Cake and Hot Chocolate at Cafe Einstein, Berlin

Winter is magical in Europe. I mean, it's cold, but it's pretty. On my trip to Berlin I was hell bent on finding hot chocolate, mulled wine and anything else that would keep me toasty warm from the inside. After landing mid-afternoon, we set out for a snack and as luck would have it, we were staying a stone's throw from Cafe Einstein.

Reputedly the best hot chocolate and strudel in the city, we were ON IT. From the outside it looks like your grandma's house. It looked like the curtains were closed but there was a steady stream of people coming in and out so we poked out heads around the door and locked eyes on the biggest strudel I've ever seen in my life. They were slicing chunks off as it came fresh out of the oven and I was in love.

We went straight in for a hot chocolate, with each one being served up with a saucer piled high with freshly whipped cream. It was a sort of 'one spoon for me, another spoon for the chocolate' type scenario. My friend didn't want hers (I'm not even sure why we're friends now I come to think of it...), so I stole it all (...that's why!).

As we had every intention of going for dinner later on, we decided to share a dessert taster platter so we didn't have to make the gut wrenching decision between everything on the menu. It was made up of apple strudel (obviously), the signature Einstein cake (a chocolate orange sponge with a dark ganache over the top), apricot confit, iced melange (basically an iced coffee), crumbled pancake (with lots of brown sugar and more apple) and an apricot liquor sabayon (a light custard style mousse).

I wish we'd had more of the strudel as it was, unsurprisingly, the best of the bunch but the crumbled pancake was the next best. I'm not a huge fan of orange or coffee, but the apricot made up for those, and to be honest, I just had more hot chocolate.

Cafe Einstein is the cutest little place; dark browns and leather give it a 1930s vintage feel, with a traditional menu that attracts old and young alike. It was just what we needed to shelter us from blustery Berlin.