Taps Cakes from Cadaques

March 12, 2012 by Andrea Leave a Comment

The sleepy seaside village of Cadaques in the Catalan region of Spain is an adorable little village worth visiting for a day or two. The old town has narrow, winding streets you can easily get lost in and the waterfront area is lined with pretty white washed houses. I love little towns like this and Cadaques will always have a special place in my ~~stomach~~ heart due to the wonderful bite-sized taps cakes which are a specialty of the town.

Taps are little sponge cakes made in the shape of a champagne cork and dipped in icing sugar for extra sweetness.

They melt in your mouth and trust me when I say it’s tough to stop at just one. If you don’t eat them within a day or two, which is almost impossible, then you can dip the taps in your coffee or a little rum (!) to moisten them.

Where to Buy: Taps are available from a few places in the region (including in some restaurants) but Pastisseria La Mallorquina on the waterfront in Cadaques is home to the original taps which they’ve been making since the 17th century.

Visiting Cadaques: Cadaques can easily be reached on a day trip from Barcelona or you can rent a villa in Cadaques if you want to take a few days to explore the region.

Filed Under: Spain Tagged With: cadaques, cake, catalonia, spain

Coffee & Cake in Dresden

January 2, 2012 by Andrea Leave a Comment

German cakes have a special place in my heart. Or should I say stomach? Light, creamy and sweet but not too sweet is how I like my cakes and thankfully the Germans make them just the way I like them. The afternoon ritual of going out for coffee and cake is one I could easily get used to. In Dresden I sought out one of the oldest, most traditional cafes in the city for my afternoon treat, Grand Cafe Coselpalais, where they serve both French and German style cakes as well as light meals.

Originally built in 1765, the building was destroyed during the war and then rebuilt in the original style before finally reopening in 2000. I love the baroque building and in summer you can sit out on the terrace and admire the beautiful Frauenkirche located just opposite.

As soon as you step through the entrance you are presented with a huge glass showcase with cakes and desserts. This is the hard part. Do you want chocolate cake, vanilla, something fruity? In the end I went with a light yoghurt lime slice, the kind of thing I always choose.

Service was swift and my pretty (and tasty) dessert was served on Dresden’s famous Meissen porcelain. Nice touch. I can’t speak about the coffee because I don’t actually drink coffee. I don’t know why I always say I’m having coffee and cake when I skip the coffee part but I do.

I felt like I had gone back in time at the Grand Cafe and I could have lingered for hours (and ordered another cake) if I hadn’t been in a hurry to head off and visit the Christmas markets.

Now that Dresden is my new favourite German city (it changes each year) I will be heading back soon and back to the Grand Cafe Coselpalais as well as a couple of other traditional coffee houses I spotted around the city.

Filed Under: Germany Tagged With: bavaria, cake, dresden, germany

Bled Cream Cake

December 5, 2011 by Andrea 2 Comments

I love cities which have a cake as their culinary speciality. The small Slovenian town of Bled is one such city and it’s impossible to visit without seeing a huge slice of Bled Cream Cake passing by you at some point.

So what is Bled Cream Cake (known locally as Kremna Rezina)? Well, unfortunately it’s not a cake at all and is more what I would call a slice, not that unlike a vanilla slice in fact or a French mille feuille cake. It has sweet cream on top of a firm custard which is sandwiched between layers of crisp puff pastry and dusted with icing sugar. I’m sure the recipe is a closely guarded secret but it’s actually a very simple yet very tasty dessert.

Bled Cream Cake is usually eaten in the afternoon with coffee or tea. That’s exactly what we did each afternoon on our stay in Bled and although I wasn’t a huge fan of the custardy dessert when I first tried it, it definitely grew on me.

Just about every cafe in Bled sells the famous treat but my cafe of choice was at the Park Hotel (where the cream cake was created) for its amazing views of Lake Bled and Bled Castle.

Filed Under: Slovenia Tagged With: bled, cake, dessert, slovenia

More Cakes in Sydney

August 1, 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

It may look like this blog is turning into a cake blog but I can assure you I do eat other food too! Here are a couple more cakes from one of our afternoon breaks in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Firstly F’s favourite, black forest cake and then my all time favourite, lemon meringue pie. This is going to be the last of the cake posts for a while, I promise!

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: afternoon tea, australia, cake, sydney

Sugarplum Cake Shop

July 31, 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

As much as I like sitting in little Parisian cafes watching the world go by, sometimes I feel like they’re not the most welcoming of places. I know you can order one drink and then linger for a while but I don’t always feel comfortable to do so. That’s why I often prefer cosier little cafes which I guess are more like what you’d find in Australia or the US rather than what’s typical in France.

Sugarplum Cake Shop has that warm welcoming feel with communal tables, free wifi, free coffee refills and a beautiful selection of American style cakes, cookies, muffins, and cheesecake. I headed to their little coffee shop after reading a positive review from David Lebovitz as I usually trust his judgement. Being in the 5th arrondissement of Paris (near Rue Mouffetard), Sugarplum is not exactly in my neighbourhood but I figured it would be worth the trek across the city for their homemade lemonade and a slice of layered cake.

When we arrived there were two other people there who were to pick up a large order of cupcakes. There seemed to be a problem with the order and the only girl working there was getting a bit stressed trying to sort the problem out. We took a seat and read the latest copy of Fusac until she had a free moment when we placed our order. She served us two small glasses of freshly made lemonade and two very large slices of cake.

The cakes were some of the most beautiful cakes I’ve ever seen and it was tough deciding what to choose. Eventually I ordered a raspberry cake and F got the dark chocolate and vanilla (I think). I was so looking forward to digging in but after the first bite I knew it wasn’t for me. It was very, very sweet and way too dense for my liking. I’m not sure anyone likes a dense cake but I wonder if the super sweetness isn’t an American thing. Either way I had to pass on the cake and F didn’t like his either. At least I can say I loved the homemade lemonade. It was very tangy and refreshing, just how it should be.

If this coffee shop was close to where I live I would go back and give it another try but unless I just happen to be walking by one day I don’t think you’ll find me sitting back and relaxing at Sugarplum.

Filed Under: France Tagged With: cafes, cake, france, paris