#cakeincologne

Wohnraum = Living Room. It's the cosiest café in Nippes.

@ Café Wohnraum. The name is inviting – Wohnraum means living room and this café is cosy and homely. Reserve a table on Sundays because many of Nippes inhabitants move their living room there to enjoy breakfast, morning and afternoon tea, sandwiches, smoothies, cake and coffee.

I did pay Café Wohnraum a visit last year but not being impressed, I didn’t bother to feature it. Since then the café…

@ Café Wohnraum. The name is inviting – Wohnraum means living room and this café is cosy and homely. Reserve a table on Sundays because many of Nippes inhabitants move their living room there to enjoy breakfast, morning and afternoon tea, sandwiches, smoothies, cake and coffee.

I did pay Café Wohnraum a visit last year but not being impressed, I didn’t bother to feature it. Since then the café has changed hands and Jennifer & Sofyen have really improved the quality of, well, everything. They have a selection of 5-8 cakes, know how to make a good coffee and I’ve heard their breakfast is grand. The girls who served us were full of smiles and ever so attentive.

I was lucky to enough to bags a table near the ceiling high window front for my cake date. It’s an old building and the ceiling goes up about 5 meters meaning the windows let in a lot of light. The red brick of the walls has been exposed and with the mix of wooden furniture, odd bits of vintage paraphernalia and large framed pictures the room looks and feels, warm and comfy. There’s even a fire place with a small sofa in front of it.

I went for the devil’s food. It’s a chocolate cakes of larger proportions and it enticed me from the start. Expecting a heavy load of sweet cocoa I was pleasantly surprised how light it was. The filling between the layers had a cream cheese flavour to it. My company enjoyed the cheesecake – the cold, American, kind. That was very special with milky rather than cheese flavours, notes of vanilla and a chocolate scented base.

So there you have – Nippes is now really truly on my cake map!

For more pictures and a German description I recommend checking out the articles written by Nippes en Bloc, Blogleuk, Green Venue and Briefkastenliebe. There you’ll also find out more about their much-praised breakfast and sandwiches.

By the way: the famed Ehren Chutney is served with some of the dishes too!

Neusser Straße 314,Nippes. Lines 12, 15

Edit: Südstadt Gebäck now has it’s own home on this website!

@ Weihnachtsbasar Körnerstraße

This Sunday there will be a limited edition of Südstadt Gebäck (South City Baking) available at the Christmas Bazaar, Körnestr, Ehrenfeld. Look out for the Ehren Manufaktur stall – that’s where you’ll find them.

Never heard of Südstadt Gebäck? I’m not surprised. It’s only been around for a couple of months and it’s only produced when I feel like. I make it, homemade, with love. At the moment I’m doing Christmas Specialties. At the bazaar on Sunday you’ll be able get yourself a wee baggy of English-Spekulatius (it’s English because I like to mix in some dried fruits, nuts and lots of ginger).

I’ll be hanging around at the Bazaar and the Ehren Manufaktur some of the time as well. Drop in and say hi – I’d enjoy that!

By the way – you’ll be wanting to try the Ehren Chutney, shown below, as well. Not cake but very yummy!

After the bazaar…

It’s a pity – you’ll have to wait till next year to visit the Körner Street Christmas Basar again. It’s the best Christmas market I’ve ever been to – loved it! Relaxed, friendly, christmasy but not overdone. All the wares are from the people for the people. There’s nothing commercial. But don’t be mislead by the homemade character either – the quality is extremely good. There’s hot food, mulled wine, hot hugos and all the yummy stuff to warm a belly in the cold.

I did find cake as well. Actually, an overwhelming assortment of tempting cakes. I grabbed some absolutely fabulous cupcakes to take home from a couple of girls raising money for charity. The wee cakes looked professionally garnished, were vegan, and tasted scrumptious.

I’d like to be able to tell where else you can get these beauties. Unfortunately we’ll all have to wait till next Christmas – see you there!

In the end I only got a brief look around the bazaar on Körner Street. I stayed around the little chutney stall most of time, talking to the friendly people who stopped to try the wares. Cookies were sold and it was an enjoyable day.

@Cafe Collective Fatsch

Usually we exchange music tips but she’d recently caught on that I have this thing for cake. My Hairdresser, she told me about Fudge. She knew straight away that I’d misspelt it in my head. “F.A.T.S.C.H – the way you’d spell it in German”, she explained.

