Cafes

Germany 2008: Kaffee und Kuchen

5/16/2008 08:24:00 PM

*Thanks to everyone who sent me get well soon wishes! Am still not up for typing a whole post with my left hand, so here's another one from my drafts! It's about cake in Germany! Yay!*

Kaffee und Kuchen at some Konditorei in Heidelberg.

I absolutely adore the German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen, or coffee and cake. We'd usually have it on a Sunday. Papa would drive into town and buy a selection of amazing cakes, come home and brew a pot of coffee, and wait for the relatives to arrive. Other times, we'd be out sightseeing, and I'd insist - and I do mean insist - that we stop at a cafe for a much needed caffeine-break. (Take-away coffees don't seem to be as popular over there as they do in Melbourne, and we all know how much I love my coffees!)

These first few photos are from a Konditorei in Heidelberg...

Shockobanane - chocolate and banana.

Frankfurterkranz - sponge cake layered with cream, covered in crunchy praline.

More of that crunchy praline.


And next up are some kuchen we ate at home.

Bienenstich Kuchen - literally "bee sting cake". 2 layers of sweet yeasted dough, with cream in between, and honey almond praline on top. You'd think you couldn't finish a whole piece, but then you'd be wrong. It's ethereally light and fluffy, all too easy to eat.

Some sort of Swiss roll with raspberry filling.

Selection of cakes! Including Black Forest Cake, Frankfurter Kranz, Sachertorte, Bee Sting Cake, and a Fruit-topped Cake.

Christstollen
Schwarzwalderkirschtorte. (Black Forest Cake). Amazing. The cream has such a different texture to what I'm used to - so fluffy and light, like the inside of a pavlova! The sour cherries, kirsch, chocolate cream, chocolate cake and base make a combination that's out of this world. It was absolutely incredible.


*For anyone who's interested, or may be similarly suffering: I've been living on chicken soup, honey tea and butter menthols for 2 days. My cold is getting slightly better, although my throat is still a bit sore. As for my right hand - it's stuck firmly on a bag of frozen broad beans (my physio told me ice would calm the swelling down), and feels a bit better. Or maybe that's just because it's numb. My left hand is getting surprisingly fast at typing! I promise the Bistro Guillaume post will be coming in the next couple of days!*

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4 comments

  1. Ohhh that praline cake looks good. I worked in a German bakery for a while (in Wellington, not Germany unfortunately!) and it was rather difficult to hold myself back from eating all the profits. They sure know cake. Hope your right side gets up to speed soon and that the butter menthols/chicken soup do their thing! Take care :)

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  2. Each slice is more beautiful than the last!
    It is a nice custom, a very civilized break. I also experienced a friend making hot waffles for this, which is different from how we Americans pretty much reserve waffles for breakfast.

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  3. Oh lecker, Kuchen! Ich würde dir ja sagen was mein lieblingskuchen ist, aber da gibt es so viele! bienenstich ist so yum!

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  4. Yes I am also a fan of German cakes.
    My mother in law who is German is fantastic at baking cakes that look shop bought.

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