Zug cherry cake

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Cherry cake inventor Heinrich Höhn together with employees in 1913/14 in front of his shop at Zuger Alpenstrasse 7.
Zug cherry cake
Information board at the house "Zur Spindel"

The Zug cherry is a two crusts , biscuit existing, cherry syrup and cherry pie cream round cake from the Canton train . The surface of the cake is dusted with powder snow, the edge of the cake is decorated with toasted almond slices. The cake is a maximum of 5 centimeters high and a diameter of at least 10 centimeters. The diamond pattern in the powder snow is also part of the original recipe. Since 2015 the cake has been legally protected under the name “Zuger Kirschtorte” ( GGA / IGP, Protected Geographical Information ). It may only be produced in the canton of Zug and contains only “AOP Zuger Kirsch ” or “AOP Rigi Kirsch”.

history

The Zug cherry cake was invented in 1915 by confectioner Heinrich Höhn (1889–1957). The specialist, who was born in Herisau , lives in Hirzel and moved to Zug at the age of 24, had long worked out the right recipe for a cake soaked with kirsch. Höhn was inspired to create cakes by the flowering cherry trees in the Zug region, the variety of aromatic cherry brandies and the cherry brandy distilleries in the immediate vicinity.

In 1913 Heinrich Höhn opened the «Conditorei u. Caffee H. Höhn »in the« Zur Spindel »building on Alpenstrasse 7, right next to Zug train station. The first advertisement for his new “Zuger Kirschtorte” appeared in the “Zuger Zeitung” on Christmas 1915, which is why this year is considered to be the official year of the cake's invention. It quickly became clear that Höhn wanted to make his cake palatable not only to locals, but also to visitors from the surrounding region. Lured by advertisements in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the first "motorists" went on trips to Zug after 1918 to buy cherry cakes there. In 1919, Höhn moved his business to the “Merkur” house on Bundesstrasse 3 in Zug and refined his cake recipe there. In 1922, Höhn had the Zug cherry cake protected by the Federal Office for Intellectual Property in Bern. An original hand sketch of the cake decoration with the typical diamond pattern and richly illustrated original packaging for shipping the cake also date from this time. As a result, the Zug cherry cake attracted its triumphant advance around the world and was awarded several times, including the gold medal in Lucerne in 1923 and the silver medal in London in 1928. Further gold medals followed in 1930 in Zurich and Zug, 1935 in Zug, 1938 in Luxembourg, 1954 in Bern and 1964 at the Expo.64 in Lausanne. Fritz Mensik, a Viennese salon musician who regularly visits Zug, composed the “Zuger Heiri-Höhn-Marsch” in honor of the inventor of the cherry cake.

Motivated by the good reputation that the cake enjoyed, Höhn's competitors also began making cherry cakes. In the 1930s, Höhn was forced to take legal action against the illegal sale of supposedly “real Zug cherry cake recipes” or against the misuse of the term “real Zug cherry cake”. In 1943, the inventor handed over the successful business including the cake protection rights to his chief confectioner Jacques Treichler, who at peak times produced 100,000 cherry cakes a year. In 1970 his son Erich Treichler took over the pastry shop, from 1989 his wife Madeleine continued to run the business. Since 2004 the company has belonged to "Treichler Zuger Kirschtorten AG". The Treichler confectionery produces the cherry dessert according to an original recipe that has been handed down and describes itself as the “inventor of the Zug cherry cake”.

In addition to the Zuger Kirsch , which has been world-famous since 1870 , the Zuger Kirschtorte is one of the best-known and most popular specialties from the Zug region and is now sent all over the world. Prominent contemporaries such as the English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Guisan, the comedian and director Charlie Chaplin, the Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn and the Prince of Liechtenstein were among the connoisseurs of the Zug cherry cake. Cakes intended for the Catholic head are also regularly sent to the Vatican to this day. In 2013, Pope Francis personally received a Zug cherry cake from the Treichler confectionery.

The recipe for the handcrafted Zug cherry cake has always changed a little since it was invented. On the one hand, certain ingredients were replaced, on the other hand, there were also optimizations in production. The most significant change concerns the amount of cherry, which increased over time. The original Höhn recipe is not handed down by hand, but there is a copy with a detailed description of the cake production from the 1930s. The cherry pie recipe in the 1933 cookbook of the Zug household school “Salesianum” is considered the oldest published tradition.

In 2008 the Zug cherry cake was officially added to the «Swiss culinary heritage» inventory. In 2010, the Zuger Kirschtorte Society, an association of all Zug cherry cake producers, was founded to promote Zuger Kirschtorte. The aim of the new association is to preserve the cherry cake as an important historical cultural asset and thus to promote the image of the canton of Zug.

Manufacturing

The pie is assembled entirely by hand. First, two thin japonais bases are baked light brown from the meringue mass supplemented with ground almonds , hazelnuts and some flour . Then a sponge cake is baked from sponge cake mixture consisting of sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, water and butter. For the filling, buttercream is flavored with kirsch and colored pink with beetroot juice. Subsequently, a part of this Kirschtorte crème of sponge cake is distributed to the first Japonaisboden, was applied and with the cherry syrup, a mixture of sugar syrup , impregnated and Kirsch. This is followed by another layer of cherry cake cream and the second Japonais crust. The side edge of the biscuit is also coated with cream. Finally, the cake is covered with cherry cake cream, the edge is decorated with toasted almond slices and the top is dusted with powdered snow . Finally, the confectioner presses the typical diamond pattern into this powder lid.

Today there are 10 cherry cake producers in the canton of Zug, and it goes without saying that everyone claims to make the best cherry cake. The Zuger Kirschtorte is a successful product and an export hit. It is bought as a typical “souvenir” from Zug or sent abroad. In the canton of Zug, over 250,000 cherry tarts are made every year, using around 15,000 liters of Zug cherry . The high demand for the local kirsch ensures that the high-stem cherry trees typical of the Zug landscape are cultivated in the region and replanted despite the high pressure of settlement. The Zuger Kirschtorte sells well all year round, and the sales peak is during the Christmas season.

museum

In 2013 the “Zuger Kirschtorte Museum” opened in Zug city center. It shows around 200 historical exhibits and tells the origins, history and design of the cherry cake, which is still an important landmark of Zug today. In 2015 the “Zuger Kirschtorte Meile” was in operation in Zug's Neustadt district, an open-air show with 5 rotating picture stations showing the history of Zug cherries, Zug cherry water and Zug cherry cake.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zug cherry cake must come from the canton of Zug Article on srf.ch, with articles from the regional journal Central Switzerland and Tagesschau from March 24, 2015
  2. ↑ Zuger Kirschtorte is protected ( memento of April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Press release of the Swiss Confederation of March 24, 2015
  3. ↑ a b c d Ueli Kleeb, Caroline Lötscher (ed.): CHRIESI, cherry culture around Lake Zug and Rigi. Edition Victor Hotz, Zug 2017.
  4. ↑ Website of the TREICHLER company, Inventor House Zuger Kirschtorte
  5. ^ Website of the Zuger Kirschtorte Society
  6. ↑ Website of the Zuger Kirschtorte Museum
  7. ^ Website of the Museum Zuger Kirschtorte Museum ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Website of the Mile Zuger Kirschtorte Mile