List of German desserts facts for kids
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Germany is famous for its delicious food, and that includes a wonderful variety of sweet treats! German desserts have been enjoyed for hundreds of years, changing and growing with the country's history. You'll find that some desserts are very popular all over Germany, while others are special to certain regions, especially in the south like Bavaria and Swabia, which share many yummy recipes with nearby Austria. Get ready to explore some of these tasty German delights!
Delicious German Desserts
Here's a list of some popular German desserts, from cakes and cookies to puddings and pastries:
This is a special kind of Lebkuchen (gingerbread-like cookie) that comes from the city of Aachen. Only cookies made in or near Aachen can be called "Aachener Printe," which makes them extra special!
Bavarian cream is a creamy, light dessert. It's made by thickening milk with eggs and a setting agent like gelatin, then folding in whipped cream. It's usually chilled in a mold until firm, then turned out to serve.
Think of a Berliner as a type of jelly doughnut. Depending on where you are in Germany, it might also be called Krapfen, Kreppel, or even Pfannkuchen (especially in Berlin!).
These are small, round pastries made from marzipan, a sweet almond paste. They contain almonds, sugar, rosewater, flour, and egg. Bethmännchen are a traditional Christmas Day cookie, especially popular in Frankfurt.
Baumkuchen means "tree cake." It's a unique cake cooked on a rotating spit, with many thin layers that look like tree rings when you slice it.
- Bratapfel
Bratapfel is a simple but cozy dessert: baked apples! They are often prepared in winter, especially around Christmas, using firm, slightly sour apples.
This dessert's name means "Bee sting." It's a sweet yeast dough cake with a crunchy topping of caramelized almonds. Inside, it's filled with creamy vanilla custard or buttercream.
Known in Germany as Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, this cake has layers of chocolate cake, whipped cream, and cherries. It's a famous and delicious German classic!
- Bremer Kaffeebrot
This pastry from Bremen is made by slicing white bread, adding butter, sugar, and cinnamon, then baking it again until crispy. It's often served with coffee.
This is a type of stollen, a fruit bread, that comes from Bremen. It's usually enjoyed during the Christmas season.
- Bremer Kluten
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Bremer Kluten are small pieces of peppermint fondant (a sugary paste), half-covered in dark chocolate. They are about the size of two sugar cubes.
Brenntar is a type of porridge made with roasted flour called Musmehl. It's a simple, hearty dish.
These are sweet, fluffy rolls made from yeast dough. They can be filled with jam, ground poppy seeds, or a soft cheese called curd.
A special cake from the Lüneburg Heath region. It has layers of cake made from buckwheat flour and heather honey, with a fruit layer of yoghurt and cranberries, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
German carrot cake is a moist and flavorful cake, often topped with a creamy frosting.
German cheesecake, or Käsekuchen, is traditionally made using a fresh dairy product called Quark instead of cream cheese, giving it a lighter texture.
Dampfnudel are soft, white bread rolls or sweet rolls, popular in southern Germany. They can be eaten as a main meal or as a dessert.
Dominosteine are sweet treats usually sold during the Christmas season in Germany and Austria. They often have layers of gingerbread, marzipan, and fruit jelly, covered in chocolate.
Donauwelle means "Danube wave." This traditional sheet cake is popular in Germany and Austria. It's made with sour cherries, buttercream, cocoa, chocolate, and layered batter, creating a wavy pattern.
Fasnacht are a type of doughnut, often made for special occasions like carnival or Mardi Gras.
- Frankfurter Brenten
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These are traditional tea biscuits from Frankfurt am Main, made from marzipan dough.
Frankfurter Kranz is a beautiful buttercream cake that looks like a crown. It's often decorated with nuts and cherries.
A Franzbrötchen is a small, sweet pastry from Hamburg, baked with butter and cinnamon. It's a bit like a flattened cinnamon roll.
- Friesentorte
This is a layer cake from North and East Frisia. It's made with whipped cream, puff pastry, and plum jam.
Gugelhupf is a ring-shaped cake, often a marble cake or a Bundt cake. It's popular in many parts of Central Europe.
A Germknödel is a fluffy yeast dough dumpling, usually filled with spicy plum jam. It's served with melted butter and a mix of poppy seeds and sugar on top.
- Gebrannte Mandeln
These are nuts, usually almonds, that have been spiced and candied. They end up coated in a crunchy, caramelized sugar layer, often sold at Christmas markets.
Götterspeise is a dessert similar to jelly or Jell-O. It's made from gelatine or another gelling agent, sugar, flavorings, and food coloring.
