Vienna Unwrapped Inspiration and Planning For Independent Travellers who are visiting Vienna
Cake Shops Vienna. Where can you find the best pastry shops in Vienna? While some local coffeehouses offer an impressive selection of desserts, pastry shops specialise in them. My shortlist of the best confectioneries in Vienna presents a mix of the most legendary cake shops like Demel, the most popular with Viennese and the best insider confectioneries in my hometown. I have personally tested them all (best research I have ever done).
Konditorei Gerstner
Cake shops Vienna. Like Demel, Gerstner is another former Imperial patissier. If you taste their cakes you will know what’s for dessert at the Vienna Opera Ball and numerous Austrian state receptions. There are various outlets throughout Vienna but nothing beats the café/restaurant at Todesco Palace opposite the Vienna State Opera. It is still much less crowded than the other outlet in Kärntner Strasse. Use the exquisite seating at the bar in the first floor as your private Vienna salon. On the ground floor cakes are sold over the counter.
Location: Kärntner Strasse 51, 1010 Vienna;
Opening Times: daily from 10.00 am to 11.00 pm
Demel Vienna
Cake shops Vienna. The most legendary cake shop draws from its past as the official supplier of cakes to the Imperial court. The almost 230-year-old confectionery breathes old-world elegance throughout its cake shop and the salons in the first floor. You can even watch the confectioners at work through the glass wall in the back. On top, by tasting Demel’s own branded Sacher Cake you’ll take another step in joining Vienna’s eternal discussion whether Sacher’s or Demel’s Sacher Torte is the best.
Would a visit replace the experience of a local coffeehouse? Is it the kind of patisserie to go to in order to co-celebreate Viennese cake culture among locals? Read my review about Demel Vienna.
Café Sacher
Cake shops Vienna. Though officially a café the Sacher is best known for its signature Sacher Torte. In particular it deserves to be listed as a world famous cake heaven and international marketing success, exuding old world elegance and offering top service. If you want to test this cake legend in its original place, go for it. However, due to its overwhelming popularity with tourists, Café Sacher isn’t quite the spot to immerse yourself into local Viennese life. Like at Demel, expect to enjoy ‘old world escapism’ largely in the company of fellow travellers.
Vollpension
Cake shops Vienna. After all those glamorous hot spots here is a true insider tip: Do you have a weakness for granny’s cakes? You don’t need a Viennese grandma to enjoy local home mades. At Vollpension (‘full board’), a group of local grandmas take turns in baking and serving their own delicious cakes. My nut and apricot cake was absolutely fabulous, like from my own Viennese mum (who, btw, is a grandma, too). The interiors represent a colourful collection of Viennese vintage, most of them from nearby Naschmarkt. And, like at grandma’s, no two pieces of crockery are the same.
Locations: Schleifmühlgasse 16, 1040 Vienna (close to Naschmarkt); Johannesgasse 4A, 1010 Vienna (at Music and Arts Private University of Vienna)
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 9am to 10pm
Kurkonditorei Oberlaa
Cake shops Vienna. This local pastry shop chain is one of the most popular among the Viennese. Its cakes and confectionery mix traditional and contemporary creations, from Gugelhupf and Punschkrapfen to LaaKronen (macaroons) and blackcurrant cheesecake. The flagship store on Neuer Markt square in the city centre is spacious and fairly simple, but has a nice local buzz. In the spring and summer you can sit in the large sidewalk area with great views of the square. My Punschkrapfen was lovely and just like in my childhood days, little small though (or is it that I have grown up?)
Key Locations: Neuer Markt 16, 1010 Vienna; Naschmarkt 175, 1060 Vienna; Josefstädter Straße 31, 1080 Vienna; Dommayergasse 1/Auhofstrasse 2, 1130 Vienna (Johann Strauss junior used to regularly perform waltzes with his orchestra nearby);
Opening times: daily, 8am to 8pm (Neuer Markt); Monday to Saturday 9am to 6.30pm; closed on Sundays and public holidays (Naschmarkt); daily 9am to 8pm (Josefstädter Straße); daily, 7am to 10pm (Dommayergasse)
Diglas Konditorei
Cake shops Vienna. The secretive sister of Café Diglas hides away in a quiet side street, a few minutes from Stephansdom. The cake selection is small but good. All Diglas cakes are made in the proprietary bakery at the back of the Café, and you taste it. Try to get a space in the ‘lipstick box’ (photo). Use it for romantic tête-à-têtes, girlie talks, quiet time with your laptop, and above all to sneak into a real insider place in the heart of town, in the old university quarter.
Location: Fleischmarkt 16, A-1010 Vienna
Opening times: Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm; Saturday 9am to 7pm; Sunday 10am to 7pm;
Konditorei Heiner
Cake shops Vienna. Heiner is the kind of pastry shop I take my foreign friends to. It has an excellent and mind-boggling selection of cakes, and the best place to have your original Sacher Torte in a non-touristy environment. You can choose from three differently styled salons on two floors. My favourite is the wood-panelled room with historic photographs on the ground floor (photo). The salon on the first floor boasts vaulted ceilings and large windows from where you can watch street life.
Key Locations: Kärntnerstrasse 21-23, Wollzeile 9 (less crowded), A-1010 Wien
Opening Times: Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 7pm; Sunday and public holidays 10am to 7pm (Kärntnerstrasse and Wollzeile)
Cake Shops Vienna: Vegan Simply Raw Bakery
Cake shops Vienna. Do you like healthy food, are vegan but don’t want to skip cakes in Vienna? I recently discovered this enchanting little place in a side street off Am Hof square. The interiors mix Viennese Biedermeier style with distinctively French elements, very cosy. Best of all, confectioners Gabriele and her daughter Shanna are raw food fans. Consequently, they managed to create Sacher cubes and mini gugelhupfs entirely from raw, organic, lactose and gluten free ingredients.
I had our popular chocolate pudding ‘Mohr im Hemd’ – it tasted different from the real one, somehow richer, and was great.
Location: Drahtgasse 2/Am Hof, A-1010 Vienna
Opening Times: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 6pm; closed on Sunday, Monday and public holidays
go to Vienna Coffeehouses: Favourites of my Hometown
visit restaurants in Vienna – Viennese Cuisine Reviewed
find out more about Vienna Wineries – Guide and Map by Two Natives
when to use Vienna Travel Planning – Trip Planning and Travel Consulting by Vienna Unwrapped
back to What To Do In Vienna
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