By Emily Monaco & Denisa ValsovĆ”. This guide to Prague pastries contains affiliate links to trusted partners!
Living in Europe has many perks, but the one that still makes living here seem like a dream, even after eight years, is the fact that other European destinations are so close that you can jump right over for any old reason… like, let’s say, to try out some pastry.
There are many great pastry destinations in Europe, and I live in one of them (Paris).
But sometimes you just need to deviate from macarons and croissantsāand sometimes, it’s the most unlikely destinations that offer the tastiest treats.
I was recently in Pragueāwhich may be better known for its bridge, its clock, and its beerābut it’s just as tasty a destination for pastry lovers.
While this may be surprising to some more used to hearing pastry tales from Vienna and Budapest, it is for good reason:
The former Austro-Hungarian Empire was home to many modern Central European countries, including Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and the recipes for these classic pastries were passed from family to family, town to town.
Prague’s pastries are far from unique, but as I discovered them, I noticed not only how they are linked to those of neighboring countries but also the characteristics that make them stand out.
Note that the first half of this list is written by me, Emily, and the second half is written by Denisa, a Czech native who was born and raised in Prague. We’ve worked hard to bring you a delicious guide to Prague desserts and pastries you won’t want to miss!
Top Prague Pastries You Must Try
1. Trdelnik
Trdelnik is one of the most common pastries to find on Prague’s streetsāin fact, three-dimensional invitations to try the rolled pastry hang from storefronts throughout the city, particularly in tourist neighborhoods.
But while Prague is famous for its trdelnik, the pastry was originally known as “kurtsoskalacs” and hailed from Szekely Land, Transylvaniaāhome of the Szekely Hungarians.
According to food historians, Count Josef Gvadanyi, a Hungarian general, settled in the town of Skalica, on what is now the border between Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in the 18th century, bringing with him a Transylvanian cook who had a tasty recipe for kurtsoskalacs in his repertoire.
While trdelnik is now available throughout the former Empire, from Austria to Hungary and everywhere in between, today it’s most famous in Slovakia and the Czech Republicāparticularly so in the former, where Skalicky trdelnik became registered in December 2007 as a protected geographical indication (PGI) within the EU.
I tried trdelnik at Krusta (Drazickeho Square 12) where they’re made outside as you watch.
You can snag a seat on the patio overlooking the Charles Bridge and watch as the woman making them goes through what has become, for her, an automatic series of motions: rolling out the dough, wrapping it around the stick (called a trdlo), sprinkling it with a sugar and spice mixture and setting it over the flames to cook.
When I finally dug in, I wasn’t too sure what to expect.
The dough itself isn’t all that sweet, but the outside has a lovely caramelized richness and aromas of burnt sugar that are perfect with mulled wine.
Whether you’re visiting the city for your first time or hundredth, with friends or enjoying solo travel in Prague, don’t miss this tasty experience!
Where to find it: Trdelnik is probably the easiest item on this list to findāsmall stands selling it freshly made can be found everywhere around the city center. They are a particular feature of Christmas and Easter markets but can be found year-round in the areas around Wenceslas Square, Old Town, and Prague Castle.
2. Strudl
No, that isn’t a typo! Strudel may be famed in Vienna, but strudl is a traditional Czech dessert.
Of course, when you compare the names as well as the pastries themselves, it’s obvious that they both come from the same place. Some food historians believe that the modern strudel and strudl were inspired by early versions of Turkish baklava.
Strudel-like pastries became popular in the 18th century; the first recipe hails from Vienna and dates to 1696.
While this early version was made with parsnips, modern versions are usually filled with apples and spices and can be found in Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakiaāand the Czech Republic, of course.
Traditional strudel pastry in the Viennese tradition is very elastic and worked until it’s paper thin before being wrapped in many layers around the filling.
The pastry of the Prague version that I tasted is slightly thicker than that of the Viennese pastry.
As Austrian wives were often judged by the thinness of the pastry, I think it’s safe to deduce that the Czech version is just slightly more rustic…but no less tasty.
The apple strudl at Krusta has several unique characteristics, at least as far as this strudel-taster is concerned.
Its filling is slightly pink from apple skins and stuffed with both apples and raisins. Dusted with a simple layer of powdered sugar as opposed to cream or ice cream, it’s not nearly as rich as other versions I’ve tried.
Where to find it: The apple strudl at Krusta has several unique characteristics, at least as far as this strudel-taster is concerned. Its filling is slightly pink from apple skins and stuffed with both apples and raisins.
