Best Cake

Let Them Eat Cake!
One of my favorite things about traveling is some of the sweet surprises you find along the way – the literal “sweets,” from ice cream to candy…especially the stuff you can’t find at home.

It was during that first 2015 trip to Austria when I would discover my favorite cake of all time – one small, pink square whose taste would be so memorable, those few bites alone would go down as my best memories of Austria. Say hello to Punschkrapfen or Punschkrapferl.

I found it completely by mistake, at a bakery/cafe chain called Aïda. My life would never be the same.

Punschkrapfen is a classic Austrian confection of pastry with a fine rum flavor. Think of the petit four meets rum cake! I absolutely fell in love with this dessert. Try and imagine a “rum punch cake,” where the cake was the rum flavor and the icing the punch flavor. And when you take a bite, POW! Both flavors combine in your mouth for a tasty explosion of run punch, but in cake form. You have to experience Punschkrapfen at least once in your life.

2020 I’m Back…And I’m Here for Your Punschkrapfen
It was July of 2020 and no pandemic would keep me from my Punschkrapfen. I rolled in and out of Austria this time by car, on my way to Lichtenstein from Slovenia. I conveniently routed my drive through the historic city of Salzburg, not to see where The Sound of Music was filmed, but to find my cake! I was on a mission, and looked forward to stopping in Salzburg for the sole purpose of Punschkrapfen!

I rarely do video, but Punschkrapfen deserved its own movie. So, without further adieu:

2024
In 2024 I’d visit Czechia for nine days, with a departing flight out of Vienna. Are you thinking what I’m thinking??? Pune-to-the-schkrapfen!!! But there was a dilemma. My flight out of Vienna was at 9:55AM and no bakeries would be open until after I’d have already checked in, at the airport. Was I actually going to be inside Austria and not eat Punschkrapfen? This would be just sacrilegious.
I was hoping the gas station I filled up at near the airport might have it. No such luck. I’d all but given up, when, as I rolled into the airport, I passed right by a giant supermarket called BILLA. I’d wait in the car until they opened at 7:30AM, then march right in, on the hunt for that pink strong-but-sweet goodness. It was a long shot, but wouldn’t you know it, there it was, right in the cooler, boxed up so nicely and just ready to be taken home! It was the Aïda Café brand, too…I’m not worthy! Needless to say a happy ending to an already wonderful trip.

When You Don’t Leave Well Enough Alone
It’s bad enough I powered through two boxes of Punschkrapfen my first two days home…like an addict, I needed more. But how? Where? I was determined to find some in the USA. After an exhaustive Google search, I found Portland’s Ben and Sam’s Vienna Bakery, and without hesitation, ordered $75 worth of the punch cake online. It was only three days later, after never receiving a shipping notification, that I realized these fockers were out of business…yet my $75 was gone. What a tragedy. Of course I disputed the charge with my bank and was refunded, but still. I was left extremely disappointed. Was there literally no Punschkrapfen in all of America?

But I never give up. Before the week ended, I’d found Astrid LaMarche, owner of Austrian Cravings – a home bakery located in my hometown of San Diego, California. While she didn’t make Punschkrapfen, she would make a custom Punschtorte for me. Think of Punschtorte as Punschkrapfen’s big brother: Instead of petit fours, it was one, big cake. And it was fantastic. It would certainly hold me over until I could back to Austria for the ‘schkrapfen!