Linzer Torte

The Linzer Torte has a documented claim to being the oldest cake in the world for which a written recipe survives: a manuscript in the Admont abbey collection, dated 1653 and connected to a Veronika Franck, sets one out, which is a good century and a half before most named European cakes were written down. The pastry is short and dark, made with ground almonds or hazelnuts, cinnamon, cloves and often lemon zest, sometimes cocoa, spread with redcurrant jam and finished with a lattice of the same dough on top - the lattice is not decoration but the defining feature, and a Linzer without it is not one. It is baked to keep, improving over several days, which is why it travelled and why it is sold boxed as the standard present from Linz.

What you actually see

• A 1653 written recipe - among the oldest surviving for any named cake.
• A nut and spice pastry - almonds or hazelnuts with cinnamon and cloves.
• A lattice top - the defining feature, not an ornament.
• A cake made to keep - it improves for several days, hence its travel as a gift.

When to go

All year; it is a coffee-house cake at any hour. A meal.

Honest expectations

It is dense, dry by design and heavily spiced - not a light dessert. Quality varies widely, and the boxed versions sold to visitors are usually inferior to a good konditorei's.

Nearby

The Linz Hauptplatz cafés and the Landstrasse konditoreien all sell it.