GO DUTCH!

Going back to Amsterdam as my adult self....

A week in Amsterdam is a week imbibed with culture, a true sense of everything " European" and... cake. 
Yes, cake!


After nearly 20 years of prissy french patisserie it was a gastro pleasure to stop every 100 m to simply gaze through the café windows at mountains of fruit-full, nutty, chocoholic, wondrous cakes. Even better was to step inside and relish them. And that, we did.

Deep dish apple tarts made with finely chopped crisp aromatic apple, tossed in cinnamon, in linen-thin sweet short crust pastry served with ladles of whipped cream.

Small lux tarts, sweet pastry filled with feather light almond cream, apple, glazed with the most apricot of jams and roasted almond slithers. 

Cranberry and roasted grain and nut tarts ...nut topping included pumpkin seed, cashew, sunflower, almonds and all tossed in caramel. 

Mini roasted cashew tarts on a bed of gooey caramel. 

Sacher Torte ( ok so it's Austrian but the Dutch have a fine relationship with chocolate, they even sprinkle it on their breakfast toast!)...rich and wet with dark choc. 

et al et al et al

Even the smallest of cafés is equipped with state of the art coffee machines, direct from Italy. What a relief to step away from the industrial, palate-tired Nespresso which seems to have not simply invaded, but taken over coffee in France. Back to natural, full roasted coffee with a heart....not to forget the oozing, buttery cakes with thighs!!


The European character...the manners, the capacity to smile naturally, culturally aware of others, the ease to slide to another language, elegance, modern design and simplicity.


For me, Amsterdam, is the queen of ambassadors for the Euro zone and certainly the flagship for cake and coffee.


Time to emulate...

Pear, Almond and Dark Chocolate Spiced Cake


4 pears, chopped

100 gr dark choc, chopped into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cardomom, ginger
zest of one lemon
1 cup cream
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups fine white sugar
1/2 cup oil ( I use Colza)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder 


Pre heat oven 180°.
Put chopped pears, chocolate, zest and spices in a bowl, toss and set aside.
Beat eggs with cream and oil, stir in sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder.
Pour batter into greased and floured cake tin, adding pear mixture on top.
Bake approximately 40 minutes or until springy to touch.

Serve with lashings of freshly whipped cream.