It is served as a dessert or as a light lunch alongside apple sauce and contains raisins or dried cranberries.

Kaiserschmarrn is a popular meal or dessert in Austria, Bavaria, and many parts of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, e.g. Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, northern Croatia and western Romania, which usually use the name as a loan word or translations of it.

[citation needed] Kaiserschmarrn is a light, caramelized pancake made from a sweet batter using flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and milk, fried in butter.

When making Kaiserschmarrn the egg whites are usually separated from the yolk and beaten until stiff; then the flour and the yolks are mixed with sugar, and the other ingredients are added, including: nuts, cherries, plums, apple jam, or small pieces of apple, or caramelized raisins and slivered almonds.

A number of varieties exist, including Erdäpfelschmarrn (with potatoes), Äpfelschmarrn (with apples) or Kirschschmarren (with cherries), usually prepared on an open fireplace of a so-called Rauchkuchl.

Obsessed with maintaining a minimal waistline, Empress Elisabeth directed the royal chef to prepare only light desserts for her, much to the dismay and annoyance of her notoriously austere husband.