Dusted with a simple layer of powdered sugar as opposed to cream or ice cream, itās not nearly as rich as other versions Iāve tried. For someone who doesn’t want their Prague dessert too sweet, this was a winner.
Chleba a mƔslo and CukrkƔvalimonƔda are other authentic options.
3. MakovĆ½ kolĆ”Äek
MakovĆ½ kolĆ”Äek, also known simply as kolach, is a Czech pastry that has become extremely popular in some parts of the United States.
The original kolach boasts a filling of some sort contained by a rim of brioche-like yeasted dough.
They were originally considered a wedding dessert, but in the States, they are more of a breakfast pastry akin to the Danish, seeing as they’re not overly sweet.
Kolach festivals exist throughout the regions of America that welcomed Czech immigrants, including Prague, Oklahoma, Kewaunee, Wisconsin, and several cities in the part of central Texas known as “the Czech Belt” thanks to 19th-century mass Czech immigration, including Caldwell, Crosby, and Hallettsville.
Montgomery, Minnesota is said to be the “Kolacky Capital of the World,” while Prague, Nebraska claims to be the home of the world’s largest.
Versions in the USA have a certain American appeal to them, with flavors like strawberry-ricotta, cream cheese, and even savory versions with sausage and beer.
Where to find it: In recent years, kolache has been experiencing a major renaissance as the go-to pastry in Pragueās hippest cafĆ©s.
You can find excellent, indulgent versions in Kus KolĆ”Äe (these are so iconic locals queue for them and they usually sell out before noon), Kolacherie, Chleba a mĆ”slo, Eska KarlĆn, Osada, PekĆ”rna Praktika, Vnitroblockā¦the list goes on.
If youāre happy with a more basic versionāthat’s also much lighter on the butter loadāmost small bakeries and supermarket bakery sections sell them as well.
4. Medovnik
Honey cakes are very popular in Prague, and there are two in particular that you should be sure to try during your stay.
The first is medovnikāa very complex answer to any American honey cake I’ve ever tried.
Honey cake has been popular in some form or other in this part of the world since the Middle Ages. In Slovakian culture, honey has always been highly honored, and a barrel of it was even given as part of women’s dowries through the Middle Ages.
In Slovakia and the Czech Republic, medovnik is often not homemade but purchased and given as a gift.
Because of its unique preparation, it is a sweet that, like fruit cake, can sit out for months before being eaten.
I sampled the piece shown above at Coffee Lovers, which was made according to a traditional Bohemian recipe.
It has a rather dry, almost savory crumb with very sweet, honey-flavored icing between each layer.
The topping is a powdery crumb layerābasically what would happen if powdered sugar were made of honey. It has a very unique, pronounced flavor of honey but also a slight flavor of caramel.
This was my personal favorite of all of the Czech desserts I tried in Prague.
Where to find it: I sampled the piece shown above at Coffee Lovers, made according to a traditional Bohemian recipe. It is also a staple of tea rooms throughout the city.
5. Marlenka
Marlenka is another type of honey cake popular in Prague.
The best way to recognize Marlenka from medovnik in Prague bakery windows is to look at the shape. Medovnik is baked in circles and served in wedges, while Marlenka is baked in rectangles and served in rectangular or square slices.
Marlenka is technically a brand-name cake, which was invented in Prague in 1704 by Armenian Georgius Deodatus Damascenus.
He founded the first coffee lounge in the city and repurposed a traditional Armenian family recipe of honey layer cake, naming it after his wife and daughter: Marlenka. It soon became a local tradition.
Medovnik, meanwhile, is really a word for any honey cake, though it’s usually used for the cake described above in number four; the word medovnik, then, could technically be used to refer to an off-brand Marlenka, which is what you’ll find more often than not in Prague bakeries and pastry shops.
All this to say, it’s not surprising I had such a hard time tracking down this particular Prague treat.
Where to find it: I finally got my piece at a Tesco supermarket, but it was from the bakery case, and it was an exceptional piece of cake. The Albert supermarket also sells it.
You can sometimes also find it in cafĆ©s; but since itās a brand sold by a single supplier, it will come from the same box as the supermarket version.
Prague Pastry Recommendations From A Local
Prague may not be a world-famous pastry destination the likes of Paris but you may be surprised by the many gems to discover once you dig in. After the fall of communism, Western cuisine with all its novelty was all the rage for a time.
