Best Desserts in Vienna for Gluten-Free Travellers

Oh Vienna, you're a dessert lover's dream! Your historic coffee houses are opulent shrines to cake, your hip cafes are home to sweet treats and alternative vibes, and your cosy restaurants warm the heart with traditional desserts. Fortunately, you also look after your gluten-free visitors and it was a challenge, even for a glutton like me, to sample all you had to offer. 

Okay, I think I've made my point; there are a LOT of amazing gluten-free treats in Austria's capital. So, without further ado, let me tell you where to find them!

In no particular order, here are the very best desserts I found in Vienna for gluten-free travellers...

konditorei oberlaa

If I could only satisfy my cake cravings at one cafe in Vienna, it would be Oberlaa. I tried all four of their gluten-free cakes - chocolate mousse, Kurbad, Esterházy and Hollander - and fell equally in love with all of them. 

The chocolate mousse cake, with its mirror glaze that you can practically see your reflection in, is not only for hardcore chocoholics. It is surprisingly light, subtle in flavour and not at all sickly sweet. The Kurbad cake is also delicately flavoured, with milk chocolate cream sandwiched between layers of nutty sponge and covered in a nougat icing. 

I almost didn't try the Hollander cake because the description said almond sponge and I'm not a fan of strong almond flavour (marzipan is an insult to desserts in my opinion), but the sponge was super thin and the almond flavour wasn't overpowering. The sponge is wrapped around milk chocolate cream and topped with a swirl of sticky meringue. 

I was most excited to see that the Esterházy cake was gluten-free because I have fond memories of eating it in Budapest, where the dessert was created, during my non-gluten-free days. As it turns out, the cake has always been gluten-free as it was originally made from layers of almond meringue. Oberlaa's version, which is topped with the typical Esterházy pattern, uses hazelnuts instead of almonds and is utterly delicious. At a push, I would say it was my favourite of Oberlaa's exquisite cakes. 

In addition to this scrumptious selection, Oberlaa also has chilled seasonal desserts, macarons and chocolate truffles; gluten-free travellers are well and truly spoiled for choice. If you only have time for one cafe in Vienna, make it Oberlaa!   

Oberlaa has 12 locations in Vienna. All are open daily apart from Naschmarkt which is closed on Sundays and public holidays.

the cake tree

Close to the Prater, this cute little cafe has two mouth-watering options for gluten-free travellers: a triple chocolate mousse cake and a chocolate brownie. If you're flagging after a busy day of sightseeing, go for the triple chocolate mousse cake and its powerful sugar hit will perk you right up. The brownie is small but perfectly formed and perfectly gooey in the middle.

If you don't speak German, you will feel completely comfortable in The Cake Tree as some staff are native English speakers and I noticed that the cafe was popular with English speaking expats.

The Cake Tree has limited seating but you can also take away so make sure to pop by if a picnic in the Prater is part of your Vienna itinerary.

Address: Wolfgang-Schmälzl-Gasse 14, 1020, Vienna.

Open 10:00 to 16:00 Tuesday to Saturday.

xocolat

I thought chocolate shops like this only existed in my dreams. Not that I could have dreamt up Xocolat's location, an elegant marble columned 19th-century passage lined with chic eateries and shops. 

Xocolat's own products dominate the ground floor with a truffle counter, bags of chocolate-covered nuts and candied fruits, and chocolate bars in extremely pretty wrappers. I loved their blond bar, a caramel milk chocolate which reminded me of Caramac, a childhood favourite in the UK.

I wouldn't have complained if that was the extent of the shop, but there is also an Aladdin's cave of chocolate bars, chocolate spreads and hot chocolate down a short flight of stairs at the back. Everything is beautifully displayed behind handwritten price tags and you will find brands from all over the world, not only Austria.  

We made several trips to Xocolat and each time felt almost like a spiritual experience for me. Richard said it was like observing an animal in their natural habitat!  

Forget clothes shopping, this is my kind of retail therapy.

Address: Freyung 2, 1010, Vienna.

Closed Sundays.

ausnahmsweise

This small and friendly cafe is perfect for travellers with dietary restrictions. All the desserts are gluten-free, soy-free and vegan and many are also nut-free. I'll be honest, I don't usually go for gluten-free desserts that also tick so many other "free from" boxes, but I was won over by the lovely staff at Ausnahmsweise and I had no regrets about the raspberry and coconut tartelette I ordered, or the refreshing homemade lemonade. 

Address: Hofmühlgasse 18/5, 1060 Wien.

