Apple and Custard Kuchen

I grew up in Valdivia (south of Chile) an area which had a large German colonisation between the years of 1850 and 1910. Due to the mix of cultures, we follow many of their food traditions, one of them being the famous Kuchen. Traditionally, Kuchen is a special type of cake eaten for afternoon tea.

Kuchen means cake in German and you can now find it in most cafes throughout the south of Chile. Kuchen in Chile is usually a sponge cake, topped with whichever fruit is in season, such as; apples, blueberries or raspberries and then finished off with a custard. The non-traditional Kuchen can have walnuts throughout it and no custard, or instead use whipped cream to substitute the custard.

I love taking a traditional cake from my childhood and recreating it with a modern twist. My variation of Kuchen is made with a non-yeasted dough, instead I use a light butter sponge. My fruit of choice is apple and I add a creamy vanilla custard on top. This cake doesn’t have much sugar in it and I love to give my customers the choice of making it gluten free.

Creating modern versions of a traditional cake is one of my passions and I am not afraid of mixing different ingredients, substituting or even completely removing an ingredient. Hope you love my version of the famous Kuchen, give it a try!

Con Amor Gabriela X