Curated lists

Desserts and sweets

The 24 best-known desserts and sweets from around the world, each with a short background and where it comes from.

01
Chocolate
Mexico
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans. It can be a liquid, solid, or paste. It is eaten on its own and used to flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao).
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02
Tiramisu
Italy
Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made with coffee-soaked ladyfingers (savoiardi) covered with a cream of egg yolks, sugar, mascarpone, and cocoa powder. It originated in northeastern Italy, and modern versions were popularized in restaurants from the 1970s.
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03
Croissant
France
A croissant is a Viennoiserie in a crescent shape made from a laminated yeast dough that sits between a bread and a puff pastry. It is buttery and flaky, inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl, but using the Viennoiserie yeast-leavened laminated dough.
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04
Biscuit
United Kingdom
A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. Savoury biscuits are called crackers or biscuits for cheese.
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05
Marzipan
Germany Spain
Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. Variants can be made from other nuts, or apricot or peach kernels, instead of almonds.
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06
Pancake
United States
A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat type of batter bread like cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or…
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07
Pretzel
Germany
A pretzel is a type of baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot.
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08
Sachertorte
Austria
Sachertorte is a sponge cake that combines chocolate sponge, apricot jam, and a chocolate glaze. It was invented by the Austrian confectioner Franz Sacher in the mid-19th century. The ingredients include butter, chocolate, eggs, flour, and sugar.
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09
Pie
Brazil United Kingdom
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients.
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10
Sorbet
Iran
Sorbet is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, or other ingredients, such as wine, liqueur, or honey.
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11
Jalebi
Egypt Kuwait
Jalebi is a common sweet snack in South Asia, West Asia and some parts of Africa. The south Asian variety is made by deep-frying maida flour (plain flour or all-purpose flour) batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup.
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12
Nougat
Kuwait
Nougat refers to a variety of soft, chewy or crunchy confections made from sugar, honey or syrup combined with nuts, egg white, cocoa, milk powder, candied fruits, and/or other ingredients. The main colour is usually white or brown.
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13
Marshmallow
United States
Marshmallow (UK:, US: ) is a confection made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or molded into shapes and coated with corn starch.
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14
Chocolate brownie
United Kingdom
A chocolate brownie, or simply a brownie, is a chocolate baked dessert bar. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density.
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15
Meringue
France
Meringue is a type of dessert or candy, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream of tartar. A binding agent such as salt, flour, or gelatin may also be added to the eggs.
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16
Gulab jamun
India Pakistan
Gulab jamun is a sweet dessert or mithai which had originated in the Indian subcontinent, and is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Burmese cuisines. Gulab jamun are also common in nations with substantial populations of South Asians.
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17
Mochi
United States
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of mochigome (もち米), a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape.
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18
Börek
Turkey
Börek, also referred to as burek or byrek or burekas, is a family of pastries or pies made in West Asia and Southeast Europe. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes.
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19
Strudel
Austria Hungary
Strudel is a type of layered baked good made with pastry, with a filling that is usually sweet, but savoury fillings are also common. It became popular in the 18th century throughout the Austrian Empire.
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20
Éclair
France
An éclair (English: ih-KLAIR or ay-KLAIR) is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with a flavored icing.
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21
Churro
Spain
A churro is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, made with choux pastry dough piped into hot oil with a piping bag and large closed star tip or similar shape.
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22
Panettone
Italy
Panettone is an Italian sweet bread and fruitcake that is associated with the city of Milan, Lombardy.
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23
Macaron
France
A macaron or French macaroon is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and often food colouring.
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24
Crème brûlée
France
Crème brûlée, also known as burnt cream, Cambridge burnt cream, or Trinity cream, and virtually identical to crema catalana, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar.
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Description: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Wikimedia Commons