Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake) vs Maritozzi con la Panna (Sweet Buns with Cream)

Both desserts pair a soft, butter-enriched yeast dough with a generous cream filling, but they treat that cream very differently. Bienenstich cooks most of its cream with egg, cornstarch and vanilla into a custard, then folds in lightly whipped cream, and crowns the cake with a sticky, caramelized topping of honey, butter and almond flakes. Maritozzi keep things simpler and fresher: orange zest perfumes the dough of the egg-washed buns, and each one is split and filled with cold cream whipped to stiff peaks with powdered sugar and vanilla.