Today was just an ordinary day and I BARELY got out of the bed! I was almost late..Today I spent the whole morning in the Chocolaterie making raisin-dark chocolate and toasted almond-milk chocolate clusters. Total needed amount? Nothing big, 3000 pieces. I am done half and thank God I had help from another girl :)
Tomorrow's a new day and another 1500 pieces left to do! I was so stressed out with the raisins because dark chocolate's more sensitive and if you don't use enough chocolate (which I encountered later), make sure the temp.'s right all the time, and don't work fast, you get these terrible white-ish spots. Ahhh, it drove me nuts, but I resolved the problem at the end, and I' very happy with the final outcome ;)

My parents arrived, and they brought me sooo many goodies from Split!! I will try to take some shots for you ;)
And this right here is Demel's seal, from waaaay back, I am not sure what year, but it looks quite old. It reminds me on the one they use for cows.....Maybe for a chocolate cow?? :))

Yes, I`m finally back with, of course, new pastry related topic! To start off I had a beautiful 3 day weekend with my family in Zagreb (for you who do not know, Zagreb is the capital of Croatia). The weather wasn't that nice; rainy and cloudy, but it didn't stop me from my assigned plans. The purpose of this trip was to meet many of my friends and family that I haven't seen in a while and I'm so happy I managed to meet with them all.

I was travelling with the bus which took me, well at least it should take 5 hours, but that was too good to be true. On the way to Zagreb It took us 5 and a 1/2 hrs, which was great, and on the way back almost 6 and a 1/2! Ahh. I think that was because I couldn't find my passport so the police officer was staring at me and waiting until I finally digged it somewhere from the bottom of my bag (just to mention, I have a HUGE handbag) all covered in cold sweat. I hate those things.

Now.......sweets!! This is one of the best cakes I had in a while and it's basically a cheesecake (not the NYC one though, way better) and it blew me off. What it comes to is a simple graham cookie crust baked with cream cheese filling and then topped with a sour cream (with some sugar) frosting (also baked, but very shortly, 10 mins). I have to say, I was very impressed. The first thing that crossed my mind was the London Cheesecake from Nigella Lawson that looks exactly the same. Great cake, no comments! That little cake/cafe place is called ''Torte i to'' and it is in the Zagreb's ''Kaptol Centar'', which is a shopping mal in the City's center. If you ever visit Zagreb, make sure you try a piece of this amazingness.



As you can see on this pic, this is what the weather was like.



I am off to bed now, since I had very little sleep last night and I have to be all rested and fresh tomorrow to welcome my parents! :))

Just to let you know that I'm off to Zagreb for my 3-day weeknd, so a long post will be up on Monday! ;)

Believe it or not, Christmas will come in no time. Here at Demel everyone has been very busy and as you can see, ''Lebkuchen'' (very traditional cookies for this area, traditionally coming from Germany - Nürnberg or Lübeck as well) or as you may know it under gingerbread cookies are being decorated. When I feel their smell through the whole bakeshop, I know Christmas time is on the way! One big batch has already been baked and decorated, because they get sold very fast so we have to be ready!
And a good thing about them is that as longer they stay, flavors dvelop and their taste is much better!

Since Monday we have started with ''Christstollen'' which is also very traditional Christmas bread for this area, originating from Dresden (Germany). And I love it, M M M. One of my favourites. Funny thing is that I didn't like dried fruits before, and now since my mum started making her own Arancini - candied orange zest, I am loving it! They call it Arancini here even though when I googled it, I get a traditional Sicilian dish called Arancini which are basically fried rice balls, but literally, Arancini in sicilian means small oranges.
Stollen is something really special and the same rule goes as with the Lebkuchen - the longer it stays, the more pronounced the aroma will be.
Even though lots of work is coming up, I am enjoying every single day of this beautiful time of the year!

Oh boy, I had some sleep over the weekend. It was excatly what I needed.
And here are some photos I took on Friday from the way way back....It's a part of the Demel's museum and if you ever get a chance, I am encouraging you to visit it. It is truly something impressive.

This right here is a book from December 1909 were all the orders were written, and on the right side you see a wooden box where in the evenings the orders (written on another piece of paper) were slided into and then in the morning the bakers and pastry chefs would open it and see what they have to do for the day. Cute little thing, isn't it?

