American Baker in Germany

You remember the sweetened condensed milk I had to have? You had to see it coming. We had fudge this year. My lactose intolerant preschooler can have neither chocolate or sweetened condensed milk, so I didn't tell her I even made it. Poor child. But I wanted to try my chocolate molds to see if it would work with fudge. It does! The edges aren't particularly sharp, but you can recognize the shape for sure. Not all my chocolate molds are Christmas appropriate, but they all worked.  I will definitely do this again another year. Maybe I'll try to find a lactose free recipe next time. My other adventures with chocolate haven't always gone well. The first time I tried to melt chocolate in one of those metal double boiler bowls with a handle and spouts on the side was a complete disaster. I blamed it on the cheap white chocolate I was trying to melt. I learned later that chocolate seizes when it comes in contact with water. That's what happened to us and probably be...

You may have asked yourself if I ever make any "normal" cakes that aren't covered in fondant. Of course I do. Don't be silly. I made two different kinds this weekend. First, there's a very popular cake around here called Zupfkuchen, or pinch off cake... it obviously loses something in translation. It's also sometimes called russischer Zupfkuchen, although seems to have nothing to do with Russia. It's basically a chocolate butter cookie base with a vanilla pudding kind of filling with little pieces of the base sprinkled on top. I was a little nervous. I'd never made it before. Plus for the sake of my lactose intolerant preschooler, I used a vegan recipe. It called for 500g of vanilla soy yoghurt, which of course the store was out of, so we improvised by buying regular soy yoghurt and adding copious amounts of vanilla sugar.  I saved more of the base than necessary to sprinkle on top. A little less would have been plenty.  It also baked higher ...

If you've lived in Germany in November, you've experienced the phenomenon that is St. Martin. Celebrating the man, I get. He was pretty cool. But what do lantern parades have to do with a guy who cut his coat in half to share it with a cold beggar? No clue. But it's tradition. All children make paper lanterns and go down the street in a procession singing St. Martin songs. My oldest's Kindergarten makes a big deal about it every year and everyone brings a cake for the bake sale. This year, I decided to make a fondant covered cake. Because... why not? It gives me a chance to try out new recipes and perfect my fondant techniques. This cake is vegan red velvet cake, which I am totally not sold on yet. Maybe because I didn't grow up with it, but I don't get the draw. Is it vanilla? Chocolate? Buttermilk? Or just red food coloring? I'll try again a non vegan version next time to see if I like it then, but as of now, I remain skeptical. I also found lactose fr...

Despite multiple resources there are always some ingredients that remain elusive. Today, however, I made several very helpful discoveries. I dragged the kids off to Kaufland today and between dealing with a whiny preschooler who wanted to go home and searching for the baby's missing shoe, I made several interesting finds. The first was the seemingly mythical vanilla extract. For good measure, I also picked up some ground vanilla beans. So amazing.  The next discovery is one I haven't ever happened to find, and was beginning to think didn't exist. I had meant to look up substitutes, but hadn't gotten around to it. It is sweetened condensed milk. The closest I'd ever seen in most stores was coffee creamer, which isn't sweetened, and definitely not the same effect. This is caramel flavored, but now I can make fudge for Christmas. This makes me so happy!

After some research, I discovered to my chagrin that it's actually illegal for me to sell cakes from home for profit since I don't have a completed apprenticeship as a pastry chef. I never meant to step on any toes. But I will continue to make cakes for friends and family. Contact me if you're interested in becoming my friend. 😂 For reference, I find it helpful to have all information in one place, so here's our repertoire. Friends, here are a few possibilities. We make standard vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana, carrot and funfetti cake. We also make fantastic vegan chocolate cake. And buttercream in any flavor. A few suggestions: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, peanut butter and nutella. Swiss meringue buttercream is available for an extra €5 per layer because of the cost of the materials. Otherwise, American buttercream will be used. In general, each tier is two layers with a filling between. Filling can be buttercream or a filling of your choice. ...