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The fact that two famous Vienna confectioners, Sacher and Demel, fought a seven-year legal battle on who had the original recipe for Sachertorte shows how serious the Austrians take their cakes. This rich cake, covered with apricot jam then coated with chocolate, was allegedly invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 and was a taste sensation that conquered the globe. Although every cookbook includes a recipe, the original is top secret.

With almonds, cocoa or chocolate icing, this cake has numerous variations – its name refers to its characteristic shape, baked in a fluted ring mould. Legend has it that Emperor Franz Joseph had a piece of Gugelhupf every time he visited his mistress, the actress Katharina Schratt, for afternoon coffee. The cake is popular for breakfast as well as during the day.

Strudel are an essential part of the Austrian cuisine. The Strudel dough has to be very thin and is then sprinkled with sliced apples, cinnamon, raisins and icing sugar. Strudel is either served warm or cold and is eaten both as a dessert and as a main dish in Austrian homes.

Named after its inventor, the Hungarian confectioner Lajos Dobos, this delight requires dedication and experience to prepare. Eight separate layers of light sponge cake are joined together with chocolate cream, while the top layer, glazed with caramel and cut into segments, forms the decoration.

Named after the Austrian city of Linz, this cake has been popular for nearly 300 years, with recipes being included in cookbooks as early as the 18th century. There are various versions but it is essentially an almond pastry filled with raspberry or redcurrant jam. As decoration, strips of the pastry are arranged in a grid on top of the cake.

This rather heavy cake is made of high-calorie ingredients. Unlike most cakes which are baked, the Malakofftorte is simply set together with cream and sponge biscuits drenched in rum. In today’s health-conscious environment, the traditional butter cream is often substituted with a lower fat option.

Marbled black-and-white icing is the characteristic element of an Esterhazytorte , which is made up of almond sponge layers filled with cream. The very sweet cake is served either in square or wedge-shaped slices.

This chocolate cake is shaped like a saddle of deer, although no one now knows the origin of this. The sponge is usually filled with apricot jam, then glazed with chocolate and studded with almonds, although there are variations.

Black Forest Cake is another rich chocolate cake where layers of sponge cake are sandwiched together with cream and sour cherries. It is then lavishly decorated with crowns of whipped cream, more sour cherries and grated chocolate.

This cake consists of two layers of crispy puff pastry, filled with a thick layer of vanilla-flavoured whipped cream and topped with sugared icing.