Paper-thin strudel pastry wrapped around a sweet quark filling enriched with lemon, vanilla, sour cream and raisins. Baked golden, served warm with hot vanilla sauce; rivals Apfelstrudel on every Kaffeehaus tray.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 1 city.
Topfenstrudel arrived in Vienna from Hungary via the Habsburg court kitchens, taking hold in 19th-century Kaffeehaus baking. The version at Demel still uses hand-pulled dough and fresh Austrian Topfen. Café Landtmann and Vollpension both run the Mehlspeise as a daily offer; Kurkonditorei Oberlaa serves a notable cold version with apricot sauce in summer.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Topfen has higher fat than ricotta; if substituting, drain the ricotta in a sieve overnight or the filling weeps. Egg whites lighten the curd.
Demel on Kohlmarkt has been a court confectioner since 1786, the Eduard-Sacher-Torte and Anna-Torte from the K. und K. Hofzuckerbaecker still served.
Signature drink: Hot chocolate
Tip: The first-floor dining room takes the queue; the ground-floor takeaway moves faster for a Sachertorte to-go.
Cafe Landtmann on Universitaetsring in Vienna has poured at the Burgtheater corner since 1873, Sigmund Freud's preferred coffeehouse with a long carte.
Signature drink: Grosser Brauner
Tip: Open daily 07:30 to midnight; the front-room bench seats face the Burgtheater across the Ring.
Vollpension on Schleifmuehlgasse in Vienna's Wieden hires Viennese grandmothers and grandfathers to bake the menu of Strudel, Torten and Mehlspeise.
Signature: Apfelstrudel, Topfengolatschen
Order: Apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce, made that morning by one of the resident grandmothers.
Tip: The dining room fills fast on weekends; the Naschmarkt branch at Stand 343 takes the spillover.
Kurkonditorei Oberlaa on Neuer Markt in Vienna runs the Karl Schuhmacher Konditorei from 1974, the wide carte of Torten the modern alternative to the Demel.
Tip: The Oberlaa Torte is the house signature; the Mehlspeisen counter beats the cafe for takeaway.
Worth the queue: Oberlaa Torte
Cafe Sperl on Gumpendorfer Strasse in Vienna's Mariahilf has poured since 1880, the bentwood Thonet chairs, parquet. At Gumpendorfer Strasse 11.
Signature drink: Melange
Tip: The carambole tables at the back are still in play; ask the kitchen for a Sperl Torte with your Melange.
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