First Love

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’d like to tell you about my first love. Buttercream frosting on hazelnut sponge cake baked by the Swiss Haus. At 2 years old, I fell deeply, madly, passionately in love with my birthday cake and the affair has continued for over 30 plus years. I’ve written about my birthday cake and thanks to Jim Hausman and the staff at the Swiss Haus, this year I got a behind the scenes look at how it’s made.

7am: Donna opened the bakery located at 35 S 19^th Street, Philadelphia and immediately headed to the back of the shop where she was soon joined by Jen, Meala and Heather. Monica walked in and started setting up the front of the bakery. She turned on the refrigerated cases (which have been cleaned and aired out over the weekend) and started the first pot of Hausbrandt coffee.

In the back of the shop, Donna wrote a list of products to be baked that day while Meala placed croissants on baking trays. She covered them with an egg wash to give them a bit of shine. I walked into the back of the bakery, past metal beaters, bigger than my head, hanging from the ceiling to find Jen going through the large refrigerators, throwing out anything not fresh. She unwrapped several hazelnut sponge cakes and prepared them to be frosted. From start to finish, the bakery makes approximately 30 cakes in 2 ½ hours. The cakes are baked and then put in the fridge to chill before being constructed with buttercream and chocolate shavings. Jen is confident in her cake handling. She picked up a cake with her right hand, holding it at a slant to the chocolate-filled container in her left. She flicked her right hand to throw and twist the cake slightly in the air while simultaneously turning it into the chocolate shavings.

Donna finished up her prep list. The bakery goes through four 36lb cases of butter and 150lbs of flour each week. 60 dozen eggs are used per day. Unlike many other bakeries that heat up pre-made bulk purchased cookie dough, this team makes everything from scratch. They all have had years of training and experience. Jen has worked at the bakery for five years and attended the Restaurant School in Philadelphia. Meala went to culinary school in Russia and has been at the bakery for four years. Even Heather who was brought on as seasonal help went to culinary school at Drexel. At almost 16 years, Donna has been at the bakery the longest. Besides being a graduate of the Restaurant School, she also attended the Pastry Arts Center in Elmsford, NY.

35 scoops of cookie dough go on a tray. Another tray full. And another. And another. Donna bagged out oatmeal raisin, milk chocolate tollhouse, chocolate chip gingersnaps and plain gingersnaps. Heather dipped cupcakes into colored jimmies and everyone talked about their weekend plans. The mood is light and friendly.

Jen needed more buttercream for her cakes. I watched as she lifted 50 lbs of ingredients, enough to make 32 gallons of buttercream which during the holiday season, the bakery can go through in one day. I am amazed at her strength. I can barely open a heavy door while Jen (who appears to be a good 4 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than me) effortlessly carried around unwieldy boxes of ingredients. Donna admits that she and Jen work out at the gym every day. They both have the kind of well-defined arm muscles that Michelle Obama sports. I’m jealous.

Heather prepared Oreo cupcakes by cutting a cone shape from the top into the center of the cupcake. This inverted wedge is filled with frosting and oreo pieces. Then more frosting is added followed by more oreos. It’s an incredibly decadent treat and at 7:30 in the morning, looked like breakfast to me.

Across the work table, Meala used a spatula to spread vanilla icing on one side of black and white cookies. After the vanilla, she did the same thing to add chocolate on the other half. I always imagined those cookies were dipped, but her way is much easier.

It’s only 8am and I am amazed at how much has been accomplished so far. Donna created a crunchy top on the chocolate chip gingersnaps by dipping them in coarse sugar. Meala arranged the finished black and white cookies on a tray that will go in the display cases in the front of the store. She began to fill éclairs with cream while Heather frosted raspberry chocolate pastries and added chocolate jimmies around the edge. Donna took the cookie trays out of the oven and then loaded it back up with trays of muffins. She flipped up one cookie to check that the bottom was slightly browned and that the cookie wasn’t falling apart. The regular gingersnaps were ready but the rest needed more time so they went back into the oven. When they finished baking, I tried a chocolate chip gingersnap still warm and gooey on the inside. Crystallized sugar on top made a nice crunchy textural compliment to the soft cookie. I could eat these all day.

9am: In the front of the shop, Monica prepared boxes of mixed cookies for a delivery order. Meanwhile, I leaned against a counter in the back and took notes while Meala made hazelnut rolled cakes. She encouraged me to eat a cheese Danish, still warm from the oven. I took two bites of the savory and sweet pastry and then looked up to see everyone watching me. I didn’t want to seem like a pig so I stopped there. Had I been alone, I would have wolfed down the entire thing in under a minute.

10am: Donna added sugar to the batter that will be tiny Danish nut cookies. After they cool, chocolate ganache or raspberry jam will be sandwiched between them. The incredible smell of chocolate chip cookies filled the air. The phone rang. Someone wants “Happy Birthday Tony” written on a cake. A guy came in and requested a 7inch round cake with “Happy Birthday Mommy” written on it. Jen quickly piped both cakes while Donna combined ingredients for pecan logs. A small cloud of flour puffed up as she poured everything into a large mixing bowl. Meala worked on adding ganache to devil’s food chocolate mousse cake slices, I asked everyone, “if there were one baked good at the shop that best represented them, what would it be?” Meala said, “the team here is so nice. It’s like all the pastries. No favorites. They are all good.”

