Summertime just makes me want to sit out at a café in the sun with a nice slice of Kuchen. Or, on rainy, drizzly days like this one, inside a cozy cafe with a hot coffee. I know, it sounds super extravagant to have cake in the afternoons. But this is the tradition of German Kaffee und Kuchen. Okay, maybe not every day...but weekends, for sure. And when company comes over. And for special occasions, holidays and birthdays. And then you get multiple slices. :) It's my favorite thing about Germany, really. In the US I tend to have a scone or a croissant when I need a little afternoon sugar, but in Germany it's always Kuchen.
A few weeks ago I made a classic Rhabarberkuchen, a German cake with rhubarb and meringue. (And by the number of post visits, it's already my most popular post...so I guess people need English-language German recipes!) Another classic kind of German "cake" (Kuchen) has a thick layer of poppy seed in the middle. Sometimes I have had visitors from the US think it's chocolate, while looking in the bakery window. Nope - poppy! This cake recipe has a filling of poppy seed and vanilla pudding - so delicious. Klara made it once for her brother's birthday while I was visiting her in Hamburg, and she passed along the recipe to me. Danke Klara! Also, it looks complicated but it is very easy.
This kind of pudding-poppy filling is used in a lot of German pastries, too. Another favorite of mine is the Mohnschnecke, like a cinnamon roll with a poppy seed filling. I will have to make that at some point as well.
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| you can't tell from the outside what deliciousless awaits inside... |
