Punschkrapfen or Punschkrapferl (punch cake) is a nougat and jam filled sponge cake soaked with rum from

Austrian cuisine Austrian cuisine () is a style of cuisine native to Austria and composed of influences from Central Europe and throughout the former Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austrian cuisine is most often associated with Viennese cuisine, but th ...

. Besides the filling, it is similar to the French

petit four A petit four (plural: petits fours, also known as mignardises) is a small bite-sized confectionery or savory appetizer. The name is French, ''petit four'' (), meaning "small oven". History and etymology In 18th and 19th century France, g ...

. Today, one can find Punschkrapfen in most pastry shops and

bakeries A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Composition

It is a cake consisting of either

sponge cake Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated ...

or cake crumbs,

nougat Nougat ( , ; ; az, nuqa; fa, نوقا) is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are common), whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. ...

chocolate and

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

jam. The Cake layers are soaked with

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

. The cake is cut into 1-1/2 inch square cubes, covered with so-called Punschglasur (punch icing), a thick pink rum sugar glazing often drizzled with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

and a

cocktail cherry A maraschino cherry ( ) is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann cherry, Royal Ann, Rainier cherry, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first pre ...

on top. Nowadays, there are also Punschkrapfen in cylindrical form.

History

It is disputed who made the first Punschkrapfen and where it came from. It may have been introduced to Vienna in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

by the Avars, or the Ottoman armies brought the Punschkrapfen to Vienna (the

Second Turkish Siege The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

), or it may have been invented by an imperial court confectioner.

Trivia

Robert Menasse Robert Menasse (born 21 June 1954) is an Austrian writer. Biography Menasse was born in Vienna. As an undergraduate, he studied German studies, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesi ...

suggested satirically that the Punschkrapfen should become the Austrian National Symbol.Menasse, Robert: Das Land ohne Eigenschaften. Essay zur österreichischen Identität. Suhrkamp. Frankfurt/M. 1995, p. 37

References

External links

Wiener Punschkrapfen Website
{{pastries Sponge cakes Stuffed desserts Austrian cakes Foods with jam

Composition

History

Trivia

See also

References

External links