It is often said that the best way to get to know a country is through its cuisine. With this in mind I was determined to sample at least one cake in every country through which we passed in our recent rail journey. Even when we only used a country as a transit stop (as in the case of Switzerland), if there was an opportunity to grab a local cake this was not wasted.
The result is this selection of photos showing the cakes of Europe, designed to demonstrate the European penchant for sweet treats. Enjoy, and apologies for the obvious lack of food photography skills. On several occasions I took a few pictures and then gave up and ate the subject before a decent image could be taken.
San Marino: Ricotta cheese, Fruits of the Forest reduction, San Marino honey on biscuit base
Italy: Torta de Veneziana, an exceptionally heavy nut cake
Austria: the world-famous Sachertorte
Austria: Topfenkuchen (allowed a bonus entry for this delicious cheesecake)
Liechtenstein: a very tasty chocolate torte (nothing native about it as far as I know)
Switzerland: A (surprisingly good) cherry cake hastily bought from a supermarket before boarding a ferry to Germany
Germany: a delicious slice of unnamed cake at Schloss Rheinstein (on the Rhine)
Luxembourg: this cheeky little number didn't survive for long (not a native cake)
Belgium: Gooey dark chocolate cake from Le Temps des Tartines in Brussels. You can tell I've even a lot of cake by now
Disclaimer: this post (and trip) was not sponsored by the European Cake Association. If it was, I would no doubt have had a more refined variety of cakes and would not have had to resort on occasion to popping into supermarkets or bakery chains. Maybe next time – Around the World in 80 cakes perhaps?
PS: the San Marino dessert was ‘on the house’. This may well have influenced my opinion and no doubt made it taste all the sweeter.
Around the world in 80 cakes sounds deliciously dangerous. I find English cakes very interesting. They sometimes look better than they taste, but the names… Raspberry Charlotte, Jam Roly-Poly, Puff Fancies… really can’t beat those names.
Andy, this is GENIUS. Now the Italian cake looks the best in my opinion, but I can’t be sure. I’ll have to conduct some research of my own to see if our findings are similar. Purely for the benefits of bringing more accurate information to people, of course.
p.s. I hope the European Cake Association is a real thing and an entity that is willing to sponsor me to dessert-hop around Europe.
You have two of my favorites here–Sachertorte and Topfenkuchen. Maybe I’ll make my next trip a desserts-only tour.
I’d like a quarter of a ton of the Liechtenstein, and I’d like it *now*.
(Sorry. Cake makes me cranky and bossy. Just ask Pam Mandel).
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go burn off the calories I ingested through my eyes by reading this post. Might take a while. Couple of years, say.
I tried googling for the European Cake Society, it doesn’t exist, drats! I actually once stayed at Fraser Suites Hong Kong serviced apartments for a business trip in the past, and they had a pretty amazing patisserie near the hotel, selling amazing cakes likes these!! I’ll be sure to try the cakes the next time when i’m in Europe.. 😉