As the fall season is well underway, we find we want to spend a lot more time in the kitchen – as not only is it warm there from seasonal baking, but the tasty items coming from the oven have us drooling and not wanting to wander far. One recipe, in particular, we’ve had a hankering for is the German Apple Cake from Two Fat Cats Bakery. Just the other day we had the opportunity to visit their India Street location to go into their kitchen to see firsthand how they use a Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt® Pan we carry in-store to make this scrumptious dessert.

Two Fat Cats is a cozy bakeshop here in Portland offering house-baked sweet and savory pies, cupcakes, cookies, and specialty cakes. Best known in the area for handmade American-style baked goods from scratch, it’s fitting that they rely on Nordic Ware’s Cast Aluminum pan for one of their most popular seasonal treats. An American-made product, the Heritage Bundt® Pan has a lifetime warranty – which both professional and home bakers alike can deeply appreciate. 

nordic ware Bundt pan

German Apple Cake recipe here.

Bundt Cake recipe

What was the inspiration behind Two Fat Cats? Our inspiration is rustic, American baking at its best. We love older, homey recipes that we can take and make the best version possible.  Two Fat Cats was founded by the team behind Standard Baking Company and Fore Street.  They really felt that Portland lacked a good, old-fashion bakery making things from scratch.  From that, Two Fat Cats was born!

What are your key products and can you describe the production process? For us, our key products are our pies and cakes.  While we offer many other things such as cookies, muffins, bars, etc… Our pies and cakes are what set us apart.  For instance, pie production takes place into the evening.  While it is a simple process, the details matter to us and make our pies exceptional.  For example, we make sure that all the pie dough ingredients are cold, the butter must be cubed to a certain size, and the dough must be chilled after mixing, and so on.  When you are creating such a simple dessert with a simple process, you can’t afford any shortcuts.  The details are important.

German Apple Cake

Where do you source your ingredients from? We source our ingredients from all over from Native Maine, to small heritage apple orchards to coffee providers in Portland and Biddeford, to Farm Fresh Connections in Freeport.  Our eggs come from Ridgeview Farm.  We do as much locally and regionally as possible, although we don’t exclusively use local products.  For instance, our cocoa powder would be impossible to source locally.

How has Two Fat Cats changed over the years and what is your vision for the future? I think we have changed.  We’ve obviously grown and expanded, but I think we spend as much time thinking about how we operate internally -in terms of what are our values and are we putting them into practice – as we do about the business model and seasonal menu.  I think we’ve adopted a more holistic approach which is far more exciting and bodes well for the future.  As such, our vision for the future is to continue to dig deep into the heritage recipes and baking traditions that we love so much as well as continue to improve our customer service.  We are also really interested in customer convenience.  How do we make the hustle and bustle of life a little easier for our customers?  It’s led to interesting discussions!

German Apple Cake recipe

To make your own German Apple Cake just as Two Fat Cats does be sure to shop our entire Nordic Ware collection at one of our stores.