France is known as one of the dessert capitals of the world. These 26 French desserts are proof that the country deserves that title. Make any one of these 26 French sweets and you will fall in love with each and every one. France will quickly become your favorite dessert country, too!
Strawberry Galette
A galette is a flat, free-formed French pastry dessert that is so easy to make. To make a galette, first, make a crisp and buttery pie dough and then top it with ingredients like fresh fruit before forming a crust with the edges. Bake the galette and in minutes you will have a crispy, buttery, and fruity French dessert.
Get the recipe: Strawberry Galette
Eclairs
Eclairs are famous French pastries made from choux pastry dough such as profiteroles or cream puffs. For the choux pastry, you will only need a few simple ingredients such as water, flour, milk, and eggs. The eclairs are baked and then filled with a variety of creams eg. crème diplomate and afterward glazed in melted chocolate ganache. They are so indulgent!
Get the recipe: Eclairs
Mille Feuille
Mille feuille (or "thousand leaves") is a famous French dessert made from layers of puff pastry and pastry cream. To make homemade mille feuille, you bake puff pastry under weights so it remains compacted and crisp and doesn't puff up high. Afterward, the crispy layers of Mille Feuille are stacked with crème pâtissière or crème mousseline. And finally, topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream, or fruit.
Get the recipe: Mille Feuille
Crème brûlée
Crème brûlée (which translates as "burnt cream") is one of my favorite French desserts. It is a rich cream custard baked in a water bath with sugar sprinkled over the top that is torched (or brûléed) until it melts to form a hard and crunchy top layer. It is made of a few simple ingredients and many people don´t know how incredibly easy to prepare!
Get the recipe: Crème Brûlée
Croquembouche
A Croquembouche is a showstopper! You will see croquembouche in the windows of French bakeries, and it isn't hard to see why it's a famous French dessert. First, cream puffs are filled with crème diplomate, and then piled into a pyramid. Then, wrapped in a delicate cobweb of spun sugar caramel.
Get the recipe: Croquembouche
Financiers
French Financiers are small bite-sized tea cakes, kind of like fancy French muffins! These French sweets are made with nut flour and browned butter (a "beurre noisette") and baked into dainty rectangles. They can be flavored with spices like cardamom, and they are often decorated with chopped nuts, too.
Get the recipe: Financiers
Macaron
Macarons are delightfully pretty cookies made with almond paste and meringue mixed together into a batter and piped into little rounds. You can fill these cute French pastries with delicious flavors like fruit purees or chocolate ganache.
Get the recipe: Pistachio Macarons
Charlotte Cake
A Charlotte cake (or "Charlotte aux Fraises") looks so professional but is in fact incredibly easy to make! This beautiful French cake is filled with silky and luxurious Crème mousseline and decorated with fluffy ladyfinger biscuits and fresh strawberries.
Get the recipe: Charlotte Cake
Clafoutis
Clafoutis is a rustic French dessert that comes from the Limousin region of France. High-end restaurants serve Clafoutis in cities all over the country, even though it is traditionally a basic rural dish. It is crustless and similar to flan with a custard-like creamy texture, and it is so easy to make for a fancy brunch or afternoon dessert.
Get the recipe: Clafoutis
Palmiers
Palmiers are a great example of how something doesn't have to have lots of ingredients to be delicious! Puff pastry and sugar are rolled up into the shape of a palm and baked in the oven. That's it!
Get the recipe: Palmiers
Fraisier Cake
Fraisier cake is a famous French dessert that looks beautiful and tastes even better. It is made from two layers of moist Genoise sponge, a vanilla-flavored créme mousseline filling, strawberry jelly, strawberry compote, and fresh strawberries. It is really much easier to make than any other cake and looks so fantastic!
Get the recipe: Fraisier Cake
Rum Baba
Rum baba (or "Baba au rhum") is a yeasted bundt cake (similar to brioche) soaked in rum syrup that was invented in Paris in the 19th century. It's a moist, boozy, and unbelievably tasty French dessert usually smothered in whipped mascarpone frosting and perhaps best enjoyed by adults!
Get the recipe: Rum Baba
Brioche Bread
Brioche bread is a type of French bread made from dough enriched with butter and eggs. It has a tender, moist crumb, and signature golden brown crust. Brioche is a versatile sweet, and rich bread used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Get the recipe: Brioche Bread
Puff Pastry
If you have ever wondered how to make traditional French puff pastry from scratch, this will be your ultimate baking guide! Homemade puff pastry (Pâte Feuilletée in French) might seem like a challenge, but the buttery taste and crisp texture are well worth the effort! I will show you how to make melt-in-the-mouth puff pastry in a relatively easy, straightforward way, so you'll never want to buy store-bought again.
