Cakes come from Austria and are among the very traditional and popular recipes!
Try our tips and you will understand why it is sometimes called the royal candy!
Classic Išel cakes
Try the delicious traditional Austrian Ishel sweets that will intoxicate your senses!
What will we need
For the cream
- 125 ml whipping cream
- 40 g of butter
- 85 g of granulated sugar
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 1 dcl of milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla custard powder
- 1 egg yolk
For the dough
- 1 egg yolk
- 0.5 packet of vanilla sugar
- 0.5 lemon
- 225 g plain flour
- 150 g of butter
- 75 g of powdered sugar
On completion
- 50 g of apricot jam
- 250 g of fondant or chocolate coating
- 100 g of cocoa
- 3 tablespoons of chopped pistachios
- salt
Method
- First prepare the filling.
- Bring the cream with butter and 60 grams of sugar to a boil. Then stir in the chocolate and let it melt.
- Remove the mixture from the heat, place the pot in a cold water bath and cool while stirring constantly.
- When it is lukewarm, you can take it out of the bath, but even then stir it occasionally, otherwise it will not be uniform after it cools down completely.
- Then put in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
- Mix about 2 tablespoons of milk with the custard powder and egg yolk and mix until smooth. Bring the remaining milk and sugar (25g) to the boil and then, stirring constantly, pour in the custard powder mixture and bring to the boil again.
- Put the resulting cream in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to cool in the fridge.
- For the dough, first mix the egg yolk and vanilla sugar, grated lemon peel and mix in a pinch of salt.
- Add flour and butter cut into pieces and work into a smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a tray with baking paper.
- Place the dough between two pieces of cling film and roll out to a sheet about 2 mm thick.
- Cut out circles with a diameter of about 6 cm and bake for approx. 12 minutes.
- Whip the chocolate cream like whipped cream. Then mix in the vanilla cream and finally mix the two creams carefully.
- Fill a pastry bag with the resulting cream. Apply cream to each wheel and stick with another wheel. The cream layer should be approximately 1 cm high.
- Leave the glued cakes to cool for about an hour.
- Then bring the marmalade to a boil and apply it to the cakes – preferably with a brush.
- Next, melt the fondant with cocoa in a water bath and cover the finished cakes with it.
- Finally, garnish with chopped pistachios.
Išelské sweets can only be filled with marmalade, they do not necessarily have a filling. If you decide to glue with marmalade, apply it to the wheels while they are still warm. On the contrary, if you keep the original traditional recipe and join with cream, let the wheels cool properly before you start applying the cream.
If you are interested in these recipes originally from Austria, you can also try another traditional Austrian thing – Christmas tunnels!

You can also see what Išel cakes can look like and how to make them in this video:
Išelské sweets like from grandma
Do you remember the smell wafting from the kitchen before Christmas when grandma was baking? Come and remember the smell and taste with our recipe for Išel Christmas cakes!
What will we need
- 200 g plain flour
- 100 g ground almonds
- 100 g of sugar
- 180 g of butter or margarine
- pinch of salt
- 200 g of apricot jam
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 40 g of chopped pistachios
Method
- Add the butter cut into pieces and gradually work into a smooth dough.
- Wrap the finished dough in foil and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Sprinkle the rolling pin with a little flour and roll the dough into a thin sheet.
- Cut out circles from the sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 175 °C for about 10 minutes.
- Then let cool.
- Melt the chocolate in a water bath and dip half of the baked rounds in it and decorate with pistachios.
- Now all that remains is to glue the wheels without chocolate, and that with a spoonful of apricot marmalade.
You can fill the fragile Išel sweets together with jam and cream. You can find the recipe with the other recipes on this page or at the end of the article.
If, however, you are looking for a simpler version of Christmas cookies, prepare these coconut balls with a Margot stick ! They won’t let you down!

Discover similar tips
Gluten-free Išelje sweets
This option will be appreciated by everyone who has to or wants to follow a gluten-free diet!
What will we need
For the dough
- 100 g of almond flour
- 10 g of flax flour
- 150 g of softened butter
- 100 g ground almonds
- 80 g cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
For the cream
- 70 g of chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa
- 30 g cane sugar
- 160 g of butter
- 1 tablespoon of rum
On completion
- 80 g of strawberry jam
- 1 tablespoon of rum
- 300 g of chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa
Method
- Start by preparing the marmalade, which you will need to finish.
- Heat the marmalade, add rum or sugar to taste.
- Finally, beat into a fine puree with a stick blender. Then leave to cool.
- Now start preparing the dough. Mix all the ingredients for the dough and work into a smooth dough.
- Then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C.
- Roll out the dough to a sheet about 3 mm thick, from which cut out circles.
- Bake on a tray lined with baking paper at 170°C for 7-8 minutes. Then let cool.
- Prepare the buttercream. Melt 70 g of chocolate and whisk together with 160 g of softened butter, rum and 30 g of cane sugar.
- Now you can finish. Spread about half a teaspoon of marmalade and about a teaspoon of buttercream on half of the baked rounds. Apply the cream using a decorative pastry bag.
- Then glue the remaining wheels.
- Now melt 300 g of chocolate and pour it over the glued circles.
- You can garnish with sliced almonds.
This recipe for gluten-free Išel cookies will appeal to all diners – no one will even think that the cookies are gluten-free! You can find more options for gluten-free cookies here!
Where is the best and fastest place to melt chocolate? Well, on thebest kitchen induction plate ! Check out our review and choose the one closest to you!

Cream for Išelsk candy
The real cream for Išelské sweets is created by combining vanilla and Parisian cream. Although it looks complicated, the preparation is not difficult at all and you definitely have the ingredients at home. Come try it!
What will we need
For vanilla cream
- ½ liter of milk
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 60 g of butter
- 50 g of vanilla pudding powder
For the Parisian cream
- ¼ l whipping cream
- 125 g granulated sugar
- 75 g of butter
- 225 g dark chocolate or cooking chocolate
Method
- Start by making the vanilla cream. First, bring ⅔ of the milk and sugar to a boil.
- Mix the remaining milk with the egg yolks and custard powder.
- Pour the mixture into the boiling milk and, stirring constantly, create a cream and remove from the heat.
- Cover the still hot cream with cling film to prevent a crust from forming.
- Put in the fridge and chill overnight.
- Now prepare the Creme de Paris. Bring the whipping cream, granulated sugar and butter to a boil. Gradually break the chocolate into this mixture and stir occasionally.
- Once dissolved, remove from heat and let cool, ideally overnight.
- All that remains is to combine the two creams.
- Mix the vanilla cream with a whisk until smooth.
- Heat the cooled Paris cream slightly and whip it. Then carefully mix with the vanilla cream.
- After that, he can fill the decorating pastry bag and start filling the sweets.
Don’t be put off by the seemingly complicated preparation at first glance. The result is worth it!
This recipe will also come in handy for other occasions throughout the year. Both creams – Parisian and chocolate can be used separately for light cakes, Linz cupcakes, roulades, etc.