Dessert/pastry lovers: where would you go?

Salzburg comes to mind. As does Innsbruck. Both easy from a Munich airport. For smaller towns, Garmisch and Mittenwald.

Here's a thread I posted earlier this year about desserts in general - hope it's helpful! https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/which-desserts-are-your-favorites-where-to-find-them.

If you come across 'dampf nudeln' with vanilla cream sauce in Bavaria, grab it! https://www.daringgourmet.com/dampfnudeln-german-steamed-dumplings/

My favorites in Austria and Bavaria are Mohr im Hemd.
A dark, miniature Gugelhupf (bundt cake) or dome shape. It is topped with a generous dollop of white whipped cream (Schlagobers), which represents the "shirt" contrasting with the dark chocolate cake. It is smothered in a warm, rich chocolate sauce that often seeps into the soft sponge

Kaiserschmarrm,
A thick, fluffy, lightly sweetened pancake that is torn or shredded into bite-sized pieces or strips right in the pan.
Airy and cloud-like on the inside, with a light, caramelized sugar crust on the outside from being tossed in butter and sugar at the end of cooking. Warm, dusted generously with powdered sugar, and typically paired with plum compote, apple sauce, or jam.

Vienna! Several excellent places there and a great city for walking around or taking the tram tour in RS book!

Maybe Bayonne, in the French Basque country. It is easy to get to by train from Paris

There a Musee du Chocolat in the town. Also in the Basque country my favorite is the Gateau Basque with a black cherry filling.

FWIW the best cafe gourmand I ever had was in Bayonne.

Paris gal here although I do see you want more input than Paris!

If you are in Paris (and any other place it's offered), by all means ALWAYS get the Cafe Gourmand for dessert. It is 3 or 4 small desserts with an espresso and is usually so good! One restaurant I went to actually had a slab (yes, literally a whole piece) of their dessert specialty of the day which was an apple tart along with 2 or 3 other small bites. Yum.

I usually stay in the same neighborhood when I visit. A few years ago I decided to run my own taste test on who had the best citron (lemon) dessert. I was surprised that the local, non-chain, was my favorite over 2 Paris chains and 1 other local one. And no, I did. not eat them all at the same time!

Cookie-wise, I think most American bakeries and home cooks do an exceedingly good job. I do like the chain Laura Todd in Paris for cookies which advertises itself as Paris-American.

Baked goods and pastries are very different. If you want pastries, then it's Paris and Vienna.
Baked goods of different types can be found everywhere. If you want to sample baked goods from different regions of France, then again it's Paris for the largest selection in one place, either the Grand épicerie at the Bon Marché department store, or the food emporium at the Galeries Layfayette. They carry the best baked goods from Brittany, the Basque cake mentioned above, and much more.

We don't do fancy like in France but we know how to end a meal in the UK!
A pilgrimage to The Pudding Club would be a good trip. It also has the advantage of being in the ever popular Cotswolds.
https://threewayshousehotel.com/the-pudding-club/

France & Austria immediately came to mind, and I see you’ve received responses for those. Another amazing pastry is in the Salento region of the Puglia region of Italy. The pasticciotti are like hidden treasure! On the outside they look like an elongated muffin - maybe an oval banana bread? But on the inside they are a gooey taste of an amazing heavier cream filling (I like the dark cherry or lemon or more) of the perfect texture surrounded by a shortcrust pastry. I willingly give up gelato in that region to have one pasticiotto each morning with an espresso!

Oh, Emma! Bookmarked!

Amaaazing cakes on the top floor of the main KaDeWe in Berlin….

Some desserts I really love that you could consider:

-Black forest gateau / schwarzwalder kirschtorte- I'm not a very big dessert person but I had this at least once a day when we visited the Black Forest. I know it's not to everyone's taste but I love it.

-Knafe- I think this is one of the best desserts in the world- I first had one in Jordan and it was one of the best things I had ever tasted. I know Jordan isn't in Europe but it's easy to find in Turkey (in case you're unfamiliar with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knafeh)

-Somewhat similar to knafe are the desserts you find in Greece, like baklava, kataifi, galaktoboreko- also excellent.

