Search
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
VenezuelaGermany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
Finland
France
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican RepublicTurkey
South Africa
Australia
FijiFlavors · Leipzig
Little tart of shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan, almonds and a touch of jam or a cherry, with two strips of pastry crossed on top. It replaced the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
Traditional sweet from Leipzig, Saxônia
Also known as: Leipziger Lerchen
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Leipziger Lerche — Leipzig, Germany
The Leipziger Lerche is a little tart from Leipzig: a shortcrust pastry shell filled with marzipan, almonds or ground walnuts and a little jam or a cherry, topped with two thin crossed pastry strips. The name means “lark of Leipzig,” and the sweet’s story explains why.
Until the 19th century, the lark, a small songbird, was a Leipzig specialty. The birds were hunted by the thousands in the fields around the city, stuffed with herbs and eggs and baked in pastry, and were sold and shipped away. In 1876 King Albert of Saxony banned lark hunting. The city’s confectioners then created a sweet version that kept the name.
The details echo the old recipe. According to the common local explanation, the cherry or jam in the center represents the bird’s heart, and the crossed strips recall the string that tied the roasted lark. Leipzig tourism lists the Leipziger Lerche among the city’s specialties and notes that, unlike other dishes, its history is clear.
The tart is sold in bakeries and cafés in Leipzig, especially in the city center, and is eaten with coffee in the afternoon. The name is protected by the local bakers’ and confectioners’ guild, and the original version uses almond marzipan; there are variations with chocolate or pistachio.
Leipzig , Saxônia
Leipzig tourism presents the Leipziger Lerche as a city specialty, created by local confectioners after the ban on lark hunting in 1876.
Shortcrust pastry (flour, butter, sugar, egg), filling of marzipan, almonds or ground walnuts, a little jam or a cherry; crossed pastry strips on top and powdered sugar.
Whole or in two bites, with coffee, as an afternoon sweet.
Year round.
Your questions
No. It is a sweet shortcrust tart with marzipan and almonds. The name recalls the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
According to the common local explanation, the strips recall the string that held the roasted lark, and the cherry or jam in the center represents the bird’s heart.
In bakeries and cafés in Leipzig, especially in the city center, where it is sold year-round.
Flavors of Germany
Aachen spice cookie, sweetened with syrup and with small pieces of brown candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. It can be hard or soft, plain, with almonds or coated in chocolate. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.
Fresh pasta dough filled with ground meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion and herbs, served in broth, browned with onions, or sliced and fried with egg. A Swabian dish with protected geographical indication since 2009, traditional at Easter week.
Layered chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirschwasser, the cherry brandy of the Black Forest, with cherries and whipped cream, topped with chocolate shavings. Black Forest tourism presents it as the region’s most famous sweet specialty.
Dark beer with a smoky flavor, made with malt dried in the smoke of beech firewood. Bamberg tourism presents it as part of the city’s identity, and the traditional preparation is listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Paste of camembert or brie cheese mashed with butter, paprika and, depending on the recipe, onion, cumin or beer; eaten with bread or a pretzel. A beer‑garden dish from Bavaria, with protected geographical indication since 2015.
Sausage sliced into rounds, topped with tomato sauce and curry powder, served with french fries or bread. The creation of the sauce is attributed to Herta Heuwer, who sold it in Berlin in 1949.
Kale slowly cooked with bacon, served with the smoked sausage Pinkel, smoked pork and potatoes. Bremen’s official portal presents it as the city’s best-known specialty, a winter dish of the Kohlfahrt.
Light, pale beer with top fermentation, served in a thin cylindrical 0.2‑liter glass by the breweries’ waiter, the Köbes. It is a protected geographical indication and may only be made in Cologne and in a few breweries in the region.
Sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and plenty of butter, coated with powdered sugar. Mentioned in Dresden since 1474, it has had protected geographical indication status since 2010.
Amber-colored beer, top-fermented with a pronounced bitterness, brewed in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns from a mid-19th-century recipe. The city’s tourism promotion presents it as the typical drink of the Altstadt.
Cold sauce of seven chopped fresh herbs with sour cream, served with hard‑boiled eggs and potatoes. The mixture of the seven herbs, grown largely in the Oberrad neighborhood, has protected geographical indication.
Sweet made from fermented, laminated dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled and pressed until it takes its characteristic flattened shape. Hamburg’s official portal presents it as a specialty of the city.
Dry, acidic apple wine, fully fermented, served in the Bembel ceramic jug and in the diamond-patterned glass called the Gerippte. It is a protected geographical indication of Hesse, and the apple wine culture of the state is listed in the German inventory of intangible heritage.
White veal sausage with bacon and parsley, warmed in hot water and served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, traditionally before midday. It is one of Munich’s best-known specialties.
Honey cake with spices, walnuts and almonds, often baked on a thin wafer and covered with chocolate or icing. It has a protected geographical indication since 1996 and may only be made within Nuremberg.
Pork sausages 7 to 9 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram and grilled, served by the dozen with sauerkraut or inside a roll. They have protected geographical indication since 2003 and may only be made in Nuremberg.
Ball of strips of shortcrust pastry, fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, resembling a snowball. Rothenburg ob der Tauber tourism presents it as the city’s regional specialty.
Cake baked in thin layers on a spit that turns in front of a fire; when sliced it shows rings like those of a tree trunk. Made in Salzwedel since the early 19th century, it has been a protected geographical indication since 2010.
Long, thin pork sausage, 15 to 20 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal and eaten in a small roll with mustard. The earliest known mention dates from 1404, and the name has protected geographical indication status since 2004.
