# Palatschinke
**Palatschinke** (plural Palatschinken) is a thin, rolled egg pancake of [Austrian cuisine](https://www.edgepedia.org/austrian-cuisine), typically filled with jam or another sweet filling and closely resembling the French crêpe[1](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Palatschinke). The dish and its name spread across the former Habsburg lands, appearing as Hungarian *palacsinta*, Czech *palačinka*, Slovak *palacinka*, and Serbian, Croatian, and Bulgarian *palačinka* (палачинка)[2](https://uesz.nytud.hu/index.html?uuid=c67faccc-7c44-1014-a8d2-ae24c20aeb7e) • [3](https://zabra.org/gastronomie-et-terroirs/les-varietes-de-crepes-dans-le-monde/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | A thin, rolled egg pancake (Eierkuchen), usually filled with jam or similar, an Austrian German word[1](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Palatschinke) |
| Etymology | Hungarian *palacsinta* < Romanian *plăcintă* < Latin *placenta* (flat cake)[1](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Palatschinke) |
| First attestation | 1577, as *palaczinta* in the Kolozsvár glosses, meaning a flat cake of bread dough[2](https://uesz.nytud.hu/index.html?uuid=c67faccc-7c44-1014-a8d2-ae24c20aeb7e) |
| Batter | Flour, eggs, milk, and a pinch of salt, mixed thinner than German Pfannkuchen batter so it can be swirled in the pan[4](https://www.falstaff.com/at/news/nicht-alles-was-aus-der-pfanne-kommt-ist-ein-pfannkuchen) |
| Technique | Only a thin film of batter should coat the pan; excess batter makes an unacceptably thick pancake[5](https://www.tastelab.food/encyclopedia/canon/palatschinken) |
| Classic filling | Sweetened Topfen (curd cheese) with vanilla, egg yolk, and raisins, baked under a cream-egg custard[5](https://www.tastelab.food/encyclopedia/canon/palatschinken) |
| Savoury use | Cut into strips and served in broth as Frittaten, a crêpe soup associated with Styria[6](https://www.austria.org/a-brief-history) |
## Etymology and history
The word traces a long path through the languages of [Central Europe](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-europe). According to the Duden, German *Palatschinke* comes from Hungarian *palacsinta*, which derives from Romanian *plăcintă*, itself from Latin *placenta*, a flat cake[1](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Palatschinke). The New Hungarian Etymological Dictionary records the first Hungarian attestation as *palaczinta* in 1577 in the manuscript known as the Kolozsvár glosses, where it meant a flat cake or bread-dough pastry; by 1600 it denoted the modern dish, a flat round cake fried in fat from a thin batter of milk, eggs, and flour[2](https://uesz.nytud.hu/index.html?uuid=c67faccc-7c44-1014-a8d2-ae24c20aeb7e). From Hungarian the word passed into [Austrian German](https://www.edgepedia.org/austrian-german) as Palatschinke and into Serbian, Czech, and Slovak[2](https://uesz.nytud.hu/index.html?uuid=c67faccc-7c44-1014-a8d2-ae24c20aeb7e).
The thin, unleavened pancake familiar today is a relatively recent arrival in Hungarian rural cooking. An ethnographic handbook describes a finger-thick peasant palacsinta made from leavened dough alongside the thin, gentry-style pancake made from a liquid, unraised batter; the peasantry took over the thin version from bourgeois cuisine only around 1900[7](https://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02152/html/04/247.html).
The dish entered Austrian cooking from Hungary. The Austrian Press and Information Service lists Palatschinken among the dishes that came from the Hungarian plains, alongside Gulasch, within the multi-national Habsburg Empire's mixed cuisine[6](https://www.austria.org/a-brief-history).
## Preparation
The classic batter contains flour, eggs, milk, and a pinch of salt, mixed to a consistency somewhat more liquid than German Pfannkuchen batter so that it can be swirled easily in the pan; the result is a thin, flat pancake[4](https://www.falstaff.com/at/news/nicht-alles-was-aus-der-pfanne-kommt-ist-ein-pfannkuchen). Only a thin film should coat the pan: a small amount of batter is poured in and immediately tilted in all directions, with the excess returned, since too much batter produces an unacceptably thick pancake[5](https://www.tastelab.food/encyclopedia/canon/palatschinken).
Compared with its relatives, the Palatschinke sits between the German Pfannkuchen, which uses similar ingredients in a thicker batter, and the French crêpe, which is the thinnest and largest of the three and is sometimes made with mineral water to keep the batter light[4](https://www.falstaff.com/at/news/nicht-alles-was-aus-der-pfanne-kommt-ist-ein-pfannkuchen). Partial sparkling water is also described as a valid refinement within the Palatschinken tradition, producing a slightly lacier, more delicate pancake[5](https://www.tastelab.food/encyclopedia/canon/palatschinken).
