For the savoury introduction to this part, click here. There are many different cakes you can obtain in your bakery of trust, but keep in mind that, depending on where you are, they have very distinct and “different” names, so to speak. For one, there is the infamous Berliner, a round, spongy pancake with various fillings ranging from vanilla pudding to strawberry jam. In other parts of the country, however, and most notably in Berlin itself, they are called Pfannkuchen. And don’t get me started on the regional differences between a Pfannkuchen and an Eierkuchen, which is basically the same as a Pfannkuchen, yet it’s not because a Pfannkuchen here is a Berliner and… yeah. Let’s move on. What you’ll also commonly find anywhere in Germany is a Donauwelle (Danube Wave: a handy, cream-filled cake with chocolate topping which really does look like a little wave), it’s not just limited to the region down at the Danube River. There’s the common Streuselkuchen (Crumble Cake: take heed, a lot of them tend to be rather dry); they come in single pieces and plates, but we’re thinking big, so you take that big plate, mate. If you come across a Russischer Zupfkuchen (Russian Plug Cake? Russian Twitch Cake? there really is no proper translation to this one), you’ll have one of the best cakes that I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying. It has a thin, spongy base with a soft and yellow cream on top, and the eponymous ‘twitched’ chocolate crumbles on top of the top. It’s called the same in every region of the country, so no German-wide confusion on that one, at least.
Most prominently for the German bakery or café, you’ll find various sheet cakes among those I’ve just mentioned, but nothing ever too colourful or too unpragmatic. There most likely won’t be any Sponge Cakes, Red Velvets, Angel Cakes, Lemon Drizzles or carrot tops. But if you do happen to be a person who prefers the quick method of consuming baked goods, you’ll soon start to get accustomed to your local bakery just around the corner. And they still have a million and a half types of bread and buns, so that certainly makes up for the lack of cakery. But this, my fellow bread fans, is a topic for another time. (Actually, you’ll find it right here.)
