How I Turned My Apartment Into a Café (again) for My Birthday

Hello everyone and welcome back! I have made it another year around the sun and decided to celebrate it with my friends. This year I celebrated my birthday more than a month later than usual because we were on holiday in September.

How I Turned My Apartment Into a Café (again) for My Birthday

Last year’s turn your home into a café idea was well received by my online and offline audience, so I decided to turn my apartment into a café again 🙂

In this blog post, I’ll share my tips and tricks so you can do the same! The idea was simple: coffee, pastries and music. Just like last year, but with some new and exciting flavours 😀

I highly recommend reading my How to Turn Your Home Into a Café blog post from last year, as it includes different recipes and more details about the styling.

Invitations

I started by designing digital invitations. I used Procreate on my iPad to create them.

One thing I learned from last year was that 10:30 was a bit too early for me. Some pastries are best served freshly baked, but that meant getting up very early to prepare everything, and that’s something I don’t like doing on a Sunday. So this year I decided to start half an hour later.

I sent the invitations to my friends once they were ready, and asked them to let me know whether they could make it or not.

Food Planning and Menu

I wanted the menu to include a mix of sweet and savoury options, with a few new things compared to last year. I’d also developed some new recipes that I wanted to serve at the party.

Here’s an overview of everything I served at my little home café:

• Banana Bread (Vegan). A vegan version of banana bread served with vegan buttercream and edible flowers.
• Chocolate Coffee Brownies. Rich, fudgy chocolate brownies made with espresso. A perfect combination for all the coffee lovers!
• Butter Croissants. I bought frozen croissants from Delifrance and they were perfect! Last year, I tried the ones from Rewe, but I wasn’t a fan. The Delifrance ones were flaky, small and just the right size for the party.
• Poopy Cupcakes. I developed these for my tiny friends. I have a new sidekick called Barney, and his nickname is “poepie” or “poopy”, which is a cute Dutch word for poop. So I decided to make cupcakes that looked like they had a little turd on top 😉 They are made without added fat and with a reduced amount of sugar, so they have a lighter taste. You can find the recipe here.
• Spicy Tuna Laugenstange. A Laugenstange is similar to a German pretzel, but it looks more like a bread roll. Last year, I served mine with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil, basically a Caprese-style topping. This year I wanted to try something different, so I made a spicy tuna spread and served it on the Laugenstangen. I cut them in half to make smaller portions, as one whole Laugenstange would have been a bit too much.
• Valencian Orange Cake with Poppy Seeds. I’m really proud of this recipe! I spent quite some time developing it, testing different amounts of orange purée and experimenting with syrup to get it just right. It’s my twist on the popular lemon poppy seed cake, but made with Valencian oranges instead. The result is a fresh and sweet orange cake with poppy seeds and a delicious orange syrup.
• Guinness Chocolate Cake. One of my current personal favourites! For this recipe I used 0.0% Guinness that a friend brought back from England. The recipe is by Nigella Lawson, a British TV cook and food writer. I used a 20 cm cake tin and reduced the quantities by 10% to avoid having too much batter. The cake still turned out a little taller than I’d expected, so next time I might reduce the quantities by 20%.
• Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies. A favourite of mine! I developed this recipe for the bakery I used to work for, and both colleagues and customers loved it. Obviously, I do too! The best thing about these cookies is that you can prepare the dough, freeze the dough balls and bake them whenever you’re craving a cookie or have guests coming over. Makes it so handy! Later on during the day I also added some white chocolate macadamia cookies to the menu. They are not in the pictures, but you can find the recipe under Baking in the future.

Time Management

I prepared most of the food in advance. I made the cookie dough a while ago and froze it, baked the chocolate brownies on Friday, and prepared the orange cake, Poopy Cupcakes and Guinness Cake on Saturday. I baked the croissants and cookies on the morning of the party. Nothing beats freshly baked pastries and a house that smell like a bakery!

I also frosted all the cakes that morning. There simply wouldn’t have been enough space in the fridge if I would have done it the day before.