I’ve started expanding my revere to the other side of the river and I was thankful for this tipoff. It’s right spank in…

@Cafe Collective Fatsch

Usually we exchange music tips but she’d recently caught on that I have this thing for cake. My Hairdresser, she told me about Fudge. She knew straight away that I’d misspelt it in my head. “F.A.T.S.C.H – the way you’d spell it in German”, she explained.

I’ve started expanding my revere to the other side of the river and I was thankful for this tipoff. It’s right spank in the middle of Kalk – a part of town my prejudice has kept me away from. It’s been long renown as a deprived area and a multicultural hot spot. I read later that the suburb is developing forward at a rapid pace and I must say – I was pleasantly surprised at what I say.

I set off after a quick lunch on a wee bike ride photo spree through Deutz on to Kalk. The route to the café ended up being longer than I intended – I kept stopping to take pictures. I could have spent the afternoon just doing that and have promised myself to go back for more.

Eventually I reached Josephskirchstrasse and found myself in front of a wonderful cosy café. It is just off the main (wild) shopping streets in the quiet residential area. Inside there’s a mix of old cottage furniture and lounge room sofas. The guests were pleasant and there were lovely people catering for food and drinks.

Fatsch is vegan. The standard milk in the coffee is soy and your options are oat and rice. They have the best range of cakes I’ve ever seen for a vegan café and I had to have two.

They have no service. They are a collective. There’s no boss. A few of the people that do the main shifts during the week are paid. Most of the people involved do it voluntarily – baking, cooking, cleaning, making coffee. That’s one of the reasons no one waits at the tables.

I felt at ease the minute I walked in. The girls behind the bar were friendly and easy going – patient while I considered the cake options. Then I relaxed at a window seat and watched the world go by outside.

I’m sorry I can’t really describe the chocolate cupcake I had. It had some cream of sorts in it and was topped off with sesame seeds. It was lovely. After that came the raspberry pie. Hmmm! Berry like with sweet crispy pastry.

Fatsch is looking for help. I’m wondering if I can fit in a weekend a month – baking, next year. I think I’d like that. Then I’d really be doing some cake in Cologne.

Josephkirchstraße 25, Kalk. Lines 1, 9.

Heimisch (Homely).

The new kid in town. The right place to go when you’re on the wrong side of the Rhine (sorry Cologne Peeps, I couldn’t resist that corny line). This is the place people are talking about. (Green Venue took some nice photos – check out her article too!)

Heimisch is fabulous. I walked in on a sunny Sunday afternoon and was greeted with warm smiles from the crew behind the…

Heimisch (Homely).

The new kid in town. The right place to go when you’re on the wrong side of the Rhine (sorry Cologne Peeps, I couldn’t resist that corny line). This is the place people are talking about. (Green Venue took some nice photos – check out her article too!)

Heimisch is fabulous. I walked in on a sunny Sunday afternoon and was greeted with warm smiles from the crew behind the counter. One of the smiling girls proudly explained the cakes they had – it was emphasized that they bake the cake themselves. The first one she named was pumpkin and after that I didn’t really listen to hear what the other ones were – I’d already made up my mind.

Gorgeous! There was cinnamon with notes of other fine spices and it was moist and fluffy with chewy nuts. The sour cream topping was left sour but sweetened with a coating of fine cinnamon sugar. Get this while it’s the season – great autumn cake!

If Heimisch was close by to my work or home I would hang out there as much as I could. I love the big open window front letting in the sunlight, the spacious interior, clean design and retro furniture. There are lots of great snacks and lunches, good Van Dyck Coffee to be had and ice-tea made by a local girl (by local I mean, she’s from around the corner kind of local). Although the cafe is open I found it restful, not loud, pleasant.

Do I like Heimisch? I love the place.

Deutzer Freiheit 72-74, Deutz. Lines 3, 4, 9

When Instagramers recommend cake

@Petit Noir...

…was recommended to me in a brewing house with no name on the wrong side of the Rhine. I’d been on my first instawalk, organised by Koelnergram and was drinking beer with some Instagram Elders. The recommendation came from @lailie, she later explained that @ollili had told her of the place.

Bevor I get to the Café and the cake, I do recommend you checkout both @lailie and @ollilion…