Usually shaped into a braided loaf, chałka is a soft, sweet Polish bread prepared with a rich yeasted dough. It can occasionally incorporate raisins or other dried fruits and is traditionally sprinkled with sesame or poppy seeds and sliced almonds.
Chałka is derived from the popular Jewish challah bread, but Poles traditionally associate it with Christmas or Easter holidays. Served sliced, it can be enjoyed plain or accompanied with butter and various fruit preserves.
The name of this sweet German bread that translates as snail cake was inspired by its shape since it consists of numerous rolls neatly placed in a pan, whose final shape is reminiscent of snail shells. The base of the bread is prepared with a brioche-like dough that is shaped into rolls.
Each roll usually consists of various fillings such as vanilla-flavored custard, cinnamon butter, fruit, raisins, poppy seeds, or marzipan. When baked, the bread is glazed or dusted with powdered sugar. In Alsace, the dish is better known as chinois.
Suikerbrood is a sweet, sticky Dutch bread that is traditionally prepared during the Easter festivities in the country. The dough is made with flour, yeast, and water, with large amounts of sugar added into it. The bread can be flavored with ingredients such as cinnamon or ginger, and it is often sliced and consumed with butter.
Suikerbrood is also often gifted to parents after a baby's birth.
MOST ICONIC Suikerbrood
Commonly known as every Slovenian housewife's source of pride, potica is a traditional cake that is usually prepared for festivities and celebrations such as Christmas and Easter. The cake was derived from the older rolled dough cakes, and it was first mentioned in 1575.
Originally, it was a cake reserved for the upper class, but over the years, it gained popularity with the peasants. There are around 60 types of potica, with various traditional fillings such as walnuts, hazelnuts, tarragon, honey, poppy seeds, and cottage cheese.
MOST ICONIC Potica
Traditionally prepared for Christmastime, vánočka is a braided brioche-like bread that is typically flavored with rum and lemon zest, although it is often made with the addition of raisins and almonds. The name of this delicacy stems from Vánoce, the Czech word for Christmas, while the bread is said to symbolize baby Jesus lying in a manger, snugly wrapped in cloth strips.
Interestingly, when making vánočka, it is a custom to jump up and down and think of dear friends and family members while the dough is rising.
Aranygaluska, translated as golden dumplings, is a traditional dessert that is believed to have influenced the invention of the popular American monkey bread. It is prepared with soft balls of yeasted dough that are dipped in butter, rolled in a mixture of sugar and ground walnuts, then tightly assembled in a round tin and baked until golden brown and caramelized.
The bread is derived from the Jewish culinary tradition, and after it was brought to America, it was popularized by Nancy Reagan in the 1950s, when she served it at the White House. The cake is often served lukewarm and whole, allowing the guest to tear the individual golden dumplings.
Hefekranz is a slightly sweet yeast bread that is shaped into a wreath, stuffed with raisins, and flavored with lemon zest. It is popular throughout Switzerland and Germany, especially at Easter and Christmas time, when it is traditionally prepared in numerous homes and bakeries across the country.
The German version is known as hefezopf, and it is usually not shaped into a wreath, but braided. It is believed that the first hefekranz was made by the first Bakers' Union in Switzerland in 1256.
Babka is a sweet, rich bread that is traditionally served on Easter Sunday in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries. The cake usually contains raisins and rum for flavoring, and it is glazed with a fruit-based icing. The name of the cake comes from the Polish word for grandmother, referring to the method of baking the dish in a Bundt mold, so when it is served, it is reminiscent of a grandmother's wide, fluted skirt.
Some believe that babka's round shape is a symbol of fertility, and while most people believe it originated in Slavic regions around Easter, some food historians claim that it came from Italy to Poland, where it was developed into a version of the classic Italian panettone.
VARIATIONS OF Babka
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Makowiec is the Polish name for poppy seed roll, a traditional cake where poppy seed paste is placed between layers of dough. Raisins, almonds, honey, and orange peel can be added to the cake in order to enhance its flavors. Ideally, makowiec should not be too sweet.
It is characterized by its unique appearance when cut, with the dough and the poppy seed filling winding around each other in a spiral. When served, makowiec is usually dusted with powdered sugar. The cake is often consumed alongside tea or coffee, and it is typically prepared for festivities such as Christmas or other winter holidays.
MOST ICONIC Makowiec
View moreKalács is a traditional sweet bread consisting of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, yeast, and milk. It is so popular that almost every family in Hungary has their own recipe and variation on the bread. Sometimes, it is enriched with raisins or cinnamon that is dispersed throughout the interior.
It can be shaped into thick logs or braided (the regular foszlós kalács is always braided). This filling dessert is especially popular during the Easter period.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 35 Central European Sweet Breads” list until February 14, 2025, 2,390 ratings were recorded, of which 1,896 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.