With more than 300 different cakes and tarts alone, visiting a German bakery or confectionary will be a delicious yet confusing affair.
Like the baked goods, their names are also a mouthful. This vocabulary guide will give you an overview of the most common German cakes, tarts and pastries together with a pronunciation aid for each. Happy sampling!
Gebäck – German Pastry
Gebäck or pastry is what one would eat in Germany for a quick bite in between meals or with afternoon tea or coffee. Often made from Blätterteig (puff pastry), one usually finds sweet pastries at bakeries but there is also a selection of savory ones with cheese, herbs or meat filling.
Common sweet pastries include a topping or filling of fruits such as cherries, plums, apples or berries, vanilla cream, nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds, poppy seeds and marzipan. Specialties are Berliner, the famous jelly doughnuts, and Windbeutel (literally: windbags), which are cream puffs. Plätzchen or Kekse are cookies and biscuits, sold from 100 gram upwards.
Kuchen – Traditional German Cakes
Kuchen is what Germans eat with their cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon. Not every day of course, but frequently. Kuchen can be made from a basic batter and is thus easy to whip up at home as well. The ch in Kuchen is the hard, throaty German consonant you also find in acht or Achtung, so don't be shy when pronouncing it. Here are the most common cakes found in any German bakery:
- Apfelkuchen – apple cake [upfahlkookhan]
- Apfelstrudel – apple strudel [upfahlshtroodal]
- Baumkuchen – “tree cake” because of its height and the “rings” one can see inside [boumkookhan]
- Donauwelle – made with cherries, butter cream and cocoa [dohnouhvellah]
- Kalte Schnauze – made of layers of biscuits and chocolate (literally: cold snout, also known as cold dog, Kalter Hund) [kultah shnoutse]
- Käsekuchen – cheese cake [casahkookhan]
- Marmorkuchen – marble cake [mahmoahkookhan]
- Nusskuchen – nut cake [noosskookhan]
- Sandkuchen – sand cake [zuntkookhan]
- Schokoladenkuchen – chocolate cake [shocolahdunkookhan]
Note that German cheese cake does not actually contain cheese but quark, a curdled milk substance with yogurt consistency. German cheesecake tends to be less creamy, less sweet and a bit harder than its American counterpart. Usually yellowish in color, German cheese cake does not come in different flavors but can be enriched with raisins.
Blechkuchen - Sheet cake
As the name suggests, Blechkuchen or sheet cake is baked on a large, rectangular baking sheet. It is made from a basic dough and then garnished with various toppings like fruits, butter, sugar, almond slices or crumbs. Before serving, each Blechkuchen is cut into squares. Here’s a selection of common (and delicious!) German sheet cakes:
- Apfelkuchen – apple cake, often with crumbs on top [upfahlkookhan]
- Bienenstich – like butter cake but with a vanilla cream filling; literally: bee sting [beehnanshteekh]
- Butterkuchen – butter cake, often topped with almond slices [boottahkookhan]
- Eierschecke – three-layer cake, a specialty of Saxony and Thuringia [eyahshekhah]
- Käsekuchen – cheese cake, the sheet cake variety [casahkookhan]
- Kirschkuchen – cherry cake [keeashkookhan]
- Pflaumenkuchen – plum cake [floumankookhan]
- Streuselkuchen – crumb cake [shtroisalkookhan]
- Zwiebelkuchen – onion cake, savory [tsveebalkookhan]
Torte – German Cakes and Tarts
Though the term Torte does not only mean tarts but includes more elaborate cakes as well, making a good (usually cream) tart requires the finest ingredients and most skilled work German baking has to offer. Because tarts are more expensive and harder to make at home than a simple cake, Torte is often reserved for special occasions like weddings, birthdays, anniversaries or other celebrations.
Of course, it’s also perfectly fine to have a piece with a cup of coffee when out shopping or meeting friends. In fact, many bakeries or confectionaries will have special offers in the afternoon. To ease your choice, here’s a selection of common German tarts. They are a mouthful and that starts when pronouncing them.
- Eierlikörsahnetorte – eggnog cream tart [eyahleekoahzuhnahtoahtah]
- Erdbeersahnetorte – strawberry cream tart [eahtbeahzuhnahtoahtah]
- Frankfurter Kranz – layered cake with butter cream, nuts and jam [frankfooahtah kruntz]
- Käse-Sahne-Torte – cheese cream tart [casahzuhnahtoahtah]
- Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte – Black Forest cake [shvuhtzvaldahkeeashtoahtah]
For those wondering: Yes, the list above is just the tip of the iceberg. Or should we say the icing on the cake? With many different pastries, cakes and tarts – not to mention the wide range of breads and bread rolls in Germany - German baking is extensive and varies from region to region. Make sure to sample a wide variety of baked goods when in Germany and try to order them in German at your favorite bakery – there are more than 14,500 bakeries to choose from country-wide!
For a range of mouthwatering baked goods for Christmas, please refer to the following article:
Christmas Baking Terms in German
Simone Preuss - Simone is a freelance writer, editor and translator who decided to go solo after a successful career in publishing. That was more than ...
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