One thing I've learned at my work is that Germans are really into cake. Besides the requisite 4PM "Kaffee und Kuchen" tradition about which guidebooks wax eloquent (which of course is a culturally distinct eating ritual that bears no resemblance to the English preference for 4 o'clock tea or North American celebration of anytime donut), a general interest in cake making and eating seems to take up a large part of the German female brain. And along with this fascination with fondant, leaveners, and cake pops come the requisite accessories. Behold, the cake carrier.
The cake carrier in Germany does not resemble the colourful retro contraption as seen above. Nor is it's presence limited to the households of people who had a few margaritas at a garden party in 1982 and accidentally bought into a complete set of orange and green Tupperware that included a devilled egg holder. The cake carrier of today is usually made of clear, unornamented plastic, either in the shape of a log or a circle. The handle makes it easy to carry, although Germans must be pretty much obliged to be constantly eating cake in order to justify storing one of these things in a tiny German kitchen.
So, the question goes, which came first, the carrier or the cake?
Whatever the answer, cake is important to Germans, as is the ability to renew the cake supply. Knowing how to bake is taken as a given at my workplace. It is assumed that I can whip up all delicacies with vaguely Anglo-American origins, from (Philadelphia) cheese cake with graham crust to hot cross buns to (Starbucks) cake pops. For kids, cake appreciation comes complete with quizzes on the comparative qualities of yeast and sour-cream dough. Don't think that Betty Crocker or time-saving devices have anything to do with this brand of domesticity. One coworker was showing off a photo of the cake she is baking for her cousin's wedding - using a highly coveted German-language cookbook that she snapped up in an ebay bidding war for the bargain price of 130 Euros.
And well, okay, maybe it's expected that childcare professionals have a Martha Stewart thumb, but I can attest that even the ladies of high finance can spend a Sunday afternoon or two crafting pralines for their coworkers. I just don't know if I can ever be thankful for breakroom donut holes ever again.
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