- Herrencreme
Herrencreme is a delicious vanilla pudding mixed with cream, chocolate shavings, and often a good amount of rum.
Kuchen is the German word for cake. It's used for many different types of sweet desserts, pastries, and gateaux.
Lebkuchen are a type of gingerbread cookie, often shaped like hearts. They are very popular at Christmas fairs and during Carnival.
A special pastry from Leipzig. It's a tart-shaped shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan and jam, decorated with two crossed strips of dough. It used to be filled with songbirds, but now it's always sweet!
- Linzer Auge
Linzer Auge are small, round cookies with a hole in the middle, often filled with jam.
Mohnkloß is a dessert made with poppy seeds, often in a dumpling or bread pudding form.
- Muskazine
Muskazine are cookies made from almonds, spices, sugar, flour, eggs, and marzipan.
Marmorkuchen, or marble cake, is made by lightly mixing two different batters, one dark (usually chocolate) and one light. It started in Germany in the 1800s and is still very popular today.
Marzipan is a sweet paste made from peeled, ground almonds and sugar. It's used in baking and for decorating cakes. Famous types include Lübecker Marzipan and Königsberger Marzipan.
Magenbrot are small, sweet glazed biscuits, similar to gingerbread cookies. They are often sold at Christmas markets.
- Nussecke
A Nussecke is a shortbread cookie with a layer of ground hazelnuts, cut into triangles, and usually dipped in chocolate.
Pfeffernüsse are tiny, spiced cookies, especially popular during the Christmas season.
This is a special Bavarian cake with at least six thin layers of sponge cake separated by chocolate buttercream, all covered in a dark chocolate glaze.
- Quarkbällchen
Quarkbällchen are small, fried dough balls made from a batter with a lot of quark (a type of fresh cheese). Unlike doughnuts, they don't use yeast.
Rote Grütze is a thick mash made from various red berries, cooked with sugar and spices, then thickened with starch. It's often served with cold cream or vanilla custard sauce.
Literally "rum pot," Rumtopf is a German and Danish dessert traditionally enjoyed around Christmas. It's a mix of fruits preserved in rum over several months.
Schneeball means "snowball." It's a hard, crusty pastry made from shortcrust pastry, very popular in the Franconian city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and in Austria.
- Schnoorkuller
A Schnoorkuller is a ball-shaped candy from Bremen. It's made of nut meringue, filled with nougat, rolled in chocolate, and sprinkled with nut brittle.
- Schokokuss
Schokokuss is a sweet treat made of sweetened egg-white foam covered with chocolate.
Spaghettieis is a fun ice cream dessert that looks just like a plate of spaghetti! Vanilla ice cream is pressed through a special sieve to make "noodles," then topped with strawberry sauce (like tomato sauce) and white chocolate shavings (like Parmesan cheese).
- Spekulatius
Spekulatius are spiced shortcrust biscuits, traditionally baked and eaten around Christmas in western Germany. They often have designs pressed into them.
Springerle are German biscuits with a special embossed design. A mold is pressed onto the rolled dough, and the impression is allowed to dry before baking.
Spritzgebäck is a type of German Christmas biscuit made from flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. It's often shaped using a cookie press.
Spritzkuchen are fried pastries, similar to doughnuts, often enjoyed at fairs or festivals.
Stollen is a rich fruit cake containing dried fruit and often marzipan. It's usually covered with sugar, powdered sugar, or icing sugar, and is a classic Christmas treat.
Streusel is a crumbly topping made from flour, butter, and sugar. It's used on many German cakes and pastries.
Streuselkuchen is a simple but delicious cake made with a yeast dough base, topped generously with streusel.
- Tollatsch
From the Pomerania region, Tollatsch is a unique dessert made with flour, sugar, gingerbread spices, bread crumbs, almonds, and raisins. It also includes pork blood and Griebenschmalz (pork fat with crispy bits), and the dough is cooked in meat broth.
Vanillekipferl are small, crescent-shaped biscuits, usually flavored with vanilla and dusted with powdered sugar. They are very popular at Christmas.
- Welfenspeise
Welfenspeise is a two-layered pudding. The bottom layer is a cooked milk and vanilla sauce with stiffly whipped egg white. The top layer is a yellow wine sauce made from beaten egg yolk, white wine, and a little lemon juice.
Wibele are very small, sweet biscuits that originally came from Langenburg, but are now considered a Swabian specialty.
Windbeutel are choux pastry puffs, often filled with whipped cream and other delicious fillings.
Zwetschgenkuchen is a sheet cake or pie made from yeast dough or shortcrust dough. It's spread thinly on a baking sheet and covered with pitted plums.
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