Today on Food on Fridays, we have a followup about Kuchen, “cake”.
Last week I talked about the Donauwelle cake we had in Weil der Stadt. It’s made as a big, flat, rectangle, and then cut into squares to serve. That’s really a particular style of cake, just as in English we would call that a sheet cake.
In German, it’s called Blechschnecken; it’s advertised on the sign below.
Sign outside bakery for Blechschneken
But that’s kind of a long, unwieldy name, so most everyone refers to that kind of cake as Blech. In fact, the photo I used from Wikimedia was actually labelled Donauwelle Blech by the photographer.
I don’t know about you, but as an English speaker, I find it hard to order something that’s Blech for dessert, so I like to think of it all as just Kuchen. But now you know how you’re really supposed to refer to it in German. It’s just Blech.
Too funny!
Yes, but isn’t it interesting how the Smuckers people turned around their unseemly name with the tagline: “With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.” Granted, we’d need more than that to make Blech sound appetizing.
If you happen to be in SF on October 14, please join me for a recital by celebrated pianist Rafal Blechacz: http://www.blechacz.net/en-home.
If you find his music appealing, you may get over your blech-phobia.
Thanks for the comments
@Will, thanks for the notice about the recital by Blechacz. Although we don’t have any plans as yet to be in SF on Oct 14, we’ll keep that in mind as a good blechphobia cure. 😉
You’re in luck! He performs in Belgium on October 3 and 5: http://concert-en.blechaczinfo.com/. If time allows, go–and pack an anti-emetic just in case!
Thanks for the info, Will. I don’t know that we’ll make those concerts in Belgium, but I just looked him up on YouTube, too, and discovered he does a lot of Chopin (one of my favorites years ago when I played the piano). This clip of 3 Chopin waltzes is actually very nice – and not at all Blech-y, even though it is Belchacz-y. 😉 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sblAhm1SnI
If those videos help to tame your blechphobia, that’s the best we can hope for.