Which German pastry is a jam-filled, sugar-dusted doughnut known as a Berliner Pfannkuchen?

The German pastry that is a jam-filled, sugar-dusted doughnut is the Berliner Pfannkuchen. It is made from sweet yeast dough, deep-fried without a hole, filled with jam, and traditionally finished with powdered or granulated sugar.

In Germany, the pastry is often shortened to Berliner, although names vary by region. In Berlin itself, it is commonly called a Pfannkuchen, while the word Berliner can refer to the same pastry elsewhere. In southern Germany and Austria, Krapfen is a related regional name.

Fruit preserves, especially plum or raspberry jam, are traditional fillings. Modern versions may contain custard, chocolate, or other creams, but those variations do not change the pastry’s basic identity.

The pastry became internationally famous partly through John F. Kennedy’s 1963 speech in West Berlin, in which he used “Ich bin ein Berliner.” The phrase was grammatically understandable and was not a claim that he was literally a doughnut, despite a persistent English-language myth.