Cake!

Following on from the birthday fun we've had here of late, I thought I'd add a word or two about cake.....

Now Germany has, rightly so, a really rather good reputation in the cake stakes.  Kaffee und Kuchen are practically a national institution - indeed I wouldn't be surprised to find out there was a law which stated that you must have cake at least once a day!

Particular favourites of mine include Streusel cakes - which are a sort of crumble topped cake and fruit affair, all very seasonal of course, so we're in the midst of rhubarb cake at the moment - yummy!  Also not to be missed are the classic Apfelkuchen and many of the baked cheesecakes.  I did also find a lovely rice-pudding cake which, too, was very moreish!

German cakes are generally big, often creamy and you do need to invest the time to enjoy them properly - none of this eating on the run....  Coffee, cake, copious amounts of whipped cream and there you have classic Kaffee und Kuchen.

Bavarian Kaffee und Kuchen

Now, if you've read any of my other postings, you'll be aware that I've begun to bake a bit more here than I perhaps did back in the UK, partly as I enjoy the actual baking and of course the end result - but also due to children's birthday parties and assorted events at Kindergarten, school and other clubs which require cake donations.

The cupcake bandwagon hasn't quite reached my part of Germany yet and so that is what I generally go for when asked to produce something for the cake sale.  As I've said before, obtaining baking supplies - both in terms of ingredients and decorating is somewhat awkward here.  I'm still experimenting with the best ratios of German baking powder to plain flour for my UK recipes which demand self-raising......with varying results!

Anyway, once said cakes are baked to my satisfaction, then I often tend to get carried away.  It seems a run of the mill butter cream icing is fairly unknown here so my creations often feature that with some sort of sweet/chocolate decoration on top.  Without fail at Kindergarten every time I've offered up my cupcakes I'm asked if they're 'cream cakes' as they can't seem to get to grips with a fluffy icing instead of a flat glace icing.

Birthday cake design is also that bit more tricky as you can't readily buy ready to roll icing - so I've had to make my own.  I found, with the help of several online fora, a recipe for marshmallow fondant - which I will share with you here - it's very easy to make and tastes much nicer than the usual roll out fondant.

450g Marshmallows
4 tbsp Water
1.25kg Icing sugar
Colour of choice.

1. Melt the mallows and water in the microwave together for a couple of minutes
2. Pop in food processor - add the sugar and blend till smooth and the right consistency  - you may need to adjust the sugar amount.
3. Turn onto a greased surface and knead till smooth and pliable.

Now, bear in mind that the icing will be VERY VERY sticky.  I use solid coconut fat to grease the mixer and my hands /board /rolling pin as without it it will stick to everything.  (A pleasant side effect of this is that your hands feel super smooth after working the fondant)   The fondant keeps well in an airtight container - for several weeks and can also be frozen.

Mario mid construction

It works best with a layer of butter cream underneath to both smooth the cake and stick it down - oh and it tastes fairly decadent with both too....

I'm certainly enjoying sampling as many German cakes as I can (whilst not on my current diet fad...that's a whole other post) and also enjoying sharing my knowledge of English baking with our German friends - and of course cake can NEVER be a bad thing!

Super Mario Birthday Cake - the finished article.

More Birthday Fun

So despite all the German misgivings our (2 days) early birthday party went off without a hitch (well almost!)

Ten 5-6 year old boys and the volume goes off the scale - but apart from the noise - and a meltdown by the (un)birthday boy when he didn't win the pass the parcel prize, it was a remarkably easy and unstressful afternoon.

Lots of playing - a very long time playing musical statues - which of course had the benefit of wearing the little darlings out - so much so that we ended up popping a DVD on for the last 20 minutes or so as they were all flaked out on the sofas!!


We managed to fill them with sugar at our 'retro English birthday tea' - Tunnocks Tea Cakes, Cadbury's Mini Rolls, Iced Gems (not as good as they used to be....), Cadbury's Fingers, Party Rings, cocktail sausages on sticks and cheese and pineapple on sticks.  All went down well - as did the jelly and cake!




All in all a great day and despite the minor hiccup over pass the parcel the Birthday Boy had a great day - and he gets to do it all again tomorrow on his actual birthday!

The Social Minefield that is Birthday Parties.

Who'd have thought that the humble Birthday Party could be fraught with so many social pitfalls. If you thought it was turn up with a present, eat some cake, go home then you too may fall into some of the traps.   I seem to fallen into most of them over the four years or so of holding them for the Children here. So far I seem to have got the following 'wrong'....

* Date of party - well blow me if you can't hold it before the actual birthday as it is the worst bad luck in the world apparently. 

* Cake - so I've had all manner of trouble finding appropriate baking material here in Germany - from no self raising flour or fondant icing to type of cake and when it's offered.  So my lovely buttercream creations have not gone down well with the German children who've come to celebrate - and I think you're meant to start the party with the cake rather than have it as the finale to a birthday tea.  I've resorted to making my own marshmallow fondant to cover cakes - and actually this worked out well....but you have to get the marshmallows in the first place.......

Homemade Marshmallow Fondant Icing on a Little Einsteins Cake.

* Games - I'm not sure what constitutes a party game in Germany - I've not been witness to any at a children's party.  I was however a bit baffled to find I had to explain pass the parcel to a group of 4 and 5 year olds as they'd never seen it before.  Ditto musical statues.  Ditto dead lions..... I think perhaps a 'traditional birthday party' in the Anglo Saxon way I understand it is very definitely not the norm here and that a less structured (is this possible for the Germans?) playdate approach - or a themed party out somewhere seems more ordinary.

* Food - so sandwiches, cheese and pineapple sticks, crisps, jelly and ice cream - all harking back to my idyllic childhood parties of course again seems to be the wrong thing to provide here - not of course that the children complain about the vast amounts of sugar and junk offered - hey it is a party after all!  But when I question my boys as to what they get given at other parties - it's much more a proper cooked meal rather than a 'birthday tea'.  Last year I did admit defeat on this one and ordered in pizza which went down a treat.  This year however, due to timely supplies arriving from the Motherland - we will be going "English" again!

* Presents - I have to admit that here I think the German approach I've come across here to actually be better than the 'turn up with a piece of tat' approach that seems prevalent in the UK.  Instead of individual gifts the guests contribute a small amount - 5 Euros or so - so that the birthday child can get a larger present.  This is so much better in my view and it's the one custom I've wholeheartedly adopted!

Anyway I think that pretty much sums up the Birthday Party faux pas I've made - but you know what I don't actually care that "I'm doing it wrong".  I'll stick to what I know and do birthday parties the way I'm used to and introduce a bit of individuality to them here!

Wine of the Month - May 2012

So back hopefully to blogging a bit more frequently - feeling very sheepish that I've been called a Blogger by friends when I've not actually blogged in almost a year (yikes!)

Anyway - wine again is today's theme.....slowly easing myself back into the blogging habit.

Summer is (hopefully) upon us so my thoughts are turning to white wine.  I know German whites are meant to be very good - but I've not come across the right ones for me yet - so I stick with some safe bets - NZ Marlboroughs / French Muscadet etc.  So here's my tip this month - Seagull Mountain NZ Sauvignon Blanc - a classic Marlborough and in the 4-5 Euro bracket a real find - perhaps that's why there's rarely more than a bottle left in my local supermarket? - and no, it's not because I've bought them all (if only I could!)

Eminently quaffable - with or without food - and just right for the 'Grill Saison' ahead!