-In terms of baked goods, I love all kinds of Italian bakery cookies/biscotti, and of course if you go to Italy you also have gelato, tho I'm not sure if you're looking for that type of dessert.

-Basque cheesecake- very dense and a specialty of the region.

-And of course- the best dessert in the UK- banoffee pie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banoffee_pie

A lot to be said about Vienna ...... and Budapest

Vienna: Refined Classics
The Style: Viennese pastry is defined by elegance, precise technique, and restrained decoration. Cafes like Demel and Café Central serve up centuries-old traditions in grand, marble-columned settings. Famous Highlights: The world-renowned [Sachertorte] (dense chocolate cake with apricot jam), delicate Apfelstrudel with paper-thin pastry, and rich cream-filled tarts.

Budapest: The Master of Rich Textures
The Style: Hungarian baking leans into deep, comforting, and complex flavor combinations—frequently featuring ground walnuts, poppy seeds, honey, and tart fruit jams. Famous Highlights: The multi-layered Jewish-Hungarian [Flódni] (apple, walnut, poppy seed, and plum jam), the rum-soaked pink [Punch Torte], and the rich, multi-layered [Dobos Torte] topped with hard caramel.

You will see the word Cukrászda (Hungarian Pastry Shop) on buildings all over town. Its sort of a lifestyle here. Here are a few. I imagine Emily or someone can share something similar for Vienna.

Modern:
Egy csipet torta https://egycsipettorta.hu/
Nour - Art of desserts https://nour.hu/
Classic:
Café Gerbeaud https://gerbeaud.hu/
Auguszt Belváros https://auguszt.hu/auguszt-belvaros/
NY Café https://newyorkcafe.hu/
Central Grand Café https://centralgrandcafe.hu/a-central-kavehazrol/

We were in Paris this summer and the pastries were better than I remembered. But, our surprise European pastries adventure was in Portugal.

In no particular order, a few treats not yet mentioned:

• Kremšnita in Slovenia and Croatia (puff pastry layered with vanilla custard)
• Koláče in Czechia (yeasted roll with various toppings)
• Stroopwafel in the Netherlands (gooey caramel waffle cookie, best eaten fresh and warm)
• the singularly good chocolate cookie at Van Stapele Koekmakerij in Amsterdam
• I'll ditto the knafeh in Turkey, yum.

-Knafe- I think this is one of the best desserts in the world-

Cat, I think we are doppelgangers. I was in Turkey, and it was spelled kunefe there, but it's the same dessert you're talking about, and I think it is my all-time favorite dessert. It was so wonderful and such a delight.

Outside of that, I have to say that I have found incredible desserts and pastries in just about every country I've gone to. The UK not only has sticky toffee pudding, but Tablet and millionaire's shortbread. The Dutch have butter cake and stroopwafels, Copenhagen has Cakenhagen, with those luscious, incredibly lifelike pastries that look like real fruit, and Germany has Apfelstreuselkuchen.

In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been in a country where I couldn't find a darn good pastry or dessert! The only exception would be the one that was raved about above, and that is banoffee pie. I like to eat bananas, but they have to be mostly green. And I don't like anything that uses them as an ingredient. I can't eat a banana split, or banana cream pie, or banoffee pie, or anything with the flavor of bananas.

Amaaazing cakes on the top floor of the main KaDeWe in Berlin….

I wholeheartedly agree, AmandaR! In fact, I had one of them with a coffee, and it was so good! But it took me about 30 minutes to decide which one I wanted, lol!

I highly recommend Budapest and any major city in Poland.
Their pastries can be traditional or ultra modern/creative with affordable prices.
Yummy travel!

