Topfenstrudel

Snapshot

Hand-pulled strudel pastry wrapped around sweetened curd cheese, raisins, and lemon zest. The sister dish to Apfelstrudel: where Apfelstrudel is tart and fruity, this is creamy and rich. Often the better choice.

The Story

The Topfenstrudel and Apfelstrudel are made from the same dough. The hand-pulled Strudelteig, stretched across a flour-dusted table until it is paper-thin, wraps around a completely different filling and produces a completely different experience. Instead of apples and cinnamon, the Topfenstrudel is filled with Topfen, the Austrian curd cheese that sits somewhere between ricotta and quark in texture, sweetened with sugar, mixed with raisins and lemon zest, and sometimes lightened with a little whipped egg white.

The result is soft, creamy, and rich where Apfelstrudel is tart and yielding. The raisins add bursts of sweetness throughout the filling; the lemon zest provides a quiet brightness that keeps the richness in check. Baked golden and served warm with vanilla sauce or lightly whipped cream, the Topfenstrudel is the quieter of the two sisters, without the drama of the apple’s acidity, but more satisfying to some palates precisely because of that.

In Salzburg, the two strudels appear side by side on dessert menus throughout the traditional restaurant and coffee house circuit. Cafe Tomaselli serves both. The question of which to order is one that divides Salzburg coffee house regulars, and the only way to resolve it is to order one now and return for the other later, which is, of course, exactly what the coffee houses are counting on.