In my last post I wrote about Bake Shop St Moritz. Here I'd like to get into a bit more detail about a few of the pastries they sell. First up is the Apple Kuchen. I've never had a real kuchen in either Europe or America, so I have no idea how authentic this one is, but I can confirm that it's quite tasty. The apples (there are also some raisins in there) are melty-soft and spiced, though not aggressively, with cinnamon and nutmeg. The outside is a layer of what seems like yeasted puff pastry, flaky on the outside, tender on the inside. The surprise (for me, anyway) is that it's not simply rolled up - the innermost layer is actually a piece of sponge cake, not the inside of a puff pastry spiral. The apples and their juices soak into the cake, while the pastry remains puffy. I reheated it in the microwave and it was delicious.
This is a chocolate-filled coronet, made of a similar yeasted puff pastry twisted into a horn shape. The bakery also sells a version that's not flaky, just regular soft dough. The chocolate filling was a bit disappointing, more puddingy and less chocolatey than I would have liked. However, this is a not uncommon flaw in this kind of pastry, and I wasn't surprised. Chocolate and vanilla cream-filled coronets are very popular in Japan and I've sampled a lot of them. Sadly, this was not among the best I've had, though it was certainly better than the kind you might buy at a convenience store.
Here is the most uniquely Japanese treat I sampled: the Sweet Potato. Made out of just sweet potatoes, sugar, butter, and eggs, with the possible addition of some wheat flour, it's very similar in taste to an actual Japanese sweet potato, though the texture is more cake-like. I think the shape must be meant to resemble a potato, too.
Here's my favorite again, the earl grey chiffon cake, shown here alongside a cup of coffee. Who says you can't have tea and coffee together?
No comments:
Post a Comment