Café Kehl in Dettelbach
The origin of our house / our company:
Café Kehl, the oldest pastry shop in Franconia.
In 1686, old church documents mention “the gingerbread kitchen and waxworks of Hans Viernickel in ‘Dettelbach an der Eich’ below the church”.
Since that time there have been complete records about the operation of gingerbread & wax drawing & confectionery by our ancestors, until today at the same place in the Eichgasse 5 in Dettelbach.
In 2011 we celebrated our 325th anniversary with a festive weekend in June.
Our speciality: Muskatzinen
Even today the real Muskatzinen are produced only in Dettelbach using the old recipe, so even today they are the same as they were more than a hundred years ago. They are known far beyond the Main region and gourmets praise them as a delicious addition to Franconia.
Today, Café Kehl owns the trademark rights for the Muskatzinen. Urban Degen was the name of its inventor, an honourable master from the confectioners’ guild. There were several confectioners in the town of Dettelbach, because wax-pullers and gingerbread makers had tradition. Since the pilgrimage to the miraculous picture of the Virgin Mary had started in 1505, golden times flourished for their craft. The baking art of the confectioners soon became the most distinguished branch of the trade and brought good sales.
Master Urban Degen succeeded with his Muskatzinen. One day, he offered a completely different kind of pastry in addition to traditional sweets – unusual in taste and in a form unknown until then. People soon knew how to explain this: Master Degen carved the new baking forms after the pattern of the pleated ties that he loved to wear.