From 1972, when the firm was sold, rough times followed and in the next 30 years the owners changed several times. Since 2002 the house that is steeped in history belongs to the Austrian DO & CO Group, an internationally operating restaurant and catering company.
Not to forget to mention that there is another Demel located in Salzburg which is the total opposite. It is very modern and colorful! I haven't visited it yet, but I have seen some pictures and I'd love to. Just today I found out that there is a Demel in Japan as well (!) which looks exactly like the one here, and now I'm wondering how the new Demel cafe on the 5th Ave. in NYC, that opens in March, will look like....
Aaaand, four people from the bakeshop are up until next week in Madrid, at the ATP tournament where they're under the Do&Co firm to make life sweeter for the tennis players ;)

This week was more laid back I have to say, but I did many new things and of course, every day I learn something new. Tomorrow is Friday already and I am looking foward to the weekend...well..to get some sleep to be more precise :))



This is a cake made especially for the premiere of a new animated film starting 25th of October "Lissi and the wild emperors" which is based on the life of the Austrian (born in München) empress Elizabeth. And if you can notice, all around he mouth is chocolate ;)

- The most prestigious interior decorators at the time, Portois and Fix, were given the job of designing the interior of the Demel in a Rococo style.

- In 1918 the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy collapsed; in the Demel however time seemed to have stood still. Anna Demel watched with an eagle’s eye that the old traditions and order were kept to. Even though it was forbidden and penalized, Anna Demel made sure that the emblem "K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäcker" (“Imperial and Royal Court Confectionary Bakery”) remained on both the portal as well as on the chocolate boxes and candies.

- Anna Demel was awarded the title of ‘Kommerzialrat’ (Councillor of Commerce) in 1952, becoming the first woman to receive this title. In 1956 her adopted daughter Klara Demel took over the reigns of the Court Confectionary Bakery.

- After Klara’s death in 1965 her husband Baron Federico v. Berzeviczy-Pallavicini managed the Demel. The highly-gifted artist and pupil of the “Wiener Werkstaetten” set up the ornately designed displays as well as creating the fine packaging art that both still exist today.

- In 1972 Federico von Berzeviczy-Pallavicini sold the family firm and worked in Italy and New York as architect and artist.



And now....so it's not history ONLY, here's a preview of a beautiful Russian punch cake (biscuit, pastry cream, rum, meringue) served at Demel on regular basis. I unfortunately haven't learned how to pipe this design yet, but with a little practice, there shouldn't be a problem. I have 3 months ahead of me :))

As I already mentioned, I will be introducing you to Demel's history which is more then fascinating to me. The photo on the right is the little children's carriage that I found in the museum and I don't really know the true purpose of it there, but I am sure it was most likely used for one of the presentations at Demel's show window. The carriage on the left hand side is a real one and as you can see it says in german "Demel's sons".
Pretty cool to have your own carriage at that time, huh? That only tells us how important and high positioned Demel was.
Now lets get back to the 1786....



-Everything began in the year 1786 when confectionary assistant Ludwig Dehne from Wuerttemberg settled in Vienna.

-He started selling frozen goods and very soon extended his production to candy, jam-filled doughnuts and Mardi Gras beignets as well as a variety of other bakery goods. And already several years after the founding, cavaliers held their trysts with beautiful Viennese women at Dehnes, enjoying the artfully formed and decorated sweets.

-Ludwig Dehne's son August sold the shop in 1857 to his first assistant Christoph Demel.

-His sons Josef and Carl were the ones who in the end consequentially named the confectionary “K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäcker Ch. Demel’s Söhne” (“Imperial and Royal Court Confectionary Bakery Ch. Demel’s Sons”). The renown of the confectionary Demel had already reached foreign shores and the title “K.u.k.” Court Supplier was already secured.

-In 1888 the brothers Demel moved into the Palais at the Kohlmarkt as Emperor Franz Joseph ordered sanding works to be done on the city fortifications. The Demel now stands in one line with the Hofburg (castle courtyard).

