Hardly anything seems to unite the Germans like the love of coffee – and cake. But please with cream? With pleasure! A survey now shows details of cake cravings and whether cheese cake or fruit cake tastes better.
For many, Germany means beer and the Bundesliga, but it can also mean bee stings and buttercream cake. For millions of people, coffee and cake – i.e. the consumption of apple pie, Black Forest cherry or Frankfurter Kranz, Donauwelle, Eierschecke, marble cake and poppy seed cake – are something typically German.
Or should we say: a cultural asset in German-speaking countries, because Engadine nut cake from Switzerland or pastries from Austria such as Sachertorte and Linzer Torte are also classics. Some even think that “kuk” stood for coffee and cake (and not for imperial and royal) in the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
But sweets can also have a bitter side, for example when looking at the figure: In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 18 percent said they had eaten more sweets since the often extremely sedentary Corona crisis. 47 percent eat the same amount, 26 percent less. The rest made no statement or stated that they did not eat anything sweet.
Coffee consumption at record level
The desire for coffee, on the other hand, did not decrease during the pandemic. According to the survey, when it comes to hot drinks, coffee dominates far ahead of tea and cocoa. As reported by the German Coffee Association, the already high coffee consumption is at a record level. On average, coffee drinkers in Germany consume just under four cups per person per day. Five years ago it was only 3.4 cups.
For 2023, the Coffee Association expects that, for the first time, more “whole beans” will be sold for home preparation than ground roasted coffee. Fully automatic machines are in vogue, as Holger Preibisch, general manager of the coffee association in Hamburg, says. “Meanwhile, every third household has a corresponding system.”
Despite inflation and price-sensitive behavior, 2022 was a strong coffee year, says Preibisch. When it came to drinking coffee, there was “a clear trend towards the out-of-home market” after the corona restrictions in gastronomy were lifted. “People finally want to get out of their own four walls, they finally want to drink coffee outside again” – the comeback of the coffee break.
Cheesecake or cream cake?
So while the love of coffee is very clear, opinions tend to differ in Germany when it comes to cakes. Cream or buttercream cake? Fruit or chocolate cake? The new representative survey serves the taste of the republic on a silver platter.
Most adults in Germany therefore like cheesecake best when they have to make a decision. 19 percent name it when asked “When you go to a café, what do you personally like most?”. This is followed by fruitcake (16 percent), cream cake (13 percent) or cake with chocolate (9 percent), waffles (6 percent), crepes (5) or heavy buttercream cake (5).
The Udo Jürgens hit “But please with cream” from the 70s is an evergreen in this country: “They meet every day at quarter past three (…) at the regulars’ table in the corner of the pastry shop,” says the sarcastic hit, in which it is sung how death gradually skimmed off old friends Mathilde, Ottilie, Marie and Liliane.
What will become of the coffeehouse culture?
Cake temples full of ladies in hats are a cliché – but also a nice reminder. The old-style coffee houses, where waitresses with lace aprons serve coffee (“Only pots outside!”), have been closed in many places in recent years. But not only in cities like Baden-Baden, Cologne or Wiesbaden there are still traditional cafés like the “König”, “Wahlen” or “Maldaner”.
However, the Konditorenbund says: “Due to the extreme increase in raw material and energy prices, the earnings situation is extremely strained.” It remains difficult to cover the personnel requirements, especially in the café area, with specialists. The confectionery trade turned over almost 1.9 billion euros in 2022 – similar to the amount before Corona.
A torture that cake lovers are subjected to from time to time is the lying piece of cake. It will soon be called “slice of cake” instead of “piece of cake”, the thinner piece at the same price being lamented in times of price increases. Fall of the cake country – tilted pieces are true fans as a cake deadly sin a horror.
Millions reach for frozen cakes
But coffee and cake is not only consumed outside the home, but also at home. Millions like to bake themselves. Millions also use frozen cakes. Probably the best-known manufacturing company from Mettingen in Westphalia, thanks to years of advertising, has managed to get many people to hum the brand name to a melody from the opera “La Gioconda” by Amilcare Ponchielli.
“The cake that almost everyone thinks of when they hear the name Coppenrath & Wiese is the Black Forest cherry cake,” says Dorothee Reiering-Böggemann, Head of Marketing. She has been the figurehead since 1976. “In terms of sales, however, another cake is at the top: the “Meistertorte Almond-Bee Sting”.” Since no one should be excluded from the coffee table, this cake is also available vegan, as many are paying more and more attention to reducing the proportion of animal products in their diet.
Coppenrath & Wiese, the market leader for frozen goods, which has been part of the Oetker Group for eight years, says it produces up to 1.1 million pieces of sheet cake, 350,000 cheesecakes, 300,000 cream cakes and more than 100,000 baked cakes every day.