Open Tuesday to Saturday 12:00 to 18:30.

fett + Zucker

This eclectic and friendly cafe in Vienna's second district is another good place to come if you have multiple dietary restrictions. Fett + Zucker's cake cabinet is home to a selection of gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan cakes. The gluten-free option when I visited was mohnvanillepowidl, a poppy seed cake topped with jam and vanilla icing. 

It's hard for me to describe this cake because it was unlike anything I've ever tried, and I've tried a lot of cakes! I found the texture of the sponge a bit unusual but it was nothing that couldn't be saved by a substantial layer of jam and icing.

Address: Hollandstrasse 16, 1020, Vienna.

Cash only.

cafe mozart

Cafe Mozart is a typical lavish Viennese coffee house and is very popular with tourists. Despite this, it was easy to get a table on a late weekday morning and our waiter wasn't so busy that he couldn't tell us about the four gluten-free cakes available: chocolate truffle, chocolate and almond, coffee cream and a marzipan orb. Besides the marzipan orb, which was an emphatic no from me, I found it hard to choose between the other three tantalising offers. In the end, I went for the chocolate and almond cake which I dubbed the "hedgehog" cake after seeing how the sponge was pierced with almond slivers. Like Oberlaa's Hollander cake, this isn't an almondy almond cake, the dominant flavour is definitely chocolate, but the ground almonds give the sponge a wonderfully moist texture.

Address: Albertinaplatz 2, 1010 Vienna.

cafe landtmann

Cafe Landtmann is another of Vienna's grand historic coffee houses - where the waiters wear bow ties, the tables are covered with crisp white table cloths and newspapers hang on wooden racks. You will find the same cake selection here as in Cafe Mozart, which for me meant another piece of "hedgehog" cake because I liked it so much the first time. I also spotted a gluten-free chocolate soufflé on the menu so I guess I have a reason to come back!  

Address: Universitätsring 4, 1010, Vienna.

cafe schwarzenberg

I don't actually know if they had any gluten-free options in the dessert case because I visited Cafe Schwarzenberg on one of the rare occasions that I wasn't on the lookout for cake. It wouldn't have been right to ignore my sweet tooth completely though, so I ordered a hot chocolate with orange liqueur and whipped cream. 

I never used to like any kind of alcoholic dessert, but ever since I tried a sublime boozy hot chocolate in Kraków, I have been converted, at least when it comes to hot chocolate. 

My hot chocolate was the perfect winter warmer, but it's the atmosphere that is the real star of the show in Cafe Shwarzenberg, especially if you visit on a Friday or Saturday evening when a pianist provides the soundtrack to your perfect Viennese moment. 

Address: Kärntner Ring 17, 1010.

Live music every Friday and Saturday from 17:00 to 20:30. 

zum wohl

If you're at all concerned about cross-contamination, this 100% gluten-free restaurant is for you. Zum Wohl is also 100% lactose-free and there are lots of vegetarian and vegan options available. There's a good dessert selection here but it was the traditional pancakes that appealed to me the most. The thin, crêpe-style pancakes are filled with homemade apricot jam which is tart and not overpoweringly sweet; perfect washed down with a glass of Austrian Grüner Veltliner. 

Address: Stumpergasse 61, 1060, Vienna.

Reservations recommended. 

gasthaus Nestroy

This cosy gasthaus (German-style tavern) is particularly enticing on a crisp winter's evening. With chequered booths nestled under dark wooden beams and candles flickering on tables, you feel warmer as soon as you walk in. 

Gasthaus Nestroy has a separate gluten-free menu complete with a small selection of desserts. I chose the chocolate and nut pancakes, but the menu also includes sweet dumplings if you want something more traditional. My pancakes were hardly a gourmet dessert, but whose inner child can resist chocolate-filled pancakes??! 

Address: Weintraubengasse 7, 1020, Vienna.

Reservations recommended.

cafe ansari

I will eat custard in any form, whether it's dolloped over hot apple crumble, a layer in a trifle or served as arguably its fanciest incarnation, a crème brûlée. Cafe Ansari, a stylish Georgian restaurant, elevates the creme brûlée even further by serving it as a duo, one flavoured with lemongrass and ginger and the other with cardamom. These are bold flavours to play with, but they worked wonderfully well and added a hint of the exotic to an otherwise classic dessert. 

Address: Praterstrasse 15, 1020, Vienna

I think you'll agree that gluten-free travellers will have no problem finding dessert in Vienna! 

Which dessert sounds most tempting to you? Are there any delicious gluten-free desserts in Vienna that I've missed? 

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