【The Daily Meal】The Mysterious Origins Of German Crown Cake

Though France is often seen as the epicenter for top-tier baked goods, plenty of other nations have more than their fair share of beloved baked confections. In particular, maybe no nation takes to cakes quite like Germany. There’s the unique black forest cake and streusel coffee cake, and even baumkuchen, the German cake that takes three hours to make.

Then there’s German crown cake, a unique entry among baked goods that makes a great starter effort for those looking to get into making German cakes. It’s a ring-shaped sponge cake with three layers of buttercream and fruit jam, covered in more buttercream. Its most distinguishing feature might be its brittle-nut topping, known as “krokant” in German, which usually consists of caramelized hazelnuts. Finally, German crown cake is often topped with some sort of red fruit (cherries and raspberries are two favorites) sitting on individual swirls of cream.

So if the German crown cake wasn’t named after a specific coronation, how did it get its name? The most likely explanation is that Frankfurt was where coronations of Holy Roman Emperors often took place, specifically in the Frankfurt Cathedral. As a result, Frankfurt was also known as the “crown city” of the Holy Roman Empire. So in all likelihood, the cake took its name from the fact it was conceived in Frankfurt.