Basic Batters, Doughs, Icings & Glazes

Any compendium of Austro-Hungarian desserts is like a family tree. The batters and doughs (sponge cake, puff pastry, sweet yeast dough, and soon) are the heads of the family, the glazes and icings are the spouses, and the desserts thems elves are the offspring. Comparisons to the French pastry lexicon are unavoidable, perhaps because Americans are more familiar with the French terms and our culinary students are trained to learn French pâtisserie terminology. In the culinary schools of central Europe a dry sponge cake is called by the German Biskuittorten, not by the French genoise or biscuit, as I was taught when I studied for my culinary degree.