FrankenKuchenPie

Greetings from Berlin, y'all. LCBF and I are still getting settled in our new country/apartment. Hence the sad state of neglect my poor blog has fallen into. Haven't done much exciting cooking in my new kitchen yet (for reasons I'll show after the jump), but don't worry--I've been out for pastry. Pastries, technically, but who's counting?

Yesterday LCBF and I met a friend for coffee and kuchen (cake) at Café Manolo in Prenzlauer Berg (Schönhauser Allee 45). The cafe is nice, but a little loud--it's located at a very busy intersection (U-Bahn, ambulances, etc.), but we did manage to sit otherwise undisturbed for about 4 hours. I had a very tasty slice of what I am calling Rhubarb FrankenKuchenPie:

Details after the jump:

Sold as a cake, it's more of an unholy hybrid: a bottom layer of heavy cake (think heavy pound cake, not spongy birthday cake) and a rhubarb fruit pie top layer with lattice. That shine on the lattice? Icing. Iced pie, y'all. My world has been rocked. The outside crust was covered with shaved almonds, which was nice, but I was mostly fixated on the icing. I can't decide how big a part novelty played in my enjoyment of this FrankenKuchenPie, but enjoy it I did.

I also enjoyed the apfelkuchen (apple cake) I had when I convinced LCBF to help me track down the oldest bakery in Berlin, conveniently located in our neighborhood: Bäckerei Siebert, est. 1906 (Schönfließer Straße 12; closed Mondays, cash only).

It's a bit tucked away--we initially mistook the brighter, newer bakery on the corner for it, but it's worth the search. I had this apfelkuchen:

It disappeared very quickly upon our return home. LCBF had a delicious-looking slice of black forest cake, which he described as being very "good and whipped-creamy." The real stand-outs are supposed to the breads and rolls, for which we'll definitely be back.

Now, as to why I haven't done much in my new kitchen . . .

This is my stove/oven. Scale is a little tricky to determine from the photo, so let me clarify and say that the oven is like a built-in, overgrown easy-bake oven (or large toaster oven). So far I have mostly been burning toast and eggplant in it (damn you, Celsius!). Also hard to tell from the photo is the fact that those countertops are 41" tall. Kitchen for giants! As I am 62" tall, I feel like a little kid playing with my easy-bake oven in a grown-up kitchen. We're working it out though. I will make strudel before we leave. Oh yes, I will.