Tue, 29 May 2012
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While the Netherlands offers a variety of sweet goodies, cupcakes are sadly lacking. American Danielle Latman sets out to make them herself, but ingredients are hard to find...
Why I love cupcakes
I love cupcakes; they are one of my favourite foods (if ‘food’ can include items lacking nutritional value). Cupcakes are small and sweet; one is just the right size to satisfy my craving for sweetness. They are also connected to many childhood memories of birthday parties and special occasions. Finally, you can’t get bored of cupcakes, since they can be made in an endless variety of flavour and frosting combinations.
In the US the popularity of cupcakes is growing, with many cupcake bakeries sprouting up in my hometown of New York--and even in more far-flung locations like Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I regularly enjoyed the special cupcakes sold at the farmer’s market.
Moving to the Netherlands: no cupcakes
Upon visiting Amsterdam for the first time, when my partner was offered a job here, I noticed the lack of cupcakes immediately. Sure, Holland has its own offering of sweets: the waffles are delicious and varied; fresh stroopwaffels are a treat. But no cupcakes. I continued searching.
After a few months of exploring different supermarkets I still hadn’t encountered a single cupcake. The closest I’d found was a chocolate-chip mocha muffin with a thin glaze coating in a Coffee Company off Spui.
The baked good was delicious, but it was certainly a muffin and not a cupcake. Muffins and cupcakes have a few key distinctions. The great food blog, Cakespy, says the difference has to do with texture: muffins are denser and heartier, while cupcakes are lighter with a finer crumb. Also, cupcakes are almost always frosted, while muffins are usually not.
The Netherlands has a lot of muffins. I’ve enjoyed the chocolate cakejes from Albert Heijn, but they are not proper cupcakes; they’re too heavy and not frosted.
Attempts to make cupcakes
After complaining to a friend back in the US, she encouraged me to take out baking tins and make my own.
I decided to try it for a friend’s birthday here in Amsterdam. On a Saturday afternoon I wrote up a shopping list and headed to the local Albert Heijn to find baking soda, baking powder, unsweetened chocolate and a hand mixer. In the US it would be easy to find all of these ingredients at one big supermarket. But the Netherlands is different. The small baking section at the grocery store carried sprinkles, pannekoek mixes, small bottles of artificial flavourings, but nothing that I could find to make your cakes fluffy and light.
No unsweetened chocolate either, just an assorted variety of sweet candy bars. I visited a few more grocery stores as well as the Hema, but none of them sold the missing ingredients.
I returned home discouraged but ready to improvise. Using a hand-held blender (I couldn’t find a mixer), I mixed up the wet ingredients into sifted self-rising flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. For the vanilla frosting, I blended powdered sugar into melted butter, unsure of the amount since butter packages in the Netherlands don’t print the useful measuring charts on the side.
The result? Cupcakes toughened from vigorous blending and dense from too much butter. But my friends ate them anyway.
The future of cupcakes
My search for all the necessary ingredients continues.
Baking soda was found at the US and British food store and a kind co-worker purchased baking powder (it’s packaged differently from the US and could be easy to miss) for me after hearing my travails. My lovely partner retrieved my hand-held mixer during a return trip to the States.
Next time my cupcakes will be lighter, fluffier, more like home.
Danielle Latman is a writer and editor at Expatica.
Photos from flickr
I encountered the same difficulties in baking. While Amsterdam has some specialty stores I found good ol' arm
PLEASE checkout: www.mevrouwcupcake.com!
While it does sometimes take some effort to find certain baking products, I can assure you that you'll find everything with the exception of cake flour. I suggest that you invest in a good scale that weighs in both grams and ounces (the Hema carries a nice digital one for 19,95), and convert solid ingredients like butter, while using measuring spoons (also to be found at the Hema), dry and wet measuring cups, as you normally would. Hema, as well as Blokker and just about any other housewares store will carry hand mixers of varying sizes and quality.
You can very easily find all of the ingredients to make cupcakes in the Netherlands. It's a matter of knowing where to go. All "reform" shops sell baking powder. It's called "wijnsteen poeder." Most Asian shops also sell Arm
Well the writer can stop her searching... In our very own Amsterdam, behind the Nieuwe Kerk there is an "American Bakery" ... this little gem is actually attached to and run by the lunchcafe De Drie Graefjes on Eggertstraat 1
I was there today and they had a selection of about 5 different types of cupcakes (I purchased the carrot cake and red velvet cake versions)... in addition to these moist little morsels they also had larger cakes, muffins, and big chocolate chip cookies for sale.
