For the longest time, one of my go-tos from the dessert case at Oberlaa -- one of the city's finest pastry shops -- has been the Himbeerschaumschnitte. In English, according to their own translation, this is rendered as "raspberry cream cake," which is inaccurate to the extent that I don't believe there's a drop of cream anywhere near it. Rather, their Himbeerschaumschnitte consists of a thin layer of sponge cake, on top of which is a wedge of zabaglione (or custard, really), then raspberries, and finally what must be Italian meringue that's been browned lightly with a blowtorch. 'Raspberry cream cake' is part of Oberlaa's winter selection of desserts -- principally because it's made using frozen raspberries (and I won't have anyone tell me otherwise). As such, I was very surprised to find out recently that Himbeerschaumschnitte is not in fact an Oberlaa invention (as they would seem to assert) but rather another name for an already-existing summer dessert: Schwimmbadschnitte, or, I suppose, swimming pool slice, so-called because of its seasonal association. The summer's hotter weather -- and by god are we suffering through a heatwave right now -- apparently means parties by the pool at which this light and delicious cake is served.
From reading competing recipes for Schwimmbadschnitte, what I've learnt is the following. The first layer is always what's called in Austria Biskuit, which is to say, a fatless (or at the very least butter-less) sponge closely resembling that used to make English swiss roll, where the volume comes from beating a great deal of air into egg yolks and sugar, forming a stable mass into which the flour is incorporated. The second layer is, in the homespun version, made using vanilla pudding mix, which certainly makes it both instantaneous and risk-free when compared to making your own egg custard. All of the cornstarch in pudding powder would also make this layer more stable in the end. (Another note here: the Oberlaa Himbeerschaumschnitte has a thin layer of sponge and a thick layer of custard; the Schwimmbadschnitte has the reverse proportions). The raspberries are explanatory enough, and then the Schaum, so-to-speak, is indeed a meringue -- though only a fairly standard egg-white-and-sugar creation, for the whole cake with the Schaum layer on top is baked one final time in order to cook the whites. Thereafter, it has to set up in the fridge lest the whole creation fall apart upon slicing. Were it not too hot to turn the oven on, I would certainly think about making it.
