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Onion cake: the best recipes and tips
Onion cake: recipes and tips
by Judith Ottersbach and Vanessa Richter
Onion cake is available everywhere in Germany where wine is grown. Find out from us how you can make onion cakes perfect at home!
The most delicious onion cake recipes
Video recipe: Onion and pumpkin pie
Hearty recipe for autumn cuisine: The onion and pumpkin cake is particularly creamy thanks to a spicy sour cream mixture. Here you can find the recipe for onion and pumpkin cake with a printable version.

Onion and pumpkin cake
02:13 min
Onion cake: Here’s how
Which dough?
The base of the onion cake is classic Yeast dough manufactured. To prepare it, the dough is made with a cube of fresh yeast, neural oil, flour, a pinch of salt and warm milk. While the dough rises covered in a warm place, prepare the topping for the onion cake. Alternatively, you can also make onion cake with one Quark and oil dough produce.
Stuffing and spices
The onion filling consists of one Egg and cream mixture (with sour cream) with Onions. A characteristic feature of the topping is its seasoning Salt, pepper and Caraway seeds as well as the addition of streaky bacon or diced ham for a lower calorie option.
To prepare the onion filling, cut peeled onions into cubes and fry them in a pot until translucent. When the onions have cooled slightly, mix in the eggs and sour cream and add salt, pepper and cumin.

Sheet pan onion cake with raw ham
© Matthias Haupt
How long does onion cake have to bake?
The onion cake is baked in the preheated oven 200 degrees approx. one hour Baked until its surface is golden brown. The onion cake tastes best warm!
Quark and oil dough
Delicious onion cake can also be made with a quark and oil dough. You can find out how to make the dough here:
Onion cake: variants and tips
The Swabian and Baden onion cake, the Zwiebelwähe, is known for its thin yeast dough base and spicy filling made from onions, bacon, caraway and cream. In Alsace, however, the onion tart has a French touch and its shortcrust pastry is reminiscent of a Quiche Lorraine. People also like to bake with crème fraîche or quark.
What goes with it?
Whether from a tray or a springform pan, it is best to drink a young wine with the onion cake, which can be sweet or sour. Bacon and caraway offer a delicious contrast. In Franconia, the “Zwiebelplootz” is traditionally served with Federweißer and is traditionally offered at wine festivals during the wine harvest. Hence the typical season for the savory pastries during the grape harvest Autumneven if the ingredients are available all year round. If you want to eat vegetables with your onion cake, a light, green salad is the right choice.
Vegetarian onion cake
If you prefer to enjoy the hearty classic vegetarian, you can simply replace the bacon with leek or smoked tofu and bake it with cheese for extra flavor. Pumpkin is also a delicious companion for onions, whether in the classic way on yeast or puff and shortcrust pastry.
Storage of onion cakes
Onion cake tastes best fresh out of the oven. If you do have some left over, you can store the cake in the refrigerator in a suitable container and warm it up the next day either in the oven at 200 degrees or in a pan without fat. Onion cake can also be frozen in a suitable container and defrosted again as needed.
Successful combination with Federweißer
Federweißer is the first product of the vintage every year. As a smooth, fruity drink, Federweißer sweetens the late summer and early autumn days for connoisseurs. The still-fermenting vine juice is particularly popular at the first wine festivals of the year. There are also traditional hearty foods such as onion cake, quiche or chestnuts.
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