Searching for Baumkuchen

I'm hoping that the combined experience of all these readers will turn up what I'm looking for: Baumkuchen. Baumkuchen is a particular kind of cake which originated in Germany and is now very difficult to find here in the States. A true Baumkuchen is cooked on a special rotating device; batter is run along in thin layers as the rotating cake cooks, so that when cut the cake looks like it has rings, like a slice from a tree trunk. Years ago my family would get it from a bakery in San Francisco; they've since stopped carrying it, and the only info I could get from them was that the process was so labor-intensive that the place they got it from no longer made it. It's an incredible holiday cake, and I keep hoping that somewhere in the US they're still made---if anyone's come across them, please let me know! Thank you.

[rifkind81]

Dean & Deluca has it sometimes from their catalog (usually around the holidays for whatever reason). But BEWARE...it is at Dean & Deluca prices. I second that New Yorker article...it lists several bakeries in NYC where you can get some.

[E Eto]

Hmmm. You must have read a different article. In the New Yorker article (Nov 23, 2009 issue) Mimi Sheraton, in her search for a baumkuchen baker, writes "I observed the process for the first time last summer in Chicago, having found nothing closer to New York". The only other one she mentions in NYC is the one at the Japanese confectioner Minamoto Kitchoan, which are made in Okayama Japan. I haven't been to Dean & Deluca to see theirs, but I also found some available at Paris Baguette (or whatever it's called), the French inspired Korean bakery in Flushing Queens.

I've had my fill of baumkuchen in Japan. It makes great gifts for those coming back from Japan.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/685185

[rifkind81]

I stand corrected.

[liu]

Jennifer --
About a month ago, in the Los Angeles Times, there was a special feature on Paul Gauweiler in Huntington Beach, CA. The article discusses how Paul Gauweiler, a native of Hanover, Germany, brought a baumkuchen oven over from Germany to Milwaukee to Philly to Southern California where he now has a bakery: Cake Box Pastries (6054 Warner Avenue in Huntington Beach, CA - #714.842-9132).

Here is the article: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/daily...

If you search the LA Times further, you might find more information about him.
You could call him and discuss shipping.

[parabolicaer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je47wA...

Interesting video of how baumkuchen is made.

[waver]

A recent New Yorker has an article about baumkuchen that might interest you:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/20...

I'd never heard of it before until I read the article last night and then saw this post just now. Funny how that happens.

[itsapeugeot]

You can also order it here:

http://www.germandeli.com/chcab.html

[parabolicaer]

Oddly enough, Japanese groceries stores seem to be the only places where I've seen baumkuchen sold. I've bought baumkuchen from the Uwajimaya before--I'm not sure if they still carry it, however.

[kelesperance]

I just bought Baumkuchen at the German Deli in Colleyville, TX (close to Dallas). They also have an online store you can order it from. There is also a bakery in Chicago that makes them but I cannot recall it's name.

You can order baumkuchen "treecake" from Eitelbach in
Toronto. Their website is www.eitelbach.com. Guten Appetit!

Lots on Google. It seems to have achieved cult status. Hope this helps.

Link: http://lutzcafe.com/baumkuchen.html

Thank you both for the Baumkuchen tips; I really appreciate it! The chowhounds have done it again.