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Q U E S T
P E T R A ' S
BLUM'S KOFFEE KRUNCH KAKE
As I was getting close to finishing Petra's Quest, a friend and San Francisco native said, "I hope you're including Blum's Koffee Krunch Kake." Well, I hadn't. Even though one of my primary goals in writing the book was to memorialize some of the City's iconic people, places, and historical events, there were, and still are, soooo many from which to choose! But, in honor of Cindy and my 53-year friendship, I made it a mission to fulfill her "demand."
But first, a sidenote: While this post focuses on the cake, Petra's Quest focuses on its creator, Ernst Weil, an amazing man with an amazing childhood story occuring at the onset of the Second World War.
German refugee by way of France, Ernst/Ernest Weil, landed on United States shores in 1940. Born in 1924, the years in between are both unsettling and inspiring — and have a surprising twist. All I'll say here is that the directors of
the orphanage in Montmorency sent him to the Cordon Bleu cooking school.German refugee by way of France, Ernst/Ernest Weil, landed on United States shores in 1940. Born in 1924, the years in between are both unsettling and inspiring—and have a surprising twist. All I'll say here is that the directors of the orphanage in Montmorency sent him to the Cordon Bleu cooking school.
Weil's training served as a nice entry into his position as a chef at Blum's where he created the Koffee Krunch Kake. (Blum's was a famous candy and confectionery shop, also operating as a bakery and café. There were many locations in California, but San Franciscans will remember the two on Polk Street and in Union Square.) Few know that the recipe came about as a happy accident. An employee overboiled some soft coffee candy, rendering it unfit for sale. But Weil salvaged it, breaking up the too-hard candy into pieces and decorating a cake with it!
At the young age of 24, Weil next founded Fantasia Confections, a pastry shop in the Laurel Shopping Center (and for better or worse, within walking distance of my Presidio Heights apartment.) All Blum's stores sadly closed their doors in 1972. Fantasia closed its in 1988. Ernest, however, spent six years writing Love to Bake pastry cookbook in which he shares the secrets of more than 150 of his bakery’s most popular recipes including the Coffee Crunch Cake and Florentine Cookies. (The spelling was eventually changed.) All 100% of the money raised went directly to organizations helping children.
While the book is no longer available in print, it is available for download—with a $25 donation to a local charity for children.
There are various recipes for this cake online but none are the real deal. The original recipe is a multi-layered butter-sponge cake, filled with coffee whipped cream with some crunch between the layers, surrounded by coffee whipped cream icing, then fully covered in coffee crunch.
If your mouth is watering, but you're not a baker, the closest version you'll find is at Yasukochi's Sweet Shop in Japantown, San Francisco.
To download the original recipe: www.lovetobakecookbook.com