There is no mention of the bakery on their website, but on the front page you can see some tiny pictures of the baked goods. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. http://www.dedriegraefjes.nl/
Thanks for sharing everyone! Shawna, we just found the American Bakery and agree, it's a gem. They opened fairly recently and we weren't aware of them until after this writing.
Just curious: what is your favorite flavor there?
Carrot cake, so far ... I am obsessed with cream-cheese frosting. I need to get out of my rut and try more flavors. Do you have a favorite yet?
i love the red velvet and the devil's food cake. but it's also good to just ask what's fresh!
Hi Danielle, I can help you find all your baking bits in and around Amsterdam, or even provide you with some goods. I have a home bakery from Purmerend (15 miles north of A'dam), and specialize in NY Deli cheesecake and birthday cakes. My website is in process of being renovated, but the old one is still current in prices, products: www.Homemade-Goodies.nl.
I didn't realize we had an American Bakery in the heart of A'dam...I'll for sure get over there for a tasty treat as well!!
I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one with cupcake concerns in Holland.
I finally realized that the whole "below-sea-level" thing doesn't exactly help matters (altitude effects recipes which are expected to rise in certain ways by making them rise in "different" ways- if they rise at all). I've tried a few different attempts at them and it always ends in more than half the so-called cupcakes being thrown away.
Can anyone tell me the correct way to compensate for this? Is it simply to use more baking powder?? I'm afraid of ruining the taste...
Can't wait to try out the American Bakery!!
Real american cupcakes of teh new brand Lily's cupcakes can now also be purchased in Rotterdam, The Hague, Voorburg, Arnhem, Apeldoorn and Haarlem. Check out www.lilyscupcakes.nl
If you want real cupcakes....i have a small busy cupcake business...
http://jaynescupcakes.nl/
also if you make cupcakes yourself i now sell the new wrappers....
hello cupcake lovers! we have REAL american cupcakes made by an AMERICAN here in Rotterdam! ready for pick up within 24 hours, delivery can be arranged and soon they will be ready for shipping via TNT post!
they will be the best cupcakes you have had in europe!
www.aliceincakeland.com
Im sorry we let u down on the cupcakes here. I also find it ridiculous that theres no pink sweet smelling cute as a cupcake store here in the netherlands. No worries tho!! Im working on one! Selling the cupcakes from my home at this point but trust me! Holland will have a cupcake fantasy store this year! Right now u can check em out (and order) them at http://begbiesbakery.hyves.nl Cupcakes for every occasion!
Check www.shirleyscupcakes.com first cupcake bakery Amsterdam Holland. Cupcake Shop / Cafe opening soon. Grtz Shirley
A rather late comment, but nevertheless my thoughts exactly to all the above. Being originally from Oz, I've come across the same thing, no cupcakes anywhere. So I set about in my kitchen experimenting with a few different flavours and now some months later will soon be launching a little internet cupcake store. My cupcakes are not so much like the american style cupcakes, rather mini morsels with flavours that are quite unique. I use only fresh seasonal ingredients and focus on the flavour of the cakes as well as the topping. So please watch for my website situated in Den Haag.
Yummy Frosted Cupcakes will be available at the Amstelveen Friday Market from the 10th of September!!!! Look out for our stall. We use only the finest and freshest ingredients!!!!
You can easily find all the ingredients for cupcakes in a regular supermarket. I live in a really small city on the other site of the country and even here you can find everything. We don't have cupcake shops, But I' guess I can survive that. Nice story tough, I love it that you've tried Stroopwafels etc. Because they smell disgusting when they're just getting made. :) .
In the last few years I've been able to find all ingredients necessary to make American Cupcakes. Little Japanese stores, there are several British
I encountered the same difficulties in baking. While Amsterdam has some specialty stores I found good ol' arm
PLEASE checkout: www.mevrouwcupcake.com!
While it does sometimes take some effort to find certain baking products, I can assure you that you'll find everything with the exception of cake flour. I suggest that you invest in a good scale that weighs in both grams and ounces (the Hema carries a nice digital one for 19,95), and convert solid ingredients like butter, while using measuring spoons (also to be found at the Hema), dry and wet measuring cups, as you normally would. Hema, as well as Blokker and just about any other housewares store will carry hand mixers of varying sizes and quality.
