Everything began in the year 1786 when confectionary assistant Ludwig Dehne from Wuerttemberg settled in Vienna.
He started selling frozen goods and very soon extended his production to candy, jam-filled doughnuts and Mardi Gras beignets as well as a variety of other bakery goods. And already several years after the founding, cavaliers held their trysts with beautiful Viennese women at Dehnes, enjoying the artfully formed and decorated sweets.
Ludwig Dehne’s son August sold the shop in 1857 to his first assistant Christoph Demel.
His sons Josef and Carl were the ones who in the end consequentially named the confectionary “K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäcker Ch. Demel’s Söhne” (Imperial and Royal Court Confectionary Bakery Ch. Demel’s Sons). The renown of the confectionary Demel had already reached foreign shores and the title “K.u.K.” Court Supplier was already secured.
In 1888 the brothers Demel moved into the Palais at the Kohlmarkt as Emperor Franz Joseph ordered sanding works to be done on the city fortifications. The Demel now stands in one line with the Hofburg (castle courtyard).
So it comes to no surprise that there are some majestic sugar sculptures in Demel’s windows now and then. Like this week:
The Crown of the Austrian Empire
left: the original Crown, right: the Sugar Crown from Demel
The Austrian Crown Jewels are for the most part kept at the Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury), located in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. They are a collection of imperial and royal regalia and jewels dating from the 10th century to the 19th. They are one of the biggest and most important collections of royal objects still in existence, and reflect more than a thousand years of European history.