Get the recipe: French Puff Pastry
Madeleines
Madeleines are soft French tea cakes with the most delicious texture. They are sponge cakes made from a Genoise cake batter baked in special madeleine trays shaped like shells. Madeleines are such dainty and cute French cakes and they taste great with afternoon tea or even with morning coffee.
Get the recipe: Madeleines
Mini Strawberry Tartlets
Have you ever seen dainty mini strawberry tartlets in the windows of French patisseries? These classic French desserts are not that hard to make and they are very beautiful desserts. Tarts are super versatile and I have an entire range of recipes for them but the most classic tart is a Pâte sablée shortcrust pastry case filled with silky vanilla custard and topped with fresh fruit decoration. Tartes are sometimes brushed with a glaze after baking for a high gloss finish.
Get the recipe: Mini Strawberry Tartlets
Floating island
Floating Island is a classic French dessert that resembles an island, hence the name! The dessert is effectively a Crème Anglaise custard with poached meringue floating on top, which sounds complicated but it is a lot easier to make than it sounds.
Get the recipe: Floating Island
Choux au craquelin
Choux au craquelin are crispy cream puffs, made from choux pastry (the same as eclairs) and craquelin dough. The craquelin dough melts over the choux pastry as it bakes and forms a crackly patterned exterior and delicious crunchy texture. You can fill it with chocolate cream, whipped cream, strawberries or almost anything you like!
Get the recipe: Choux au Craquelin
Paris-Brest
Pastry chef Louis Durand created the Paris-Brest dessert in 1910 to commemorate the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race. It is made from choux pastry piped into a circular, ring-shaped design and filled with delicious praline crème mousseline. Bakers decorate Paris-Brest with crunchy flaked almonds and powdered sugar so that each bite has the most delicious texture.
Get the recipe: Paris-Brest
Chocolate Chip Brioche
If you love brioche bread, you will want to try this fluffy chocolate chip brioche bread recipe! This buttery chocolate chip brioche takes the classic French brioche bread to the next level by adding chocolate chips to the mix. Whether you serve it for breakfast, brunch, or a post-dinner dessert, it will be a guaranteed crowd-pleaser!
Go to the recipe: Chocolate Chip Brioche
Napoleon Cake
Napoleon cake is a perfectly moist and deliciously creamy dessert made of crunchy puff pastry and silky pastry cream that can be a great fit for any occasion. This recipe will show you how to make Napoleon cake that is flaky, elegant, and overflowing with homemade goodness.
Go to the recipe: Napoleon Cake
Bavarian Cream
Bavarian cream or Crème Bavarois is a classic French dessert made with just six simple ingredients: Milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, gelatin, and heavy cream. This light and creamy treat is super flavorful and perfect for your donuts, cakes, and pastries as a topping or filling. It is so versatile and delicious that you can even enjoy it as a dessert on its own!
Go to the recipe: Bavarian Cream
Beignets
Popular in French cuisine and a staple in the Louisiana city of New Orleans, these homemade beignets are fun to make and hard to resist! Their light, sweet, and pillowy texture make them the perfect treat to enjoy any time of day: For breakfast, an afternoon snack, or dessert. Top them with sugar, fill them with cream, or dip them in your morning coffee.
Go to the recipe: Beignets
Chocolate Cremeux
Also known as Crémeux au Chocolat in French, Chocolate Crémeux is a classic French dessert made with five simple ingredients. With a silky texture that isn't too firm and isn't too soft, a dark Chocolate Crémeux is the perfect creamy topping or filling for your favorite cakes, pastries, and tarts.
Go to the recipe: Chocolate Cremeux
Mousse Cake
A light and airy French mousse cake is traditionally made with whipped egg whites folded into an egg yolk sabayon base or sometimes made in other ways eg. with a cream cheese base. Mousse is sometimes served in a cup or can be made into a light and airy cake.
Get the recipe: Mango Mousse Cake
Chocolate Brioche
For chocolate lovers who also enjoy the tender, fluffy texture of brioche bread, this chocolate brioche gives you the best of both worlds! This easy chocolate brioche recipe takes classic brioche bread and fills it with swirls of creamy chocolate and cocoa powder before topping it with melted butter. Enjoy it for breakfast with a cup of coffee or for an after-dinner treat!
Go to the recipe: Chocolate Brioche
More From Spatula Desserts
The best Asian desserts to make yourself at home. From mochi and matcha to mooncakes, pick something from this Asian dessert recipe list, and thank me later!
Go to the recipes: Best Asian Desserts
Best Unique Desserts
Unique desserts that capture attention and create a stir! This list of unique dessert ideas that break away from the norm will cause a sensation at any event.
Go to the recipes: Best Unique Desserts
Fruit Desserts
Love fruit? Here are the best fruit desserts to enjoy at any time of the year. From easy fruit dessert recipes to showstopper cakes and desserts, I'll show you step-by-step how to make them.
Go to the recipe: Fruit Desserts
This article was originally published as Best French Pastries at Spatula Desserts.
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