When we first moved to this part of Charlottenburg, we were thrilled to discover two traditional bakeries around the corner from us. Sadly, one of them closed a few years ago, but the other one, Hutzelmann on Wilmersdorfer Strasse, is still going strong and is such a gem.
The walls are plastered with Urkunden for their Stollen and other specialties and the ladies working the counter are rightly very proud of the goods. Hutzelmann calls itself a Silesian bakery, though most of what they sell are pretty familiar albeit particularly delicious versions of Blechkuchen, Brötchen and fancy Torten, for example. Every so often, though, they'll have something special for sale that I've never seen anywhere else - like these schlesische Quarkpiroggen, which are the find of the century. Sweet yeasted dough spangled with sugar and split down the middle by a thick, sweetened stripe of Quark. Oh yes. They are beyond delicious and I find it especially lovely that they're only for sale every so often.
Hutzelmann also makes the best Kranzkuchen ever, hands down, thick and flaky and loaded with fat stripes of ground nuts and marzipan. It makes every other Kranzkuchen seem like a pale imitation (my husband is a Kranz freak - we have tried them everywhere). We love their white Kastenbrot for thick slices of weekend toast and go there on Martinstag for adorable geese made out of pearl-sugar-flecked yeast dough. Not only do they make rustic weekend cakes, but they also do a roaring trade in fancy Torten and other confections, though I've never tried a slice.
Hutzelmann is worth a visit from any part of town - get a slice of Kranzkuchen or a sublime Quarkpirogge and help a traditional bakery stay alive amid the onslaught of chain bakeries selling papery Brötchen and compromising this country's incredible culinary tradition (getting off my soap box now!).
Hutzelmann
Wilmersdorfer Strasse 1910585 Berlin
Tel: (030) 383 777 67