Baumkuchen
Sunday 3 May 2009 by nalika
Japan is really amazing about having almost every edible thing from around the world, of course, if you are ready to pay for it.
One of the cravings I have not been able to fulfill, even in the cosmopolitan Bangkok (or perhaps I just do not know the right place), is Baumkuchen. So, on my recent trip to Japan, I was looking forward to satisfy my Baumkuchen cravings.
While Juchheim is one of the first to introduce Baumkuchen to Japan and is all over the place in department stores, I thought I'd check out what else is available.
I was amazed by the number and variety of Baumkuchen available throughout Japan. Wow! Hundreds. Even Juchheim alone has several different types of Baumkuchen which started to make me dizzy. I almost think there are more Baumkuchen sold in Japan than in Germany.
There are even websites dedicated to Baumkuchen, such as バウムクーヘン三昧, in which they sometimes even organize Baumkuchen get-together offiline meetups!
After checking out nearly twenty Baumkuchen shops, I ordered one from K.B.Kaiser in Kobe.
Kobe, having been a port town, has many great German bakeries including Juchheim and Freundlieb. My family friend used to send us Freundlieb's Stollen as winter oseibo.
Vacuum-packed in "eco package" - they have fancier regular fare with a cookie on top, but this one's good enough for me.
Isn't it beautiful?
One of the cravings I have not been able to fulfill, even in the cosmopolitan Bangkok (or perhaps I just do not know the right place), is Baumkuchen. So, on my recent trip to Japan, I was looking forward to satisfy my Baumkuchen cravings.
While Juchheim is one of the first to introduce Baumkuchen to Japan and is all over the place in department stores, I thought I'd check out what else is available.
I was amazed by the number and variety of Baumkuchen available throughout Japan. Wow! Hundreds. Even Juchheim alone has several different types of Baumkuchen which started to make me dizzy. I almost think there are more Baumkuchen sold in Japan than in Germany.
There are even websites dedicated to Baumkuchen, such as バウムクーヘン三昧, in which they sometimes even organize Baumkuchen get-together offiline meetups!
After checking out nearly twenty Baumkuchen shops, I ordered one from K.B.Kaiser in Kobe.
Kobe, having been a port town, has many great German bakeries including Juchheim and Freundlieb. My family friend used to send us Freundlieb's Stollen as winter oseibo.
Vacuum-packed in "eco package" - they have fancier regular fare with a cookie on top, but this one's good enough for me.
Isn't it beautiful?
How interesting about the christmas stollen... and the clubs etc!
I remember enjoying baum-kuchen & castella sponge cake in Japan, but had forgotten all about them. you can get small shrink-wrapped pieces at konbini, no?
baum-kuchen really does rock. my workmate Jens' brother made him a square, non-circular baum-kuchen for his birthday last week. I thought it would be hard to make at home but he did a great job. yum!
I don't like those conbini or Muji baumkuchen - they are too airy and fluffy, and most of them have no marzipan. They may be nice cakes but not Baumkuchen... I like those heavy ones with classic German recipes. In Germany, if there is not enough marzipan, it cannot be called Baumkuchen by the industry standards, right?
Sometimes you can tell which one they are by the Japanese transliteration - バウムクーヘン tends to be classic, with pronunciation closer to German, and many バームクーヘン sold at conbini's.
Square Baumkuchen sounds cool. I've seen recipes making one with a frying pan too... but that may well be バームクーヘン.
yeah the konditorei standards are pretty stiff... Erik also thought if the cake was square it would probably need to have a different name
maybe バームクーヘン would do! hah.
i didn't mind those Muji type ones (I quite like bland spongey type cakes), but definitely, as you say, v different to the real thing..
interesting about the marzipan - I have never had baumkuchen with marzipan, only had it in Germany with the very fine, paper-thin layers of apricot jam and then covered in lovely dark chocolate. so moist and not jammy at all!