Have you ever heard of the red riding hood cake we have here in Germany? Well, it is a cake with a very red glaze, smooth as glass. Its shiny color reminds you of the red riding hood and hence it got its name from this tale. The base of this impressive cake is like a marbled cake, which is dotted with cherries. The second layer consists of whipping cream mixed with quark and the third is a glaze made with cherry juice. Welcome to a German fairy tale!
I asked you on Instagram and you all agreed, you wanted to get the recipe for ths cheesecake with apricots and crumbs. So here goes. I decided to make my favorite cheesecake with a pie crust (this is a very German thing to do) and fill it with lots of apricots (two layers) and sprinkle with some crumbs. Yes, I love crumbs on about anything. If you are not that much into crumbs, you can just leave them out, no problem.
My granny was the queen of yeast dough. I cannot recall a single time that her yeast dough was anything else but fluffy, soft, and most delicious. I will never forget her sheet cakes prepared with yeast dough. Complimented with lots of fruit and crumbs, they were always a highlight for me. In low German these sheet cakes are called “plautz” and they have always been one of my favorite. I especially liked trying the middle piece of any sheet cake. This piece gives you a lot of fruit, a lot of crumbs, with just about the right amount of dough. My granny didn’t mind giving me the middle piece of a sheet cake. Which I of course loved. I have been thinking about her famous sheet cakes for a while now. However, since she passed away recently, I knew I had to bake a cake since she was not going to. I inherited her recipe book, which I cherish. But unfortunately, I didn’t find a lot of yeast dough recipes. Probably because she knew it by heart.
Shame on me, I haven’t posted enough slab cakes even though I really like them. I prepared this simple slab cake with an abundance of strawberries and whipping cream the first time about a year ago when we had a large family gathering. I count myself lucky for having managed to snap a picture of a cut slice, it was gone within seconds, it took my relatives very little time to consume. No wonder, because it is so delicious.
I love spring! I love the fresh and vibrant colors, I love that you will find rhubarb and strawberries. Aren’t they just the best combination ever? If you are up for it, below I will show you a very German cheesecake with a delicious rhubarb and strawberry sauce. You wonder what makes a German cheesecake German? We love using quark. I believe you find that in Lidl ind Aldi nowadays also in places outside of Germany. Sour cream, cream cheese, quark, we love the combination of a lot of dairy products.
Today I am introducing apple cream strudel from Munich. This strudel is a classic from grandma’s time. I am happy that Anna from the German blog Teigliebe agreed to bake together a classic recipe from grandma’s time. We baked together already once, this was during the giveaway from Marc and Andrea, Anna made a super beautiful raspberry rhubarb pie and I made a strawberry pie with roses. I was happy when Anna agreed to bake again with me. I picked the topic “Classic Recipes from Grandma’s Time” due to the fact that my grandma S. passed away recently. At the funeral it was mentioned several times that she was a brilliant baker and cook. Her home was known as a “hotel” even though she did not run any as her food had the standard of a hotel and she loved to host a lot of get-togethers. I distinctly remember her birthdays as the table would be laden down with the weight of oh so many homemade cakes and pies.
Real Franzbrötchen with puff pastry. I am so excited to introduce this recipe to you today. Think of Franzbrötchen as the answer from Hamburg to the cinnamon-roll craze. I was fortunate enough to live in Hamburg for a couple of years and I can tell you, you will always have the scent of cinnamon present wherever you go. Regardless of whether a kiosk or a bakery, one thing you can definitely be sure of if you are in Hamburg is the fact that Franzbrötchen will be sold everywhere. I already introduced these cinnamon rolls here using a simple yeast dough. The lazy version.
These are the easiest and simplest cinnamon stars! I know, I am posting this recipe pretty late, you probably are all done with your Christmas baking. The reason I am doing this, is because I posted an Instagram story with several tips for making these. You all asked which recipe I was using and why the recipe is not on my blog yet. For that reason I decided to post this traditional German Christmas cookie: cinnamon stars! The recipe is completely gluten-free and only contains a few ingredients. The dough can be a bit finicky, my German bakers know what I am talking about. Below you will find several tips how to make them and for the recipe to turn out great.
Today I brought along broken-up pancakes, which are called Kaiserschmarren with a nice cherry compote with spices and mulled wine. I would like to take a bite right away. When I moved from the north of Germany to the south, I realized that it was a lot of fun making some of the more southern recipes, you can definitely feel the influence of Austria, which is about one hour away. The Austrian cuisine offers a lot of pastry dishes prepared with flour, eggs, and milk. Once you go hiking in the Alps and are offered Kaiserschmarren at one of the cabins, you will know what I am talking about, it is so amazing. I like this dish also for breakfast or brunch, it is perfect for a cold winter day. I already introduced a Kaiserschmarren recipe on the blog in spring, that one was prepared with rhubarb, but today we are going for the winter edition with warming and spiced cherries.
It was the end of November, we were living as poor university students at that point in Dresden, in the east of Germany. We had no clue what to do. Everybody around us seemed to be busy decorating the apartment with wood handcraft from the close Ore mountains. Nutcrackers, smoking manikins, “Schwippbögen”, these are usually showing the nativity, were unwrapped and placed throughout the apartment. We simply couldn’t afford German wood handcraft from the region and therefore only had bare walls to show. Our Christmas decorations? Nil, nada, inexistent. What to do if you can barely make ends meet? My solution was simple: gingerbread or German Lebkuchen. Gingerbread is perfect if you want to use it as decoration. Regardless if you wish to use it for a gingerbread house (or even village?), to decorate your Christmas tree with, or to make an advent calendar. Gingerbread was my solution to our Christmas decoration.