Until 1918...Gute Nacht! ;)

Today I am showing you an example of the little train that I mentioned in an earlier post and I have to say, after three hands working on it...it turned out pretty well! Three of us at the decor station did a piece ;)
Among many things I did today, making a ganache coating as a base of a already layered cake was on of the hardest things. Well, since my hands aren't that strong, holding a cake with my left and frosting it with my right one, was quite challenging. I could barely move it afterwards! I say practice, practice and practice!
I have also been doing some (a lot!!) resarch on Demel history for my school's homework, but also for myslef, I wanted to know how it all developed. I have to say, from 1786, there is definitely something to write about. If you haven't known, there is a Demel Museum at Demel and from next entry on, I will be posting a photo with a piece of history to get you back to the old times for a while...

Before I start with this, I just wanted to say that I worked this Saturday and guess what, I was making Sacher tortes alllll day! I loved it, it was something very new to me, because we are talking about a real Sacher torte here. I will definitely dedicate one post to the old classic, for sure.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this was the special project I was working on. "Orahnjacha" is my favourite since I was a kid, but only when my mum makes it :)
It is a very traditional Croatian cake made of fresh yeast dough and walnut filling, and it's also made in many other European countries just like here at Demel. She actually took bits and pieces of many different recepis and added some of her personal touch to it and honestly, I never ate something like this from anyone else before. Soooo, after years and years I decided to give it a try myself. Ha, very interesting.
I had some issues like the fact that FRESH yeast didn't work at first (very odd!) and then I added some more, it worked, but later I could taste it in the dough. And then I had some difficulties with my tiny little oven. Oh, you have no idea how small this oven this is and it wasn't very smart to bake this in it. I was playing with the temperature for quite a while. It was fun actually :))
But I always say, all of those things are a part of the experience. At the end it tasted very good (of course!), but it was a bit dry because of the oven. And it didn't taste like my mum's I have to be honest. Oh welll, I shall try again, again and again! ;)
Have I ever told you the story about my grandma's crepes?

Anyways, here is the recipe, give it a try!

"ORAHNJACHA"

Dough:

300g flour
30g fresh yeast
160g melted butter, cooled slightly
60g sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs
lemon zest (very important!)


Walnut filling:

160g sugar
300g finely ground walnuts (it is originally made with walnuts, but you can replace one part with almonds, very good as well)
250ml milk

Dissolve the yest in a little bit of lukewarm water and add a pinch of sugar to it. Cover and leave to rise. We always do this, and like that you are SURE if it's working.

Mix the rest of the Dough ingredients and add the risen yest. Mix well ( I use the wooden spoon, works the best!), actually beat it like you're mad.

Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a cloth and then with a blanket or leave near heating (if in winter time). Let rest for an hour or until it gets double in size. Actually, it doesn't rise that much, but 50 mins should be enough.

In the meantime make the walnut filling by bringing the milk and the sugar to the boil, take of the heat and mix in ground walnuts. Let cool. This filling usually contains raisins, rum, other flavourings, honey, chocolate even....But, I love it just like this, very simple and extremly good.

Flour the table surface, roll out yout dough very thin and make sure you roll it out in lenght. It doesn't matter if it sticks to the table. Don't try to move it! Spread the walnut filling on the whole surface leaving just 2cm free from the edges. Roll it out so you get like a very long sausage. Now this is the hard part. In a buttered and floured 26cm round baking tin (or you can out baking paper) place the dough in the tin in a spiral shape. Get the idea? It is a bit tricky because the dough is very soft and it's hard to handle. If you like, you can do it like I did, put it 2 smaller round tins.

Bake at 180°, cca. an hour. A tootpick will do the trick ;)
Let cool slightly and unmold. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy and send me a piece!!

This was the first time that I had a day off in the middle of the week, but I slept an hour longer and went to Demel after all! I decided to spend some time on the Decor station and in between I made this rose for fun and it was another experience, because I used an AirBrush to colour it! I used it before in school, but on paper only. This was truly stunning! You can really adjust shading and make a part that you want more pronounced just by giving more pressure. The rose is from marzipan as well as the leaves and the colour is edible of course. I also decorated a little marzipan train for a birthay cake and made a teddy bear, next time I promise I'll post a pic ;)
I was there 4 hours and then I went walking around Josefstädterstrasse which is like a shopping street because since I started working I didn't have that much time for that....

