In 1926, the Viennese confectioner Walter Niemetz, his wife Johanna and a Swedish friend of theirs produced the first ‘Schwedenbombe’ biscuit, and the recipe has remained as simple and yet sophisticated as ever, with a crunchy waffle base, a light and airy filling and a crisp chocolate coating.
There may be plenty of similar sweets in lots of other countries (such as variants with waffle, wafer or marzipan bases), but the Austrians have stayed fiercely loyal to Niemetz’s Schwedenbomben for a century.
This became especially apparent in 2013, when the company was experiencing some financial difficulties and there was a chance that the Schwedenbomben might disappear from the shelves. A ‘Save the Schwedenbombe’ campaign came to the rescue, with thousands of fans rallying round to buy up every Schwedenbombe they could get their hands on to save their favourite snack from extinction. And it worked - Heidi Chocolat AG took over the firm and domestic production (in Vienna’s Neudorf district) has continued.
Schwedenbomben are produced there to this day and are still packed by hand. You can even take a course at the factory to learn how to make them at home - no fewer than 12,000 people took part in the workshop and made their own sweets in 2025.
