Hi there,
Do you remember preparing something for the PTA bake sale? I am not much of a baker and always contemplated going to the bakery and buying something and donating it to the bake sale. There always was one superb baker and everyone wanted to buy their creations. In my PTA days that was always my friend, Margie, who made the very best cookies. Darlene’s story about her mother took me back to those days.
This is the story that was given to me by Darlene Foster who is the author of a wonderful series of girl’s adventure books. More information about Darlene can be found at: www.darlenefoster.cahttps://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/. Here is a picture of Darlene and her mother and an apple Kuchen.
My mom was famous. At least in our little farming community in southern Alberta, Canada. She was a great cook and baker, her specialty was fruit kuchen. In our mostly German community many people made it, but like trifle and tiramisu, each family had their own “secret” recipe. Everyone loved moms. At the church bake sale, people would line up to buy her kuchen and she always sold out first. So you can see why, as a child, I figured she was famous.
Once I had a home of my own in the city, she would often bring one for me when she came to town. I served some to friends who raved about it and asked for the recipe. Well, mom didn’t really use a recipe, but she wrote something down and gave it to me. I decided to make my own but noticed it required 4 eggs for the crust and 16 eggs for the custard. I called her and said twenty eggs for one kuchen was a lot of eggs. Mom sighed and said, “The recipe is for a dozen.” I said, “But, I only wanted to make one.” She laughed and replied, “No one makes only one kuchen. That would be as silly as making one loaf of bread!”
I didn’t tell her that I often made just one loaf of bread.
This recipe makes 6 but you can cut it in half easily. You will find one is not nearly enough! Mom won’t mind that I shared.
Ingredients:
Sweet Dough
2 cups scalded milk
½ cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 packages of yeast
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups (approximately) flour
Custard Filling
8 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
Topping
Fruit of choice or cottage cheese
Cinnamon
Method:
• Make the sweet dough by adding sugar, butter and salt to milk.
• When lukewarm, add 2 cups of flour and beat smooth
• Add the yeast, eggs and remaining flour
• Mix well until smooth adding more flour if necessary being careful not to make it stiff (it should still stick to your hands)
• Let dough rise until double in bulk
• Roll out quite thin to fit in greased pie pans
• Place fruit and/or cottage cheese on top of dough
• Beat custard ingredients together and pour over fruit
• Sprinkle with cinnamon
• Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes or until custard is set and crust is brown.
• Remove from pans to cool
Makes about 6 kuchen
I hope you enjoyed reading this story and recipe as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to you.
Talk soon,❤️💕 Bernadette
53 responses to “MY MOTHER’S RECIPE #5 – Bette Frisch’s Famous Kuchen”
Thanks for sharing mom´s kuchen. She would like that we shared it. Have a great weekend.
You are so welcome Dorothy. My grandmother was Pennsylvania Dutch and this reminded me of something she would make. A very happy memory for me.
Reblogged this on Darlene Foster's Blog and commented:
Bernadette has posted my mom´s wonderful kuchen recipe on her My Mother´s Recipe feature. Mom would be delighted that we´ve shared her recipe. Although kuchen means cake in German, this is more of a pie with a sweet bread dough base. Enjoy this kuchen and think of my mom when you do. Check out the other wonderful recipes on the blog.
Thank you Darlene. It gives me great pleasure to share your Mom’s recipe. I also shared it on facebook.
Sounds good! The 20 eggs for one kuchen story made me laugh 🙂
I can still visualize my mom rolling her eyes and thinking, “Where did I go wrong?”
The cake looks so lovely! And i bet it tastes amazing too.
angiesrecipes
http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com
It is one mouth watering thing of beauty. Thanks for stopping by Angie. Have a great weekend.
It sounds delicious, Darlene! So cool that your mom’s always sold out first. I remember bake sales from middle school and always getting excited for the pinwheels my friend’s mom made.
A wonderful recipe from Darlene’s mum. <3 x
That sounds really good. I need a slice.
Thank you for stopping by Jacqui. I checked out your blog. It is very interesting. Have a nice weekend.
Thanks, Bernadette. I have to confess, I don’t bake much anymore because all the kids have moved on. I used to love doing it.
Life is different once the kids move on.
I am 1/4 German and never had this before. My family loves German cuisine. It looks like I missed out on a delicious dessert.
Give it a try and surprise your family!
This sounds delicious! Love the heart warming story ❤️
Thanks so much for the compliments and for stopping by and commenting.
Love the story Bernadette! The recipe sounds wonderful, no matter the proportions!
It is such a simple but delicious recipe. Have a good weekend Dorothy.
That sounds soooo good. And any recipe from our mom’s kitchen is full of love. xo
Hello, so good to see you again. I don’t know if. you will remember but I am Bernadette from Haddon Musings. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Wow, in my home country we don’t have a bake sale culture, but sounds so interesting! If I could get that yummy pastry I’d hope it is everyday thing🤣 👍
Bake-sales were great fundraisers when I was growing up. I hope you try the recipe.
That does look good! I got a kick out of Darlene’s mother’s comment that making only one kuchen is as silly as making one loaf of bread. 🙂
It was a different world back then. My brothers would eat one kuchen each!
Oh, my goodness!
This is a great recipe. Six won’t go amiss in my house. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Robbie, I don’t know if you remember me. I am Bernadette from Haddon Musings. So good to be in contact again.
Hi Bernadette, that is wonderful. Lovely to find you through Darlene.
It is so great that we have all connected again.
If your boys are anything like my brothers, they will eat one each!
Haha, great story and one loaf..oops that’s me…That kuchen looks delicious 🙂 x
I make one loaf of bread all the time but when mom made bread it was like a bread-making factory at our house. Of course, she would freeze the loaves in the enormous freezer we had and take out a loaf whenever one was needed.
I used to do that when all the kids were at home.. scaled down now and its too hot sometimes.. 😀 x
I can only imagine how hot it must get in your neck of the woods.
Trust me its hot!
I used to make my German apple sponge cake for the PTA events such as the Xmas fayre and the summer fête. Everybody loved it. Soon my other European friends joined in. Our cake stall became a magnet for the visitors. Soon I was asked to contribute to an international cook book, that was published by the local primary school.
I can understand your mum. Why tomake just one cake? Share it with the whole community.
German apple sponge cake sounds fabulous. No wonder you were published.
That apple sponge cake sounds great! I´m sure your stall was very popular. Mom would make many kuchens and freeze them. Then when guests would pop in she would warm one up and serve it with tea or coffee. It was like she had just made it!
Your mum sounds wonderful.
She was and I really miss her. Eating food she used to make brings back great memories.
What a sweet story Bernadette, I smiled all the way through!
I´m glad my story made you smile. It made me smile remembering my mom too. Thanks to Bernadette for having me as a guest.
Darlene,it was completely my pleasure. Jenna, I would very much like to have a contribution from you. Are you interested?
Thanks for the like on The jobs I’ve loved and hated. There are more, but I like to keep my blogs medium length.
Looking forward to them.
Darlene’s story about her mom´s kuchen give me a chuckle. The kuchen sounds like a great snack with a cup of tea. Thanks to both of you for sharing the story.
Perfect with a cup of tea. I just had some with a slice. xo
What a nice story Bernadette. This sounds like another delicious recipe.
Darlene did share a delightful story and recipe. Do you have a story and a recipe you would like to share on the My Mother’s Recipe feature?
This dessert looks delicious and makes a beautiful presentation.
Thanks so much Jovian. Have a wonderful weekend.