## Fillings and dishes
Palatschinken are usually filled and rolled. The classic Viennese Topfenpalatschinken is filled with sweetened [Topfen](https://www.edgepedia.org/quark-dairy-product), the Austrian curd cheese, together with vanilla, egg yolk, and raisins; the rolled pancakes are arranged in a baking dish, covered with a cream-egg custard, and baked until golden, a common restaurant preparation[5](https://www.tastelab.food/encyclopedia/canon/palatschinken). Hungarian tradition favors fillings of túró (curd cheese), jam, cocoa powder, and cinnamon[8](https://magyarnemzet.hu/brand/mindmegette/2021/03/palacsinta-egy-osregi-desszert-kulonos-tortenete).
The pancakes also serve savoury purposes. Cut into strips, they are served in clear broth as Frittaten, a crêpe soup that the Austrian Press and Information Service attributes to Styria[6](https://www.austria.org/a-brief-history).
A well-known Hungarian restaurant variant is the Gundel palacsinta, named for the Gundel restaurant in Budapest. Its original recipe is still kept as a restaurant secret, and the restaurant serves about 25,000 portions of it per year; Vienna has similar walnut-and-chocolate palatschinke versions, generally served without raisins and with whipped cream[9](https://ekmekdefteri.com/palacinka/).
## Place in Central European food culture
Palatschinken belong to the Central European category of flour-based sweets, the Mehlspeise, a dessert category in which sweet flour dishes are served as a meal in themselves, such as an afternoon snack, rather than after dinner[10](https://www.kreativnaevropa.rs/upload/media/2025/7/23/11337/Slatki-kuvar-Evropske-godine-kulturnog-nasle%C4%91a.pdf). A Serbian cookbook of European culinary heritage lists palacsinta (German Palatschinken) among the oldest desserts of the region[10](https://www.kreativnaevropa.rs/upload/media/2025/7/23/11337/Slatki-kuvar-Evropske-godine-kulturnog-nasle%C4%91a.pdf).
The dish's names map the old empire's linguistic geography: Austria uses Palatschinke, the Czech Republic palačinka, Slovakia palacinka, and Hungary palacsinta, with plurals palatschinken, palačinky, and palacinky respectively[3](https://zabra.org/gastronomie-et-terroirs/les-varietes-de-crepes-dans-le-monde/). In the Balkans the same dish is everyday food, and Slovene commentary on national cuisine places palačinke, a word that likewise came from Romanian via Hungarian, at the center of what counts as Central European cooking[11](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07409710.2023.2194049).
## References
1. [Palatschinke – Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft, Duden](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Palatschinke)
2. [palacsinta, Új magyar etimológiai szótár (New Hungarian Etymological Dictionary), Research Institute for Linguistics](https://uesz.nytud.hu/index.html?uuid=c67faccc-7c44-1014-a8d2-ae24c20aeb7e)
3. [Les variétés de crêpes dans le monde, RP2M](https://zabra.org/gastronomie-et-terroirs/les-varietes-de-crepes-dans-le-monde/)
4. [Nicht alles, was aus der Pfanne kommt, ist ein Pfannkuchen, Falstaff](https://www.falstaff.com/at/news/nicht-alles-was-aus-der-pfanne-kommt-ist-ein-pfannkuchen)
5. [Palatschinken — The Canon, Taste Lab](https://www.tastelab.food/encyclopedia/canon/palatschinken)
6. [A Brief History of Austrian Cuisine, Austrian Press and Information Service](https://www.austria.org/a-brief-history)
7. [Magyar Néprajz IV. Anyagi kultúra 3. Életmód: Az ételválaszték történeti alakulása](https://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02152/html/04/247.html)
8. [Palacsinta, egy ősrégi desszert különös története, Magyar Nemzet](https://magyarnemzet.hu/brand/mindmegette/2021/03/palacsinta-egy-osregi-desszert-kulonos-tortenete)
9. [Palačinka Tarifi ve Tarihi, Ekmek Defteri](https://ekmekdefteri.com/palacinka/)
10. [Slatki kuvar – Evropske godine kulturnog nasleđa (Sweet Cookbook of the European Year of Cultural Heritage), Kreativna Evropa Srbija](https://www.kreativnaevropa.rs/upload/media/2025/7/23/11337/Slatki-kuvar-Evropske-godine-kulturnog-nasle%C4%91a.pdf)
11. [Between the Balkans and Central Europe: Celebrity chefs, national culinary identity and the post-socialist cookbook, Food, Culture & Society](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07409710.2023.2194049)
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