I don't really know how to put it, but I REALLY love my profession. Like seriously in love in what I'm doing. I am always trying new recipes, reading about them, taking pictures and reading posts from my blog buddies. I have to say I am very fortunate that I have found what I want to do in life and oh boy, it was a good decision.
By the way, tomorrow I will be working on a special project at home, so be ready for some good shots ;)

The answer to my question - Apple Strudel! The molds were for "MilchRahm Strudel" (Strudel with sour cream) though, because that one is very runny. The Apple Strudel on the other hands gets rolled out into 1 big roullade and then divided into 3 strudels. Then it's baked, cut and dusted with powdered sugar ;)
I always eat the end, while it's still warm..mmmm....

"Just a day,
Just an ordinary day.
Just trying to get by."

"Ordinary day" by Vanessa Carlton

Any guesses on what we're making? Merisi, pssst! ;)

After meeting with Lucy this morning we headed towards the Chocolate fair. Full of excitement we entered the beatiful building and enjoyed various chocolates with all of our senses. I have tried SO many different kinds, that I think I had enough chocolate for this month. Uh. I don't even remember any more what I tried, I should've written it down, but one remarkable one was white asparagus chocolate. You don't want to try that. I personally think that is a bit too much, don't you think? You killed the chocolate!! And for my taste, white chocolate isn't really chocolate, and even so it shouldn't be mixed with veggies. No veggies with chocolate please. But in general it was very interesting, I enjoyed it a lot. Oh, and one more thing, don't buy Sheep's milk chocolate. It's uh, pretty intense. Even if you try it, be ready. See, my first try was the white chocolate which, as we know, has more milk in it so now you imagine that...And that little chocolate on Lucy's hand, in case you can't see well, it is an anti-stress praline. It is full of those aromatic oils, just like if you went to a sauna. I think I would prefer going to the sauna then eating the chocolate.
And the next couple of hours we spent walking around Vienna and searching for a hairsalon and eventually we found a great place. I finally cut a good part of my hair because it was in such a bad condition and now it's almost as my natural hair color! Nice for a change :) Hands down, this lady did a great job.
And I also supposed to meet my uncle today who was in Vienna just for the day because he was flying to Greece, and I was being so selfish, thinking just how I had to do my hair, and I missed him. He was already on the way to the airport when I texted him. So I wanted to say again, sorry uncle. Truly and deeply sorry.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Boy oh boy, another week is alreday over! Today was more of a relaxed day I have to say. From standard Strizel, apfelmohnluchen (Apple-poppy seed cake) and schneebälle (Snowballs) which you can see on the photo below, I spent some time in the Office upstairs translating something, making lots of strudels and of course taking pictures (Actually Wolfgang took most of those, hehe). While I was focused with making strudels with Dea, someone was waving and smiling at me through the glass window. I was confused at first, I really didn't recognize who it was untill...It was my dearest friend Darija! I knew we were supposed to meet today, actually she and her boyfriend Jakub who live in Czech Rebublic were supposed to come later today but they surprised me! Darija and I spent amazing an interesting 4 years of high school together and then she left to Czech Republic and I went to the States. But now it was friends united again! :))
So now I'm ready for bed, tomorrow I'm meeting with my Demel friend Lucy and we're having some pretty interesting plans I must say. It shell be an interesting post tomorrow, especially after visiting the chocolate fair...

Today I had really an amazing 12 hours of fun at Demel. I did a lot and most importantly, Mr. Muthenthaler and I have set up the clouds up in the front window. We had some dificulties, but managed to get things back on track :)
Tomorrow the porcelan figures are coming in each of the 7 clouds and I'm excited to see the final picture! I'm very much tired right now, so I'm off to bed! Tomorrow I can sleep one hour longer as a reward :))

It was quite a busy day today at Demel, but I kept it peaceful in my mind. These sights are not something you easily forget.
Sooo, I had a pretty good day today. I helped everyone a little, made some chesnut-chocolate decorations, ate a lot of Sacher torte biscuit (sponge) and made my Striezel again (challah) :) I finished off the clouds that I was making with my Chef Mr. Muthenthaler as an extra project, and tomorrow it's the set up on the outside window! My camera is coming with me as well! I got to know a very funny and sweet girl Lucy today, who started working here recently, and I spend some time with her this afternoon as well. When I got home I made some Chef Schorner's Lemon Italian Sorbet (without an ice cream maker!) that I had written in my notes and tomorrow we have some guests so I'm all set! Pics will come up, of course.
Happy days!