Hello! And welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–I’m so glad you’re here!
This week and next, we are taking a deep dive into everything German food. Earlier in the week, I featured recipes for side dishes: sweet and sour red cabbage and creamed spinach; and on Wednesday, I featured recipes for main dishes: Koenigsberger Klops and brats and sauerkraut. Today, I’m featuring a couple of dessert recipes: apple strudel and Zwetschen Kuchen.
My grandmother, Memaw, didn’t make a lot of desserts–I think she wasn’t used to having enough sugar to make lots of sweets, having grown up in Germany in the nineteen-teens and twenties, and having immigrated to the United States in time for the Great Depression and then wartime rationing. In any case, there were a few treats she did make, most notably, Zwetschen Kuchen.
Zwetschen Kuchen, or fresh plum cake, is one she always made in the late summer when prune plums were available. These little prune plums are only available for a couple of weeks at the end of August or beginning of fall.
All over Germany, this cake is loved by everyone with afternoon coffee. The cake is traditionally served “mit schlag,” or with whipped cream.
The other dessert I’m featuring is not one that I remember my Memaw making, but it’s a ubiquitous German dessert and one that’s super easy to make, not to mention delicious!: apple strudel.
Tune in again next week for more German food–until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
