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I'd like to start this article with a warning! Namely: If you stop by here, you might just get hooked and end up investing all your money in dessert courses. 😉 Not just hooked on the fantastic courses themselves, but also on the results: incredibly delicious, professionally made cakes, pastries, tarts, macarons, petit fours, and much more, all created with a lot of fun and expertise. I've already had the pleasure of attending courses twice at Beate Wöllstein's "Wöllsteins Desserthaus" in Schwabing – a top-class professional pastry chef – and experiencing the amazing range of courses firsthand.
The Dessert House offers a wide variety of courses. You can freely choose what you'd like to learn and bake at home. All courses are personally led by Beate Wöllstein – usually in the afternoon or evening – and she guides you through to the end. The special thing about it: Whether you're already a seasoned baker or just starting out, there's a course for everyone, and the results are always delicious – I can vouch for that!.
For my first course, I chose a macaron course. Firstly, because I'm absolutely addicted to these wonderful little treats, and secondly, because I've always wanted to know why macarons are usually a bit more expensive and whether the high production costs justify the price. Now I can tell you: Yes, they do. Not all macarons are created equal, but at Wöllstein's Dessert House, I ate some of the best macarons of my life – and, incredibly, I made them myself! The course started at 6:30 pm and can be easily booked online. No matter what you choose, you can find out more about the courses on the website and read about what you'll learn. The prices are also listed. The macaron course, for example, is part of the "International Confectionery" category and is available for a reasonable €89. At first, this may not seem cheap, but you mustn't forget that all the ingredients are provided, you'll have fun for several hours, can ask all your questions, and go home with recipes, homemade macarons, and lots of new knowledge.
To give you a brief overview: In addition to the macaron course, you can also participate in a chocolate-making course (from €99 per person), a cheesecake course (from €125 per person), a "British Afternoon Tea" course with tea pastries, scones, and more (from €150 per person), a "Viva la France" course with croissants and pain au choc (from €119 per person), or – perfect for the upcoming Christmas season – a Christmas baking course. But that's not all: Vegan baking courses, dessert and after-dinner courses, and cake and pastry courses are also offered. Basically, everything you can imagine. One thing all the courses have in common is that they are always great fun in a group of about 10-14 people with the ever-cheerful and friendly Beate Wöllstein. You'll go home completely satisfied and with something delicious to take home.
The dessert house itself is very cozy and attractively furnished. The focal point of the large room is undoubtedly the huge kitchen island where the classes take place. To the right of the dessert house, which features an open glass front facing the street, are two large white tables adorned with fresh flowers. Here, the – usually quite exhausted – course participants can relax after their work, enjoying drinks and sparkling wine along with the cakes, tarts, and other treats they've baked. It's also wonderful that Beate Wöllstein always takes the time to answer all questions and then joins in the tasting. As I said, everything tastes amazing. My macarons were incredible. We enriched the macaron batter with a variety of high-quality food colorings, resulting in numerous colorful macarons with delicious fillings. The fillings were also diverse, creating various combinations that all tasted fantastic. You absolutely must try it. The best thing to do is give one of the classes as a gift to your friends – so you can join in yourself! 😉 Also ideal for all desperate men who still don't know what to give their girlfriend as a gift.
The second course I recently took was a vegan baking course. "Ugh! Vegan," some of you might be thinking. Let me tell you: you're wrong. What we ended up with after a few hours tasted exactly like non-vegan cakes, and even my personal taste testers at the office were thrilled with the delicious bee sting cake made with yeast dough, a tasty sugar-almond layer, and a light cream filling, as well as the cheesecake with shortcrust pastry and a berry layer on top. Besides these two cakes, our group also made a French classic – vegan, of course: Tarte Tatin. An upside-down apple tart with a caramel topping and a puff pastry base. Absolutely delicious, and for that reason alone, I can recommend this course. After the course, I had a completely different perception and attitude towards the delicious treats that can be made with vegan ingredients. The bee sting cake was simply divine.
I'm already eyeing the petit four and chocolate courses – so if you ever want to surprise me… Actually, I'd love to take every course at least once. 😉 It's just so much fun! I would definitely describe my talent in the kitchen as below average; I'm a bit more confident with baking than with cooking, but I'm still far from being a pro. After the courses, however, I also picked up numerous new tips regarding general baking techniques and processes. It's also great that Ms. Wöllstein offers the option to buy all the ingredients you use from her afterward, or even generally allows you to purchase ingredients from her – not all of which are readily available – if, for example, you don't have access to a hamburger or similar items. (Next time, for example, I'm definitely getting a baking sheet – then no dough sticks to the work surface, and you can work with it easily and wash and reuse it again and again!).
The dessert shop is easily accessible by public transport. Simply take the U2 subway line to Hohenzollernplatz and walk (or take bus number 144) to Adams-Lehmann-Straße in Schwabing. Wöllstein's dessert shop is very inviting, equipped with the latest technology, and filled with cakes, figures, tarts, and petit fours designed by the professional pastry chef. (If you don't know what petit fours are, you should definitely take a course!) I highly recommend a visit. You won't regret it. Besides, this is the only way to experience Ms. Wöllstein's delicious creations – they are only made during her courses, or you could visit as part of a company event with your colleagues, perhaps combined with a short course or something similar. You'll certainly enjoy it, and it's something a little different.
I've included more pictures than usual with this article so you can get a better idea. Believe me: it's really worth it and would definitely make a great gift, for example, for friends for a wedding, birthday, etc. You can easily book and pay for the courses online, or order gift vouchers, which you can then give as presents or treat yourself. I'd love to join you, too! 🙂 Have fun!
I'll be back: If I ever do another dessert course – it will only be here.
Place visited: Wöllstein's Dessert House
Address: Adams-Lehmann-Strasse 44, 80797 Munich
Website: Wöllstein's Dessert House
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