I was in the process of leaving London and so obviously I was thinking that I should be organizing a little leaving party at/with/for the office. Yet, I didn't simply want to tell my office mates to meet me at the nearby pub for a drink - that wouldn't be me. Instead I was thinking that I should organize a Farewell-Kaffeeklatsch. Come again? - Well, let me explain.
A Kaffeeklatsch is a German tradition from rural Germany and the literal translation for Kaffeeklatsch is "coffee-gossip". Typically, a group of housewives of a given German village would get together at someone's house to eat cake, drink coffee and gossip the hell out of everyone not attending. Moreover, the women would take turns hosting these get-together and trying to outdo the previous hostess by baking an even elaborate cakes or tarts.
But back to my funeral cake: I was thinking that since my leaving of London is a sad affair - at least for myself - I should host a Kaffeeklatsch and serve up some traditional German funeral cake. A traditional German funeral is followed by a wake at the local pub where a certain kind of cake is served: Butterkuchen & Bienenstich. The former ("butter cake") is a sort of crumble and the latter ("bee-sting cake") is a cake, which is a three layered flat cake: yeasted dough, followed by a layer of custard and topped with a layer of buttered-almonds.
Having said all that, I was in need of some Bienenstich & Butterkuchen. Unfortunately, I couldn't bake it myself, as all my furnitures would already be packed up at that time. And so I started researching German bakeries in London. I ended up calling the German Deli, which I knew from having visited Borough Market. I asked them if they knew anyone who would be able to help me out with my query and the person on the other line put me on hold briefly and passed me on to her colleague from Artisan Foods, who sat at the desk next to her.
Having "true" Germans on the phone made me feel good about this and so, without even bother trying their cakes first, I ordered a plate of each aforementioned cakes. I agreed with Susann, the friendly lady on the other line, that I would pick up the cakes at Borough Market. The bakery itself is in Hackney Wick, but they sell their goods on various Farmers Markets around London.
The day of my very own "funeral" arrived very soon and I was very excited to share some traditional German cakes and customs with my colleagues. Right on the dot at 15:00 (traditional German coffee-time) I announces that cake has been served in the kitchen...and the herd started to move. It was really fun listening to my colleagues commenting on the cakes. While the Butterkuchen was liked well enough, they really loved the Bienenstich. I'm trying to remember some of their exact remarks and comments, but I can't quote any of them word-by-word. But believe me when I tell you that the words "heavenly", "to die for", "OMG", "can I have another slice" and "where in the world can I get this" have come up repeatedly.
All in all, I have to say this was a wonderful funeral...and best of all: no one had to die! read more