylindrical core of the cake. Once cool, the cake is sliced into rings and slid off the spit.
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