I’m often asked the best places to eat overseas. This takes the cake
I tell them about the best bistros, Michelin-star diners and yum cha palaces. Then I reveal the really important thing – where to find the best cake.
Opinion
Terry DurackGood Weekend columnist and Traveller contributor
January 2, 2026 — 5:00am
January 2, 2026 — 5:00am
People always ask me where to eat when they are going to Paris, New York or Hong Kong. I tell them the best bistros, Michelin-star diners and yum cha palaces. Then I pause for dramatic effect and reveal the really important stuff – where to find the best cake.
Great cakes are dripping with history, with backstories to rival Hollywood plots. They don’t require restaurant reservations or the endurance test of a long tasting menu to enjoy.
Some come with an historic setting of a grand cafe or hotel thrown in; others can be bought and taken to the nearest park bench. Wherever you have it, cake is the fastest, the most compelling, and often the cheapest way to get a taste of where you are.
Hotel Sacher… a perfect cake-eating venue and home to the Sachertorte.
The famous Sachertorte**,** for instance, will have you in a spin, deciding which of the two competing venues in Vienna do it best, the opulent Hotel Sacher or the ornate Cafe Demel. A rich, somewhat dry, chocolate cake with a glaze of apricot jam, it was created in 1842 by 16-year-old apprentice baker, Franz Sacher. His son, Eduard, refined the recipe while at Demel, later establishing the exclusive Hotel Sacher near the Vienna Opera House. A legal battle as to who holds the recipe copyright was resolved in favour of the Hotel Sacher, but both do it with great respect, and much cream.
It’s easier to settle on the (undisputed) source of the iconic Spanish burnt Basque cheesecake. Make a pilgrimage to the tiny La Vina pintxos bar run by Santiago (Santi) Rivera in San Sebastian in the Basque country, where the batter of cream cheese and eggs is baked in a wood-fired oven at such a high temperature the top and sides are blackened like the inside of an ancient chimney. Inside, all is soft, rich, creamy, and as light as a mousse.
La Vina burnt Basque cheesecake.
You’d think fruit cake would be easy to find in Scotland, but I spent a miserable day wandering gloomy Edinburgh searching for my favourite Dundee cake. Failing miserably, I whinged to my Scottish friend Sue Lawrence, who wrote the book (literally) on Scottish baking. She scoffed. “You don’t go to Edinburgh for Dundee cake,” she said. “You go to Dundee!”
First made (in Dundee) by James Keiller using the surplus orange peel from making marmalade, this glorious fruit cake is chockers with dried fruits, the top encircled by almonds. If you’re not near in , who make a proper cake, then look online for and make your own.