Really any place in Austria (a bit less so in Bavaria) has a Konditorei. My favourite ones:

Heiner in Vienna (much less crowded than Demel, and a K. & K. (former royal family) dealer also)
Zauner in Bad Ischl (unbelievable, also a K. & K.)
Krönner in Garmisch
Munding in Innsbruck

My favourite cake is Malakoff, I actually had one for my marriage lunch in Milan (we had arranged for an historical menu from Milan in 19th century, when it was an Austrian dominion; actually Malakoff was created 15 years later)

I remember Copenhagen had wonderful cream pastries and other bakery treats.

WOW. Thank you all! I'm so hungry reading this... And now I have a lot of research to go do :) Turkey, Puglia, Berlin, and Budapest are all spots I wouldn't have originally thought of and am sorely tempted now. Austria and France I more expected, but 1) oh boy are they famous for this for good reason and 2) I learned so many regional specialities I want to try.

The Pudding Club sounds like a dream. I'm a huge fan; we actually had miniature sticky toffee puddings at our wedding instead of. And noted on the Cafe Gourmand concept if I'm in France. What a perfect way to try a little bit of everything.

I've heard very good things about Copenhagen too! I loved the episode of The Bear when they sent their pastry chef there to learn

https://www.tivoli.dk/en/food-and-drinks/cakenhagen

Well, I do love a good Frankfurter Kranz. It beats that Schwarzwalder Kirschkuchen hands down in my opinion.

Just got back from Portugal and Spain. My favorite on the whole trip was a coffee flan in a small cafe near Caldas de Reis. It was the yummiest thing I think I have eaten in years. That said, I need to eat at least 2-3 Pastel de Nata in Portugal every day. My favorite are the ones with cinnamon on top. Thankfully, we have a store in Frankfurt that makes good ones.
In Santiago de Compostela, found a cafe that was making their own desserts and they were truly delicious and top quality. Caramel cheesecake, choc. mousse tart. One piece of fabulous looking cake came on the plane with me to dine on, since Lufthansa charges for snacks now on short hauls. I knew the people around me were jealous.

Not that excited with French desserts, especially Macarons. I don't get the hype, and yes, I have had the good ones. Croissant with chocolate in the middle can be had everywhere and the good ones in Frankfurt or Spain or Portugal are just as tasty.

Mardee, I am glad to have found someone who appreciates knafe as much as I do :)

I was thinking about this again this morning and realised I forgot to mention cannoli in Sicily- of course you can find these anywhere in Italy but in Sicily, it's their speciality and they are amazing.

MsJo, I agree that Portugal ‘s pastel de nata is yummy. Thick custard and creamy cheese pastry fillings are a favorite of mine.

I live in Vienna. Honestly, I’m not a fan of most of the sweets here. Cakes and pastries are very pretty, but leave much taste to be desired. Also dry. Strudel can be good (best is Gerstner). Off the tourist radar bakeries like Öfferl and Ährnst are very good, however, and worth seeking out.

My favorite baked good destination is Lannan Bakery in Edinburgh. Worth the line.

I also could eat a cardamom bun from Denmark every day of my life.

"Not that excited with French desserts, especially Macarons. I don't get the hype,"

Oh yes, I totally agree with Ms. Jo on the macarons. I've never thought they taste of much but others swoon. I want something to bite in to. I often will just go down the line, so to speak, and each day get something different. Last trip I was in to tasting Paris-Brest pastries. A different neighborhood bakery that I'd not been to had the best this time....had a thin layer of Nutella under the praline cream filling!

And that makes three who aren't macaron fans. On the other hand, Pierre Hermé has conviently placed a pastry shop/tea room inside the Gare de Lyon, my first stop after getting out of the train. They have so many lovely pastries there. But still, no macarons for me.

I am not a fan of the cuisines of Central Europe, but its pastries are an exception.

Locally, our most delicious dessert is easily the Doberge cake (my favorite is half chocolate and half lemon). It is an adaptation of the Hungarian Dobos torte. Hungarian pastry warrants consideration.

For consistently excellent European style pastries of all types — Japan. I’m not talking about the traditional Japanese rice flour ones with bean paste and the like, those are fine but an acquired taste, but rather, croissants and other European ones. They are very good at virtually any Japanese bakery or coffee shop.