I sat down to chat with bakery owner Jim Hausman. He is the man behind the scenes at this place—smart and handy, he figured out how to fix broken refrigerators, and laid the floor himself. He works the counter, does the bookkeeping, marketing and PR. Jim said, “this place is a great cheap date. You can get a big pastry and 2 cups of coffee for less than $10. There are board games here that people can play: backgammon, chess.” We talked a little bit about the prices of baked goods versus the small income each cookie generates. Before today, I thought fresh baked products were a bit expensive, but now that I have seen how much time and energy is invested into the smallest of cookies, I feel like I’m getting a good deal. Jim agreed, “if people knew what went into the danishes and the amount of time it takes to make one, they would understand the value of the pastry. We roll and butter it three times just to make the dough. Then it’s cut into pieces and twisted and proofed then covered with jam/jelly/cheese before being baked and finally drizzled with apricot glaze and/or chocolate drizzle. It’s incredibly time consuming.”

12pm: Meala cut rum squares and Jen frosted a 12inch round hazelnut cake that will feed 20 people. Heather took a quick lunch break. Please note: Heather’s 15 minute lunch break is the first and only time I saw anyone sit down all day. I exist in an opposite universe at my day job. I spend hours sitting in front of a computer. Observing these strong, hard-working women made me realize how much of a wuss I am.

Donna offered me a Chinese cookie with chocolate jimmies. She made it by smushing out the dough to a circular shape about 10” in diameter then covering it with a layer of chocolate. She folded it, then rolled it into a log, sliced and then baked it. The technique is similar to working with fimo (an arts and crafts plastic-clay). The cookie looked so good that I took a bite before remembering that I am here to photograph and observe, not eat everything in sight (no matter how much I am jonesing for sugar).

1pm: Donna scooped double fudge cookie dough on a tray. They’ll be baked later in the day and then dipped in white chocolate. Heather piped chocolate ganache onto the Danish cookies. These miniature cookies have taken hours just to get to this point. I can’t believe so much time is spent on little cookies. I ate one and as the chocolate burst on my tongue I thought, “oh yeah. That’s what goodness tastes like.” Sweet, nutty, and creamy, the delicate, tiny cookie was gone too quickly. Start to finish, it took about 4 hours to make the cookies and less than 30 seconds for me to eat one.

When the bakery says their stuff is hand-made, they mean it. Jen is literally up to her elbows in sponge cake batter. She mixed it with her hands because the batter is so delicate, using the heavy beater will destroy the lightness. Once the egg whites have been whipped in, the team has to be really gentle with the cake batter.

2pm: Heather added mocha buttercream frosting to the top and sides of small vanilla sponge cakes. Meala transferred the cake squares into white wrappers. Jen unmolded tart shells. Donna rolled out the pecan logs, sliced them with a pizza cutter and put them on trays to be baked and later dipped in chocolate.

3pm: The back of the shop was quiet as people began to wind down. All tools and countertops received one final cleaning. My “shift” is over and I am exhausted. Working here is like running a marathon with several long wind sprints every few miles. It’s as if this team was in Olympic training. They ran and lifted, kneaded and sliced, frosted and decorated for hours. The funny thing is that I seem to be the only one who is tired. Everyone else is in good spirits. It’s clear that they like their jobs and take pride in their work. Passionate about excellence, they labor as a team to produce the best pastries they can. Every single cake, every Danish, every cookie is made with love. Jim summed it up, “I want it to be fun here. I want people to enjoy working here and shopping here. We’re selling happy occasions—opportunities to enjoy life.”

To all of my readers: I want you to experience the awesomeness of this bakery. Go there now and every day after that. (But, if you go on Oct 8^th, please leave one hazelnut buttercream cake for my birthday. I always return to my first love).

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day. Love, Amy

Lessons learned:

-The Swiss Haus bakes their cookies on parchment paper. Why don’t I do this? The cookies slid right off of the paper and then the paper was easily removed from the tray.

-Donna throws flour onto the counter with her right hand, as if she is skipping a stone. She says this motion gives a more even coverage of the flour on the counter. This seems to be a better method then my “dump it in a pile” approach.

-This bakery made so many different items during my visit that I couldn’t write about them in detail all or you would be reading this entry for days. Just to whet your taste buds, I left out: frangipane cake, key lime tarts garnished with toasted coconut, mini strawberry shortcakes chocolate mozarts, tiramisu, mocha cake squares, lemon roulade, chocolate shell cookies dipped in chocolate jimmies, washboard cookies, caramel croquant pastries, and butter cookies

-A few weeks before my visit I couldn’t find gluten free baked goods to take to my friend Karen’s house for dinner. I tried DiBruno Bros and Scoop Deville to no avail. Turns out, the Swiss Haus could have helped. They have gluten free products: peanut butter bars, brownies and a banana loaf and also carry vegan pastries as well: apple turnovers, raspberry horseshoe pastries and apple streudel. Dara—are you reading this? Your vegan story rubbed off on me – in a bakery, surrounded by buttercream, I actually asked about vegan food.

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