Erasmus Internship at Leckerbaer 🇩🇰 Copenhagen by Elin
During the spring of my studies at Teko I spent a month in Denmark as an intern in a little pastry shop in Copenhagen. The owners Gabi and Jakob are the only pastry chefs there, but in
reality, the business is far from small. Every week they’re fulfilling large orders and have been able to grow a huge following to their Instagram account (check them out). I can
honestly say that their cakes and cookies look exactly, or maybe even better, in real life as they do on Instagram, and obviously taste amazing!
Every day at Leckerbaer starts by assembling the orders of the day. One of their main products is smĂĄkager which are basically bite-sized cakes inspired by the traditional Danish
butter cookie. Their smĂĄkager are made out of different fine components and I had the chance to go through almost all of the producing processes, starting from different doughs and
batters to pressing out stamps from ruby chocolate by flash freezing the metal seal stamp in liquid nitrogen, of which the latter was very exciting!
Another iconic product at Leckerbaer is tart for which I learned to use a special machine brought from Italy for baking the shells. The tarts are then filled with various curds depending on the season – lemon, passion fruit, berries etc – and topped with a soft Italian meringue. I got to practice curd cooking, meringue making and decorating with the meringue in different styles. Additionally, I was baking small almond and hazelnut cakes and brownies that are offered at the cafe.
Basically, all of Leckerbaer’s products are minimalist in size and in appearance which I really enjoy. They’re all impeccably designed and show a lot of inventiveness. I also appreciate
their adaptability to seasons and different holidays, for example around Easter, the tarts become choux pastries and in summer, the oreo smĂĄkage is transformed into an icecream
sandwich. Apart from offering new tastes for the customers, this encourages constant creativity and development for the pastry chefs as well.
As an intern, I am really thankful that they always tried to give me different tasks to fulfill to make sure I get the most out of this learning experience. I also felt part of the team rather
quickly as their main working language is already English. We got to discuss different topics from running a pastry business to the Danish way of life. As the working days are on the
shorter side in Denmark, compared to the rest of Europe, I had plenty of time after work to discover the wonderful city of Copenhagen. I spent my days walking through the numerous
parks, reading about Denmark, going to antique stores, taste-testing tens of pastries from the famous bakeries in the city and of course, cycling my way through it all. Spring is the best
time to fall in love with a city and Copenhagen made it happen within a matter of days.
So in conclusion, whoever is drawn to an aesthetic and functional urban space, safe bike lanes (still a long way to go, Tallinn), amazing design, chill people and international food
experiences, Copenhagen is the place to be. In my opinion, the offer by Erasmus to learn and grow while discovering a foreign country is one of the best ways of travelling. Instead of
having to shuffle through as much as you can on a weekend trip, this opportunity allows you to take it slow and enjoy your daily life like locals do. Who knows, I might be back in
Copenhagen soon and we might meet over a counter of a bakery!