I started arranging all the food on the table about half an hour before everyone arrived. I kept a few pastries in the kitchen so I could replenish the table later. This way, everything looked fresh throughout the party and I had a few friends arriving late, and wanted to make sure they would have something as well.

The Drinks I served

I offered a mix of hot and cold drinks. I had a variety of milk options (cow’s milk, soy milk and oat milk) and served decaf coffee.

Hot Drinks

Here are the hot drinks I served. Here is a short description of them, although you probably know most of them already 😉

• Cappuccino. Espresso with steamed milk and a layer of milk foam. For the milk I used my Alessi milk frother, which I received as a gift last year!
• French Press Coffee. Coffee brewed in my new French press. You let it steep for a few minutes before pressing down the filter.
• Espresso. A small, strong shot of coffee.
• Latte Macchiato. An espresso shot served with plenty of hot milk and milk foam.
• Chai Latte. I made my own chai tea concentrate in advance and kept it in the fridge. Whenever someone ordered one, I heated it up with a little milk 😉
• Peppermint Tea. I discovered this tea through a friend last year and now always keep plenty in stock! It’s the best peppermint tea I’ve tried so far, so it’s definitely worth a try if you’re a tea lover.
• Babycino. Frothed milk with cinnamon, served with a tiny spoon. I love making these for my tiny friends and usually serve them in an espresso cup.

Cold Drinks

• Homemade Lemon Iced Tea. Sweetened lemon tea, cooled and served over ice with fresh lemon slices. I love making this because it’s budget-friendly and saves me from carrying lots of heavy bottles home from the supermarket. Click here for the recipe.
• Club Mate. A caffeinated, carbonated soft drink that’s quite popular in Germany. I bought it because one of my friends loves it, but it turned out to be a hit with others too!
• Unicorn Juice. Half rhubarb juice and half sparkling water, topped with cotton candy and served with a rainbow sour mat and a straw.

Decorating the Café

Just like last year, I didn’t want to spend too much money on decorations. I bought a roll of brown wrapping paper from the Scandinavian store Granit and used it to cover the top of my IKEA chest of drawers.

The paper was slightly wider than the drawers, so I cut off roughly 10 cm with scissors. I rolled it out the night before and placed a few books on top to help flatten it overnight.

The brown wrapping paper gave the table that café vibe I was going for. I also used it last year and found it quite practical, especially as I didn’t have enough cake stands and trays for everything.

Last year, I used little name cards for the pastries. I liked how they looked, but this time I decided to write the names directly on the paper with a permanent marker. Looking at both versions now, I might go back to using cards next time, as they add that extra café touch.

Fresh Flowers

I bought two bunches of chrysanthemums in the week before the party. I thought they worked really well with the background and was happy with how they looked on the day. They also lasted much longer than I expected!

I especially love the vase. I found this organically shaped dark glass vase on the street a few months ago and gave it a thorough clean. I think it elevates even a simple bouquet and makes it look a little fancier.

Candles and Napkins

I added a few small colourful tea lights to the table and used cream coloured napkins from Rossmann. Nothing too complicated, but I think the little details made the whole setup feel more like a café.

Digital Memories

It was a wonderful and chaotic day! I always forget to take pictures during the actual event, so this time I tried something different.

At the last minute, I decided to give my 3 year old friend my Canon IXUS point and shoot camera. She took quite a few funny candid shots and then some of my other friends started using it too.

I had so much fun looking through all the pictures afterwards. I can definitely recommend giving a camera to your guests and letting them capture the day from their own perspective. You might end up with some unexpected and hilarious memories!

The End

Thanks for stopping by and reading this post. And thank you for celebrating with me!

I hope this gives you some inspiration for hosting your own birthday café at home. You don’t need a big budget or lots of decorations to make it special. A few homemade treats, good quality coffee, some flowers and your favourite people are more than enough.

Let me know if you have any questions! Feel free to DM me on Instagram or leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

Until next post!