Hammershøi Etagere and Cake Dish: Setting Out Coffee and Cake

An afternoon table for coffee and cake needs very little: something tall, something wide, a knife that serves and a cup at every place. This guide sets out four pieces from Kähler's Hammershøi series, the etagere, the cake dish, the cake slicer and the coffee cup with saucer, and explains how to arrange them so the table works as well as it looks.

Why Hammershøi suits the coffee table

Kähler has made ceramics in Næstved, Denmark, since 1839. In the early 1900s the Danish artist Svend Hammershøi, brother of the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi, worked at the Kähler workshop and created vessels marked by deep, rhythmic grooves. Designer Hans-Christian Bauer returned to those works and translated the grooves into a quieter, more sculptural language for today's table. The result is the Hammershøi series: white porcelain with fine vertical ribbing that catches side light and gives a plain white surface some depth.

That ribbing matters on a cake table. Cakes are rarely tidy objects. A crumbly almond cake, a layered cream cake or a tray of cinnamon buns all bring their own colour and texture. A grooved white ground frames them without competing, and because every piece in the series shares the same profile, a table built from several items reads as one setting rather than a collection of separate dishes.

The etagere: height in the centre

The Hammershøi Etagere Ø28 cm white is the piece that gives the table its shape. It stands 30 cm tall with a diameter of 28 cm and weighs 1.2 kg, which is enough to feel steady when guests lift biscuits or small cakes from it, yet light enough to carry from kitchen to table with both hands.

Place it in the centre. On a round table that means the exact middle; on a rectangular table, the midpoint of the long axis. Height in the centre does two things. It draws the eye to the food, and it frees the flat surface around it for plates and cups. At 30 cm it also stays below eye level for seated guests, so people can still talk across the table without leaning around it.

What goes on it? Small, self-contained things work best: macarons, biscuits, petits fours, slices of a loaf cake, a few strawberries. Anything that needs a knife belongs on the cake dish instead. Keep the load lighter than you think. A half-filled etagere looks generous; an overfilled one looks like a buffet.

The etagere is not dishwasher safe, so wash it by hand in warm water with a soft brush to reach the grooves, then dry it before putting it away.

The cake dish: a wide, low stage

Where the etagere adds height, the Hammershøi Cake dish Ø30 cm white adds breadth. At Ø30 cm it is slightly wider than the etagere, and at 7 cm tall it lifts a whole cake just enough to make it the subject of the table without hiding it. It weighs 1.4 kg, so it sits firmly while a slice is cut and lifted away.

A 30 cm diameter gives room around a typical round layer cake, which leaves a clear margin for the slicer to work and for crumbs to fall on porcelain rather than tablecloth. A long loaf cake or a tart also fits, laid across the middle.

Set the cake dish to one side of the etagere rather than directly in front of it. Two pieces of different height placed side by side form a gentle step; two pieces placed one behind the other block each other. On a long table the etagere can take the centre with the cake dish at one end, nearer the host who will cut and serve.

Like the etagere, the cake dish is not dishwasher safe. Hand washing also gives you a moment to check the foot and rim, the parts that take the most knocks.

The cake slicer: steel beside the dish

The Hammershøi Cake slicer steel carries the series' grooved profile into metal. It measures 5.5 x 28.5 cm and weighs 0.174 kg, a length that reaches across to the centre of a 30 cm cake dish while the hand stays clear of the cream. The blade cuts and the flat lifts, so one tool does the whole job of serving.

Lay it on the table beside the cake dish, parallel to its edge, handle towards the person who will serve. Do not rest it on the cake before the first cut; it looks staged and leaves a mark. Once serving has started, the slicer can rest on the rim of the dish between slices. The Hammershøi cake fork, at 3 x 16 cm, belongs at each place setting, to the right of the plate or resting on it.

The slicer is dishwasher safe, which is welcome after cream or ganache.

The coffee cups: one at every place

The Hammershøi Coffee cup with matching saucer 25 cl white completes the table. The cup holds 25 cl, a comfortable size for a filter coffee with room for milk, and together with its Ø15 cm saucer it stands 6.5 cm tall. The set weighs 0.34 kg. The saucer is wide enough to hold a teaspoon and a small biscuit beside the cup, which is useful when there are no side plates.

Set one cup and saucer at each place, above and to the right of the plate, handle turned towards four o'clock so a right-handed guest can lift it without turning it. Pour at the table from a pot or jug rather than filling cups in the kitchen; the coffee stays hotter and the ritual of pouring is part of the afternoon.

The cups are both dishwasher and microwave safe, so they can move straight into everyday use the next morning.

Putting the table together

The layout follows a simple order, from the centre outwards:

1. Centre: the etagere, with small biscuits and cakes that can be taken by hand.
2. Beside it: the cake dish with the main cake, set a little to one side so the two heights step down rather than overlap.
3. Next to the cake dish: the cake slicer, parallel to the edge, handle facing the host.
4. At each place: a plate, a cake fork, and a coffee cup on its saucer, top right.
5. Last: the coffee pot, milk and sugar, within reach of the host.

For four people this fits easily on a round table of average size. For six or eight, keep the etagere central and consider a second cake on a plate at the other end, so nobody has to ask for the dish to be passed all the way round. Leave the rest of the table bare. White grooved porcelain on a wooden tabletop or a plain linen cloth needs no runner, no scattered petals and no extra candles in daylight. If you want a single additional element, a small jug of flowers placed off centre is enough.

If you are planning a full meal rather than an afternoon coffee, our guide to setting a table for four with Kähler Hammershøi covers plates, bowls and glasses in the same series.

The pieces work on their own too. The cake dish serves a single birthday cake, the etagere holds fruit on a sideboard between gatherings, and the cups are as useful on a Tuesday morning as on a Sunday afternoon. Start with the one you will use most and add the rest as the table grows. To see more serveware, cups and plates for the afternoon table, browse the Tableware & Kitchen collection.