But in recent years, the food culture in Prague and the rest of Czechia has been turning towards rediscovering the classics from different periods of our history and giving them an artisanal spin using high-quality ingredients.
With Pragueās rapidly developing food scene, you can now enjoy the best of traditional Czech pastries in the trendiest contemporary cafĆ©s.
Here are my all-time favorites, from a Prague native with a life-long committed relationship with sugar.
6. VÄneÄek
Chou pastry with vanilla custard filling and sugar icing, similar to an Ć©clair or profiterole but typically round in shape with a hole in the middle, vÄneÄek is a creamy, indulgent treat.
Its elegance is reminiscent of the 1920s and the iconic 1st Republic era, but it was also a big favorite during socialist times, even making appearances in movies at the time.
While the French and Italians have been arguing about who gets to claim the first invention of choux pastry in the 16th century, the exact origin of the later Czech interpretation, featured by 1826 in cookbooks, is unknown.
Baking your own vÄneÄky has traditionally been a rite of passage for any serious hobby baker as the dough is infamously tricky to get right and the process is laborious, with plenty of opportunities for mistakes. My great-grandmother used to make them in the form of perfect, delicate swans; us mere mortals are happy to settle for round-ish.
Due to the generous icing on top, this one is on the sweeter side, so keep this in mind or opt for a mini size if you prefer your Prague desserts less sweet.
Where to find it: Head to CukrĆ”rna MyÅ”Ć”k, a confectionary dating back to 1904 on VodiÄkova Street right off Wenceslas Square. It features a 1920s ambiance and artisanal vÄneÄky in in regular and mini size.
Or visit OvocnĆ½ SvÄtozor for a simpler, socialist era retro interpretation.
If you want a spin on the classic, Grand CafĆ© Orient located in the Czech History of Cubism building offers a cubistāor squareāversion.
7. VÄtrnĆk
A more decadent but equally elegant cousin of the vÄneÄek, vÄtrnĆk is a choux pastry puff filled with yolk cream and caramel whipped cream, topped with a caramel fondant and the definition of guilty pleasure.
It is a difficult one to conquer as the caramel fondant-covered top usually does not want to yield to your fork and a standard size vÄtrnĆk can be a very sizable undertakingābut it is absolutely worth the fight.
Some confectioneries have also started to offer mini versions.
The vÄtrnĆk draws a closer resemblance to its French profiterole ancestor than the similar vÄneÄek, but its precise origins and how it became such a staple of Czech pastry cuisine is also unknown.
Its name in Czech means āpinwheelā, derived from the characteristic shape of the chou pastry.
A good vÄtrnĆk must be fresh and not overly sweet so that the distinct flavors of the two different fillings can shine through.
Where to find it: CukrĆ”Å SkĆ”la and CukrĆ”rna MyÅ”Ć”k serve up an artisan version in an elegant First Republic environment. MyÅ”Ć”k spices up the traditional recipe with salted caramel and has a mini size available.
Visit OvocnĆ½ SvÄtozor for a simpler but classic retro version.
Eska KarlĆn used to have an excellent vÄtrnĆk on the menu; as of December 2023, they are sadly not offering it currently, but do ask if youāre there in case it comes back.
8. BƔbovka
A peculiarly shaped sponge cake, bĆ”bovka has traditionally been the domain of Czech grandmothers but has recently been appearing in hipster cafĆ©s in up-and-coming Prague neighborhoods like HoleÅ”ovice and KarlĆn.
Widely spread throughout Central Europe, bƔbovka was served as early as the 15th century at weddings and community events.
The first recipe was recorded in 1581 by Marx Rumpolt, a cook who had worked for nobles in Bohemia (part of todayās Czechia) and Hungary and collected local recipes in a cookbook. It is referred to as “Gugelkupf” or “Kugelhupf” in Austria and South Germany.
Baked in a typical round, ribbed form with a hole in the middle and served in thin slices, a good bƔbovka is soft and moist, yet fragile and crumbly.
It comes in a variety of flavors with hundreds of local recipes, the most popular being “mramorovĆ”” (āmarbleā, made of light vanilla and dark cacao batter), quark (a thick and sour cream cheese also used in buchty or kolĆ”Äe), or walnut or hazelnut.
Eat it plain, like most locals do, or with a generous dollop of whipped cream on the side.
Where to find it: CafĆ© Louvre has a delicious apple and cocoa āmarbleā version that is soft and moist.