You can very easily find all of the ingredients to make cupcakes in the Netherlands. It's a matter of knowing where to go. All "reform" shops sell baking powder. It's called "wijnsteen poeder." Most Asian shops also sell Arm
Well the writer can stop her searching... In our very own Amsterdam, behind the Nieuwe Kerk there is an "American Bakery" ... this little gem is actually attached to and run by the lunchcafe De Drie Graefjes on Eggertstraat 1
I was there today and they had a selection of about 5 different types of cupcakes (I purchased the carrot cake and red velvet cake versions)... in addition to these moist little morsels they also had larger cakes, muffins, and big chocolate chip cookies for sale.
There is no mention of the bakery on their website, but on the front page you can see some tiny pictures of the baked goods. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. http://www.dedriegraefjes.nl/
Thanks for sharing everyone! Shawna, we just found the American Bakery and agree, it's a gem. They opened fairly recently and we weren't aware of them until after this writing.
Just curious: what is your favorite flavor there?
Carrot cake, so far ... I am obsessed with cream-cheese frosting. I need to get out of my rut and try more flavors. Do you have a favorite yet?
i love the red velvet and the devil's food cake. but it's also good to just ask what's fresh!
Hi Danielle, I can help you find all your baking bits in and around Amsterdam, or even provide you with some goods. I have a home bakery from Purmerend (15 miles north of A'dam), and specialize in NY Deli cheesecake and birthday cakes. My website is in process of being renovated, but the old one is still current in prices, products: www.Homemade-Goodies.nl.
I didn't realize we had an American Bakery in the heart of A'dam...I'll for sure get over there for a tasty treat as well!!
I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one with cupcake concerns in Holland.
I finally realized that the whole "below-sea-level" thing doesn't exactly help matters (altitude effects recipes which are expected to rise in certain ways by making them rise in "different" ways- if they rise at all). I've tried a few different attempts at them and it always ends in more than half the so-called cupcakes being thrown away.
Can anyone tell me the correct way to compensate for this? Is it simply to use more baking powder?? I'm afraid of ruining the taste...
Can't wait to try out the American Bakery!!
Real american cupcakes of teh new brand Lily's cupcakes can now also be purchased in Rotterdam, The Hague, Voorburg, Arnhem, Apeldoorn and Haarlem. Check out www.lilyscupcakes.nl
If you want real cupcakes....i have a small busy cupcake business...
http://jaynescupcakes.nl/
also if you make cupcakes yourself i now sell the new wrappers....
hello cupcake lovers! we have REAL american cupcakes made by an AMERICAN here in Rotterdam! ready for pick up within 24 hours, delivery can be arranged and soon they will be ready for shipping via TNT post!
they will be the best cupcakes you have had in europe!
www.aliceincakeland.com
Im sorry we let u down on the cupcakes here. I also find it ridiculous that theres no pink sweet smelling cute as a cupcake store here in the netherlands. No worries tho!! Im working on one! Selling the cupcakes from my home at this point but trust me! Holland will have a cupcake fantasy store this year! Right now u can check em out (and order) them at http://begbiesbakery.hyves.nl Cupcakes for every occasion!
Check www.shirleyscupcakes.com first cupcake bakery Amsterdam Holland. Cupcake Shop / Cafe opening soon. Grtz Shirley
A rather late comment, but nevertheless my thoughts exactly to all the above. Being originally from Oz, I've come across the same thing, no cupcakes anywhere. So I set about in my kitchen experimenting with a few different flavours and now some months later will soon be launching a little internet cupcake store. My cupcakes are not so much like the american style cupcakes, rather mini morsels with flavours that are quite unique. I use only fresh seasonal ingredients and focus on the flavour of the cakes as well as the topping. So please watch for my website situated in Den Haag.
Yummy Frosted Cupcakes will be available at the Amstelveen Friday Market from the 10th of September!!!! Look out for our stall. We use only the finest and freshest ingredients!!!!
You can easily find all the ingredients for cupcakes in a regular supermarket. I live in a really small city on the other site of the country and even here you can find everything. We don't have cupcake shops, But I' guess I can survive that. Nice story tough, I love it that you've tried Stroopwafels etc. Because they smell disgusting when they're just getting made. :) .
In the last few years I've been able to find all ingredients necessary to make American Cupcakes. Little Japanese stores, there are several British
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