Desserts
Crème Brûlée
A vanilla custard so smooth it barely holds a spoon, under a sheet of caramel thin enough to crack with a tap. The…
Desserts · French
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French dessert recipes
58 French dessert recipes, in a suggested order.
These are the 58 French recipes filed under desserts: 58 of the 583 desserts on the site, and 58 of its 282 French recipes. Of these, 6 are ready in 30 minutes or less, start to finish; the quickest are Chantilly (5 min), Chocolate Ganache (15 min) and Cherries Jubilee (20 min). For 39, the method times a wait such as rising, chilling or marinating, and the time at the top of the recipe includes it. By difficulty: 17 easy, 26 medium and 15 hard.
As written, 56 are vegetarian, 5 vegan, 25 gluten-free and 9 dairy-free.
French desserts
Desserts
French Macarons
The Parisian macaron, with smooth domed shells, ruffled feet and a chewy centre. This uses the more forgiving French…
Desserts
Profiteroles
Choux buns filled with cold vanilla cream and drowned in hot dark chocolate sauce. The temperature contrast is the…
Desserts
Crêpes Suzette
Paper-thin crêpes folded into an orange-caramel butter sauce and flambéed at the table with Grand Marnier. A piece…
Desserts
Apple Tarte Tatin
Apples caramelised in butter and sugar directly in the pan, covered with pastry and baked, then flipped to reveal a…
Desserts
Cherry Clafoutis
A Limousin dessert somewhere between a flan and a pancake: cherries dropped into a loose batter and baked until it…
Desserts
Chocolate Éclairs
Crisp choux shells, split and piped full of vanilla crème pâtissière, capped with a dark chocolate glaze that sets…
Desserts
Mille-Feuille
Three sheets of caramelised puff pastry alternating with crème pâtissière, topped with the marbled feathered icing…
Desserts
Chocolate Soufflé
A soufflé that rises two inches above the ramekin and stays up long enough to reach the table, with a molten centre…
Desserts
Pots de Crème
Small pots of dark chocolate custard, baked in a bain-marie until barely set and eaten cold with a spoon. Three…
Desserts
Gâteau Basque
A thick shortcrust shell around a layer of vanilla pastry cream or black cherry jam, scored across the top before…
Desserts
Baba au Rhum
A yeasted sponge soaked until it is saturated with rum syrup. It should be heavy with it — a dry baba is a failed one.
Desserts
Bavarois
A vanilla custard cream set with gelatine and lightened with whipped cream, chilled until firm and turned out from…
Desserts
Chantilly
Cold double cream whipped with a little icing sugar and vanilla into soft peaks, ready in 5 minutes with no cooking.
Desserts
Charlotte aux Fraises
A dome of sponge fingers filled with a strawberry bavarois and fresh strawberries, set in the fridge for at least 4…
Desserts
Cherries Jubilee
Dark cherries warmed in a sweet sauce of sugar, butter and orange juice, flamed with kirsch and spooned over vanilla…
Desserts
Chocolate Ganache
Equal parts dark chocolate and hot cream, stirred until glossy. Pour it as a glaze, cool it into a frosting or whip…
Desserts
Chocolate Mousse
Four ingredients and no gelatine: melted chocolate, egg yolks, whipped whites and a little cream. The air is all…
Desserts
Chocolate Pots
Dark chocolate and cream whisked into silky pots de creme, poured into ramekins and chilled until set.
Desserts
Chocolate Tart
A crisp chocolate shortcrust case filled with a silky dark chocolate ganache, baked for 35 minutes in total and…
Desserts
Chocolate Truffles
A soft ganache of dark chocolate, cream and butter, chilled, rolled into balls and coated in cocoa. The simplest and…
Desserts
Creme Anglaise
A pouring custard of milk, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla, cooked gently until it coats a spoon.
Desserts
Crème Caramel
Baked custard turned out so the caramel runs down it. The caramel goes into the moulds first and dissolves into a…
Desserts
Dacquoise
Discs of nut meringue layered with buttercream. Chewy rather than crisp, which is what separates it from a vacherin.
Desserts
Dairy-Free Chocolate Mousse
A light chocolate mousse made from dairy-free dark chocolate and whipped coconut cream, chilled for 3 hours.
Desserts
Far Breton
A dense batter pudding with prunes, somewhere between a clafoutis and a flan. Brittany, and traditionally made with…
Desserts
Flan Parisien
A deep custard tart with a thick, wobbling set and a scorched top. Sold by the slab in every French bakery and…
Desserts
Fondant au Chocolat
Small dark chocolate cakes with a soft, molten centre, made from five ingredients and baked for 12 minutes at 200C.
Desserts
Fraisier
Strawberries stood upright around the edge of a génoise, packed in mousseline cream. Summer, and the strawberries…
Desserts
French Fruit Tart
The pâtisserie window tart: crisp sweet pastry, a proper vanilla crème pâtissière, and whatever fruit is worth…
Desserts
Île Flottante
Poached meringue floating on crème anglaise under a thread of caramel. The meringue is poached in milk, not baked.
Desserts
Marrons Glaces
Peeled chestnuts simmered in vanilla sugar syrup over two days until glossy and tender, then dried in a low oven.
Desserts
Meringues
Crisp white meringues with a soft marshmallow centre, made with egg whites and caster sugar and baked slowly.
Desserts
Mont-Blanc
Chestnut purée pushed through a ricer into vermicelli over meringue and cream, made to look like the mountain. Piped…
Desserts
Nougat de Montelimar
A soft white nougat of honey, sugar, whisked egg white, almonds and pistachios, cooked to hard ball stage and set…
Desserts
Opéra
Six layers: almond sponge soaked in coffee syrup, coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache, repeated, and a poured…
Desserts
Paris-Brest
A ring of choux split and filled with praline mousseline, made for a bicycle race and shaped like a wheel. The…
Desserts
Peach Melba
Peaches poached in vanilla syrup on vanilla ice cream, under a sharp raspberry sauce. Escoffier made it for an…
Desserts
Pithiviers
Almond cream sealed between two discs of puff pastry, the top scored in curves from the centre. The scoring is what…
Desserts
Poached Pears
Pear halves simmered gently in water with cinnamon, cloves, lemon and vanilla until tender, served warm or chilled…
Desserts
Poire Belle Helene
Pears poached in vanilla syrup, served cold with vanilla ice cream and a warm dark chocolate sauce, ready in 35…
Desserts
Raspberry Sorbet
Raspberries pureed with sugar syrup and a little lemon juice, strained and churned into a vivid pink sorbet.
Desserts
Religieuse
A large choux bun with a small one on top, both filled and glazed, finished with a collar of buttercream. Meant to…
Desserts
Riz au Lait
Rice cooked slowly in vanilla milk until it is creamy but the grains still hold. Served warm in the bowl it was…
Desserts
Sabayon
A frothy warm custard of egg yolks, sugar and sweet white wine, whisked over simmering water until it triples in…
Desserts
Saint-Honoré
Puff pastry base, choux buns dipped in caramel, and piped crème chiboust between them. Named after the patron saint…
Desserts
Savarin
A ring-shaped yeast cake soaked in a warm rum syrup and filled with whipped cream and fruit, baked for 25 minutes.
Desserts
Tarte a la Rhubarbe
Rhubarb baked in a sweet shortcrust case with an almond and egg custard, for 40 minutes at 190C.
9 more french desserts, A–Z
Condiments, dressings, rubs and preserves 1
Filed under Desserts but not a dessert or sweet bake on its own: condiment, dressing or rub. Filter these.
- Raspberry Coulis 13 min+