East German cakes and baking
Eierschecke: Saxon Sheet Cake with Quark and Custard
Saxon Eierschecke is a sheet cake in three layers: thin yeast dough at the bottom, Quark (fresh curd cheese) in the middle and a golden cream of vanilla pudding, butter and eggs on top. In the GDR it belonged on the Kaffeetafel, the afternoon coffee-and-cake table, whether it came from the bakery or from your own baking sheet.
Kalter Hund: No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake in a Loaf Pan
Kalter Hund, literally "cold dog", is a cake you do not bake: butter biscuits and a chocolate cream made with Kokosfett, solid coconut oil, layered in a loaf pan and chilled overnight. In East Germany it came to the table at birthdays and at the Kaffeetafel, the afternoon coffee-and-cake table, sometimes called Kalter Hund, sometimes Kalte Schnauze (cold snout).
Pfefferkuchen, Pulsnitz Style: Saxon Honey Gingerbread
Pfefferkuchen is what Saxony and Thuringia call gingerbread made from honey dough, and the best-known place for it is Pulsnitz in Upper Lusatia, in eastern Saxony. Only Pfefferkuchen baked there may be called “Pulsnitzer,” so this recipe is Pulsnitz style: strong honey, rye flour and a base dough that rests for at least a day. There is no pepper in it; the word once stood for any foreign spice.