Baumkuchen

A year or two ago, a friend of mine lent me the food issue of the New Yorker, which had an article about "Spit Cake," or "Baumkuchen." (Clarification: "Spit" refers to being baked while turning on a spit, not spit as in saliva.) This is how the article described the cake:

"The finished cake is iced with a thin sugar glaze or heavy slatherings of chocolate. Not only does the form resemble a tree trunk; when sliced horizontally, the fine, curved shavings reveal rings of age" (Read more )

I was intrigued, but very few bakeries in Germany still do this. Luckily, I heard of one in Berlin. So Jessica and I biked off in search of Baumkuchen. And we biked really far. In the cold. So we really deserved it when we got there. :) 

It's called Café Buchwald, and it's one of the old-school Konditoreien, like I posted about here. The café is just behind Schloss Bellevue, on the Spree, north of the Tiergarten. It was pretty busy when we got there. All the tables were occupied or reserved. But in Germany, you can also join a table if there are seats open, and sit with strangers. It's a nice compromise for these small, yet popular locations. We joined a couple at a table for 5, and they were leaving anyways. A bit later, two older men came and sat down next to us. It's an interesting cultural phenomenon. Usually they say, "tschüß" to you or something friendly when you leave, but otherwise you just ignore them and pretend like they're not there.

Jessica's Baumkuchentorte

 The cake was a lot lighter than I thought it would be. Also, I have to say the rings were not as well-defined as I think they should be. You should be able to see the layers. But it had a really nice subtle almond flavor, and was really good with coffee. The perfect Kaffeepause after biking! Jessica had the Baumkuchentorte, which has the tree-like layers like Baumkuchen, but isn't baked on a spit. Also beautiful and delicious!

Café Buchwald

a funny thing happened on my way to the library

 My bike ride to the library this afternoon happened to go past this bakery I have heard lots about and wanted to check out..."How convenient," as Michael said...

You order from a little window in the door, and sit outside. It was chilly, but I was warm from biking and bundled up, as were the 5 or so other people who were there when I was. Also, I heard some others coming and going, taking cake home, and someone ordering a torte for some event. It's a little treasure, this place!

This is what I got: Swiss Hazelnut-Kuchen. Delicious. Seriously.

süßer Naschmarkt

On this nice fall Sunday I biked down to the old Markthalle in Kreuzberg, which has just been renovated and re-opened for weekly markets. this week they were featuring a süßer Naschmarkt, a "sweets market", which you know is just my cup of tea. :)

We went around 2:00 pm, and lots of the vendors had already sold out--like the pretty little French macarons! But still lots of pretty things to look at.

I got Michael a little mini raspberry-chocolate Gugelhüpfchen (below right).
And at a nearby café, away from the chaos, I enjoyed a piece of Apfel-Marscapone Kuchen with almond slivers and Preiselbeeren (lingonberries). sehr lecker!

Mohnkuchen und Nußkranz

This Kuchen was in honor of my mom's birthday on Saturday. :) As if you need an excuse to eat Kuchen...

Tischlein deck dich

it's high time for some more food pictures...here is our breakfast table:

and some pastries we've been spoiling ourselves with...
Marzipan-Nuss-Kranz

Marzipan-Mandel-Hörnchen...

Spaziergang: Prenzlauer Berg to Mitte

Our walk begins on a beautiful Sunday in Prenzlauer Berg, after the Mauerpark...A hip neighborhood with lots of European expatriates, young parents, and hipsters...On this house you see a banner reading "Atomkraft? Nein Danke!" (Nuclear Power? No Thanks!), a common slogan in Germany among the left, young students, green party. It's Sunday, so things are relatively quiet. Most businesses are closed, with the exception of restaurants and a few bakeries.

Down Kastanienallee, which is nicknamed "Casting-Allee" because of its wide sidewalks and fashionable inhabitants, a street with lots of little restaurants, shops, and cafés. Here we take a break for a Waffel...with powdered sugar and Vanille-Quark.

We take a detour through another park along the way, where every inch of sunlight is being occupied by happy Germans, enjoying their sunny Sunday in the middle of a three-day weekend...

More sights that somehow seem very typisch Berlin...The graffiti left reads "We are all staying" and right is an abstract rendering of the Fernsehturm, the TV tower that hovers over Berlin's skyline.

Now we get into central Berlin, Mitte, and things start to look a little bit more schick...You can always spot the Fernsehturm in the background, the symbol of Berlin...Another Sunday market below, wrapping up, with the Bode Museum of Museum's Island in the background.


Across Unter den Linden, the main thoroughfare of Mitte, and through the Humboldt Universität.

Past the beautiful Gendarmenmarkt.

And right before we tuck into the U-Bahn, a Turkish Wedding procession drives by. The bride and groom's car is covered with flowers, and all the other cars in the procession are honking their horns the whole time.

Prost!

Kaffee und Kuchen

Every return to Germany must be celebrated with Kaffee und Kuchen.

here: Apfelstreusel und Schokoladen- Orangen Kuchen

Torten und Kuchen, II

Last night was the last session of the baking classes I have been taking... We didn't actually bake so much last night because we had already made the cake and now needed to assemble the tortes...Below is an example of Frankfurter Kranz, Frankfurt Wreath, a traditional German torte. (note: this picture is our portion of the cake we took home! AHHH!)
Below: Michael stirring chocolate...they told us that at Lindt they stir their chocolate 24 hours! :)

First up: we made omlettes: with a sponge cake recipe we baked thin rounds, then filled them with cream and fruit.Below: an omlette

The finished Zwetschkenkuchen (which will be named differently depending on your region, but Zwetschken is the southern German word for this kind of plum, a bit more narrow than a round plum).
Below is the Bäckermeister, our instructor. For the really tricky things he showed us how it's done...which maybe isn't the best way to learn how to do something, but I think it helps to see once the good technique and he explains a million different tricks and tips while he goes.
As we all stood around him, mesmerized by the patterns created by the cream as his expert hand pushed it out of the bag and onto the torte, I couldn't help but think of this recent article I read by Michael Pollan, about how we love to watch people cook. It really was like watching a show, it's such an art to be able to make pastries and cakes this beautiful.
Below: Frankfurter Kranz
Below: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest Cake
Below: Ananas-Sahne Torte, pineapple cream torte
Below: the fridge in the community ed kitchen when we had finished all the cakes! Clean-up time!
Then we divided up the finished product and came home with waaaay too much torte! Everyone said they had invited friends over for the next day, knowing they would have leftovers!
And I can't believe it, but I don't have a picture of the Mozart-Torte! With layers of chocolate cake, cream, nut-nougat, pistachios on the sides, topped with a layer of Marzipan and then Chocolate...mmm!