• 

My mum is an outstanding cook and so its not a surprise that I already gained 5 pounds in 5 days. My mum cooked all my favorite German dishes the first 5 days (cold beef salad, Shopperle – dumplings with red cabbage, stir fry with pineapple, cabbage rolls with seasoned ground beef, pork shank with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes). Most of these dishes fall into a category that we call “Hausmann’s Kost” – usually inexpensive and often highly work intense dishes made out of simple ingredients.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After all this yummy Hausmannskost, we decided that we are in desperate need of some exercise and decided to explore the surroundings of Moenchengladbach. Below a collection of the different places we visited: “Bunter Garden, Hardter Wald and Borner See (in Bruegge).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

My mums baking spree continues and today we are baking a sheet cake that reminds me of my time as a student when I worked at a bakery called “Kamps”. The bakery had a little mobile stand outside the actual bakery where they would sell only “Butterkuchen”. The Butterkuchen came piping hot out of the oven in sheets and the 10-20 sheets that we would get out of one baking cycle would be sold out within 20 minutes. It was one of the most popular baking items this bakery sold. Its a very traditional light and buttery cake with a yeast basis – if I would have to compare it to a cake in the US, then I would say its kind of similar to a “streusel coffee cake” but much more buttery with a little bit of crunch from the apples. I was on the search for this cake for years and could never find it anywhere, not even when I was visting Germany since the bakery got sold a long time ago. And here is my mum, whipping up this recipe and its EXACTLY like the Butterkuchen sold at the Kamps bakery.

• 

Butterkuchen mit Aepfel:

Ingredients:

For the dough

• 2 eggs
• 500 g flour
• 200 ml warm milk
• 125 g Sugar
• 30 g fresh yeast (if you can’t get fresh yeast, you can use 7 gram of dry yeast)
• 75 g melted butter
• 1 TL vanilla past (or vanilla extract)
• 1 pinch of salt

cake topping:

• 

• 200 g butter cubes (around 50-100 little cubes)
• 2 apples cut into very small cubes
• 50 g sugar
• 75 g sliced almonds

once baked: 200 ml liquid whipping cream

Directions:

• 

1. First make the yeast dough: Add the flour to a bowl and make a little indent in the middle of the flour. Add the yeast (if you can get fresh yeast break the yeast cube apart into little pieces. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar on top of it and add the warm milk. Carefully mix the ingredients (just the middle part not with all the flour). Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
2. Now add the rest of the ingredients and knead the dough 6 minutes (either by hand or easier with the kneading attachment of the kitchen aid or hand mixer). Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest at a warm place (45 minutes or until doubled).
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper and roll out the dough in the size of the baking sheet. Cover and let rest another 20 minutes.
4. Poke round little dents with your finger into the dough and drop a piece of the butter cube into it. Then sprinkle evenly the little apple pieces, almond slices and sugar on top of the dough.
5. Bake the cake for approx. 20 minutes until golden. Double check if the dough is completely baked, if not, bake it for 4-6 minutes longer.
6. Pour the liquid cream over the hot cake immediately after you have taken it out of the oven. Cut in pieces and serve warm!

• 

Guten Appetit!

•