We stand for high-quality, traditional German Baumkuchen, paired with passion, tradition and Scandinavian lightness. The roots of our manufactory go back to the year 1819, when Maria Groch baked her first Baumkuchen. Today this heritage is in the hands of our family and our focus always remains on making our timeless Baumkuchen a unique taste experience. We use sustainable and honest ingredients and do not use any chemicals at all.
“4 pounds of butter, 4-and-a-bit pounds of sugar, pounded and sifted by yourself, 3 pounds starch, 50 eggs, grated peel and lemon juice, 3 sticks of vanilla, 3/4 pounds of peeled, grated almonds, 1/4 bitter almonds and a little salt”
Original recipe by Maria Groch
With the takeover by the second generation in January 2022, a new breath of fresh air has swept through the manufactory. Building on the success of the past years, with GROCH & ERBEN we’ve set ourselves the goal of challenging ourselves again and again with our range and of creating new unique products.
The mix of our Baumkuchen is a combination of tradition and modernity. Using traditional handwork, we not only continue to create our Baumkuchen ORIGINAL 1819 with sugar glaze and a fine hint of lemon according to the original recipe by Maria Groch, but at the same time we also embark on a journey around the world with our products in terms of taste. The focus is always on creating timeless products and making our Baumkuchen a unique taste experience.
In particular, it’s the full taste with a light-airy structure which is the hallmark of our Baumkuchen and makes it so popular. To ensure that this remains the case, we also avoid frills at GROCH & ERBEN and reduce our ingredients to the essentials. So we only use sustainable and honest raw materials and the finest Belgian chocolate. Artificial flavours and preservatives are prohibited in our manufactory.
In the new chapter of the now German-Danish family manufactory, the preference for Scandinavian lightness and minimalist design also meets the topic of sustainability, which will be an important issue for everyone in the decades to come. At GROCH & ERBEN, we know that we cannot be and are not yet fully sustainable, but this spurs us even more to achieve this goal in the very near future through new processes, packaging materials and especially new products.
GROCH & ERBEN has always stood for the history of passionate traditional craftsmanship and high-quality Baumkuchen. We combine our proud tradition with a preference for sustainability and exceptional enjoyment. In our young, family-run team, we now deliver the most beautiful shift work in the world around the globe from our manufactory.
With the city of Cottbus, our home is located in one of the most exciting regions in Europe. Always characterised by change and diversity, the people here are constantly on the move. Just like Maria Groch, who planted the roots of GROCH & ERBEN on a cold winter’s night in 1819 with her first Baumkuchen in the immediate vicinity of our current manufactory. Her daughter became an Imperial Purveyor to the court, countless manufactories followed and made the region Germany’s go-to destination for the “King of Cakes”. In 1900, the Dresden confectioner Max Lauterbach came to Lusatia for the pastry, delivered as far as New York even back then and became a royal purveyor to the court.
The legacy of Maria Groch and Max Lauterbach is now in the hands of the Hajek family of entrepreneurs. Founded in 2006, our manufactory has developed into one of the go-to places for Baumkuchen in Germany.
