Easy Hartenhuis Cake Recipe: Fun Family Baking Inspired by Het Vergeten Kind
Lotte and I baked the Hartenhuis cake for Het Vergeten Kind's 'Make a dessert you love making together' campaign. The original recipe is in their Hartenhuis Christmas Desserts booklet, featuring delightful treats perfect for baking with kids.
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Making the Hartenhuis Cake the Easy Way
As an experienced home baker, I adapted the recipe from the Christmas dessert booklet due to time limits. This easy version stays true to its inspiration from professional chef Hidde de Brabander, and the booklet includes other tasty desserts too 😉.
Ingredients for the Hartenhuis Cake
Sponge cake mix (Dr. Oetker) + 5 eggs + 50 ml water
Buttercream mix (Dr. Oetker) + 100 grams of butter + 100 ml of milk
Lemon Curd (I used the delicious one from Bonne Maman, for sale at the AH)
Fondant
Edible marker
cocoa powder (I used chocolate mousse powder, be creative with what you have)
How to Make the Hartenhuis Cake
For Hidde de Brabander's expert version, refer to Het Vergeten Kind's booklet. Here's my proven, simplified method:
Bake the sponge cake as on the package, but in a cake tin with 90% of the batter.
The remaining 10% of the batter mix in the cocoa powder and spread it in a thick slice (about 1 centimeter thick) over baking paper. This will be the roof. Bake this in the oven for 7-10 minutes when your pie is ready. I put it in a bowl myself, that's also possible, but it's not really handy to get it out. Chances are it will break.
Make the buttercream as on the package.
Stir 3 large tablespoons of lemon curd through the buttercream.
When the cake has cooled down, cut off the edges and cut the airy cake part into pieces so that you make 'building blocks'.
You can 'glue' these building blocks together with a nice layer of buttercream with lemon curd as you can see in the picture.
The roof splits in two and (again with buttercream, of course) will be placed diagonally on your house.
Decorating the Hartenhuis Cake
Unroll the fondant and make a rectangular slab of it that you place on the roof. Buttercream underneath ensures that your roofing material sticks.
A few tufts on top of the roof finish it off nicely.
Make a few more hearts that you can stick on either side of the house with buttercream.
For example, write your Christmas wish on the roof with an edible marker.
Let it set in the fridge for a while and then eat it!
Note: Hidde de Brabander's Hartenhuis cake looks far more polished than mine. Thankfully, I'm a passionate home baker, not a pro pastry chef or builder 😉.
More About the Hartenhuis Cake and Het Vergeten Kind
This joyful bake is ideal for quality time with children. But it's part of Het Vergeten Kind's meaningful campaign, which we've championed before. As parents, we can't overlook children missing simple pleasures like dessert—or deeper needs from challenging home lives lacking warmth and stability.
To help, join the campaign and request the free Hartenhuis recipe booklet!