Eska KarlĆn and Chleba a mĆ”slo, both top picks for traditional Czech desserts, offer it as part of their rotating selection; but not necessarily every day, so you might need a bit of luck to find it.
9. Buchty
Yeast dough buns similar in flavor to the kolĆ”Ä, buchty are as traditional as it gets. If you’re looking for traditional Czech sweets, this one should definitely be on your list.
At home in the Bohemian and Moravian countryside, they come with a variety of fillings like poppy seeds, plum jam, quark, or walnuts, inviting you to try them all and find your personal favorite (mine are quark and plum jam, for instance).
The buns are baked in a deep pan tightly lined next to each other and are then pulled apart once baked, giving them their characteristic appearance with a golden-brown top and light sides.
Buchty is quintessentially Czech. They originated in the Bohemia region in the 1600s and spread throughout Central Europe from there, becoming part of local cuisines as far as South Germany on one end and Slovenia on the other.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, they were commonly eaten on Christmas Eve.
Funny side note: In Czech slang, the word ābuchtaā can also be used to refer to a girl or a woman in several contextsāas a general word for a woman, as a rough compliment for an attractive one, or on the other hand a derogatory term for a housewife or an unfit woman sitting around at home.
Where to find it: Eska KarlĆn, Chleba a mĆ”slo, and CafĆ© Louvre all have excellent, indulgent versions; but if you want something more easygoing and not to necessarily sit down in a cafĆ©, many small local bakeries will have buchty on offer. Just pop in and take one (or one of each flavor) along for your Old Town stroll.
10. LoupƔk
This half-moon-shaped bread roll is yet another retro favorite. Its story probably started in Vienna, where half-moon-shaped pastries were baked at the end of the 17th century to celebrate the end of the Ottoman invasion.
The idea then spread through Europe, birthing the croissant in France and the loupƔk in Czechia; however, the two pastries have little in common aside from their shape.
The loupƔk is a fluffy, lightly sweet, yeast dough pastry topped with a generous serving of poppy seeds. The dough is rolled instead of folded, as opposed to the sheet dough used to give the characteristic structure to a croissant.
LoupƔky is traditionally eaten for breakfast, with butter or plain, and with an (almost obligatory) cup of hot cocoa on the side.
Due to its poppy seed coating, you can also find it under the name āmakovkaā.
Where to find it: Since the loupƔk is a breakfast classic, you can find it in most bakeries and even supermarket bakery sections to grab one on the go.
If youād like to sample an artisan version, head to Etapa KarlĆn, Eska KarlĆn, or Chleba a mĆ”slo and try it for breakfast just plain with butter, or on the side of some organic scrambled eggs.
Where To Find Vegan & Gluten-Free Prague Pastries
Czech cuisine is traditionally heavy both on gluten and animal products, so can you indulge in delicious Czech pastries without them? The answer is: somewhat.
Veganism is picking up only slowly in Prague, with the current trend more focused on organic quality animal products. Gluten-free is a more known concept but not necessarily more widespread.
However, there are a few options in Prague for those craving Czech Republic desserts and pastries:
Gluten-free options:
BabiÄÄina spĆž gluten-free bakery sells a wide range of gluten-free breads, pastries, and cakes, including some items from this list, like Å”trÅÆdl or several flavors of bĆ”bovka.
Vegan options:
Head to the fabulous Kolacherie for various flavors of authentic vegan kolĆ”Äe. Try rhubarb, poppy seeds, or blueberry.
Kin & K and Krafin are bakeries offering vegan pastries, the selection is quite international but includes some Czech pastries.
For sit-down cafƩs and restaurants, MyRawCafe, Palo Verde Bistro, and Herbivore all have a cake selection with international and Czech options.
Any other Prague pastries you recommend?
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About The Authors
Emily Monaco is a born-and-raised New Yorker based in Paris. After pursuing a master’s degree in 19th-century French literature, she devoted herself full-time to writing about food, drink, and culture shock in France, a topic she discusses extensively on her blog, Tomato Kumato. Emily is always on the lookout for an excellent cup of coffee, a good beer, and fantastic cheese.
Denisa Valsova was born and raised in Prague, Czechia, and has since lived in Germany and the Netherlands. After working as a management consultant in Germany for several years, she put her business career on pause, packed her backpack, and set off on a world trip together with her partner Thomas. Follow as they share their adventures from five continents and top travel tips on their blog, Two Far Away (launching soon), and on Instagram at @twofaraway_.