What’s your favorite German dessert?
For me, it’s the Bee Sting Cake or Bienenstich.
There’s nothing quite like the combo of vanilla custard and caramalized crunchy almonds.
What do you seek out from Deutschland?
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My top 8 Teutonic desserts off the top of my head:
Donauwelle
Black Forest Torte
Kaiserschmarrn
Malakoff
Apricot dumplings
Sour Cherry kuchen
Apricot Krapfen
Palatschinken
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Is that different from the Schwarzwälder?
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Those I’ve more often had in the afternoon with coffee, not so much as desserts (unless I’ve been going to the wrong places all my life, who knows!).
Birne Helene is a popular German dessert, as is Rote Grütze, something I never liked very much as a kid growing up bc it’s sour AF, no matter how much vanilla sauce you pour on it. I probably would like it more now that I am fonder of tart flavors, but it still wouldn’t be in my top 5.
Chocolate or vanilla pudding and rice pudding are big; I’d take the former over the other two any day.
I guess we mostly had fruit or ice cream for dessert at home, and most modern restaurants serve desserts from all over - mousse, tiramisu, etc.
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Same thing.
Apple strudel is wonderful. Although is that German or Austrian? I haven’t had one in a long while. My late grandpa used to make them. I’ve seen photos of the dough rolled out, and it is truly remarkable.
Strudel, Kaiserschmarrn, Palatschinken are Austrian, but are just as popular north of the border (which would be Southern Germany).
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Generally speaking, none of them, at least not the baked ones. In my experience, German baked desserts produced in Germany tend to be too dry and not well-balanced in terms of sweet/bitter/tangy to my American palate. I love the idea of Schwarzwälder Kirschetorte (chocolate and cherries, what’s not to like), but I have never encoutered a version that I felt was well executed in Germany, despite living there for months on end and visiting plenty of renowned bakeries and restaurants all over the country.
Viennese desserts suffer from the same dryness problem IMHO (Sachertorte, I’m looking at you). At this point, the only German/Austrian dessert I bother with in Germany or Austria is Apfelstrudel - otherwise, if I want a sweet, I go for some of their excellent chocolates or ice cream, or choose something non-German like tiramisu.
If anyone visits Munich, I recommend the tortes at Café Luitpold. I tried a Prinzregententorte on my last visit in 2019.
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Svetchkenkuchen also known as pflaumenkuchen. I just baked a couple last week.
Usually spelled Zwetschgenkuchen, if you’re looking for recipes 
It’s as German as it is Austrian.
Strudel is found throughout Alsace, Lorraine, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the former Austro-Hungarian empire. Strudel is older than the French, German, Austrian and Hungarian borders, or the national identities.
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It’s delicious, no matter who claims it!
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I agree!
Seems most articles online give the nod to Austria as the origin of strudel, but Germany wasn’t a unified country when the first recipe was developed in Vienna in the 1600s.
I like cherry strudel and topfenstrudel, too.
My pref is for apple. I also like poppy but they get stuck in the teeth! I bet sour cherry would be delicious.
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Rote Grütze is one of my favorites…i first had it in Bonn over vanilla ice cream.
I make in once in a blue moon…Costco’s 2 berry blend makes it simple.
After that, apfel strudel is so satisfying. I love making it, but its an all day effort (and so satisfying when my German friend told me mine was better than hia grandmother’s)
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That’s my hometown 
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I like rote gruetze with vanilla sauce.
There is a version in a jar made by Schwartau, as well as a cherry gruetze, that can be purchased here, and it’s pretty good.
Some hotels I’ve stayed at have had rote gruetze as part of the breakfast buffet. There’s also personal -sized rote gruetze with yogurt available in Germany.
I was on a rote gruetze kick for about a decade. LOL.
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I also like poppy seed schnecken. https://templesandtreehouses.com/traditional-german-dishes-must-eat-in-bavaria/
