The 25 Best Desserts in the World
Every cuisine saves its sweetest ideas for last. From syrup-soaked baklava to New Zealand’s pavlova, these are the 25 best desserts in the world, argued over by families and each linked to a recipe you can actually bake.
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Baklava
TurkeyForty sheets of phyllo, pistachios and syrup poured hot onto cold pastry.
Discover Pistachio Baklava, one of Turkey's most celebrated sweets. Wafer-thin layers of pastry are filled with finely chopped pistachios and soaked in a fragrant, golden syrup. The contrast between the crisp, flaky pastry and the …
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Tiramisù
ItalyCoffee-soaked savoiardi under mascarpone cream. It only dates from the 1960s.
Discover Tiramisu, the much-loved Italian dessert that turns a handful of simple ingredients into something genuinely very good. Layers of coffee-soaked ladyfingers are tucked between clouds of silky mascarpone cream, then …
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Mango Sticky Rice
ThailandGlutinous rice steamed, dressed in salted coconut cream, served with ripe mango.
Discover Mango Sticky Rice, one of Thailand's most beloved sweet treats. This dessert brings together the lush, tropical flavour of ripe mango and sticky glutinous rice steamed and bathed in fragrant coconut milk. It is …
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Pavlova
New ZealandA meringue crisp outside and marshmallow inside. Australia and New Zealand both claim it.
Few desserts capture a New Zealand summer quite like Pavlova. Crisp and snow-white on the outside, soft and marshmallowy within, it is crowned with billowing cream and a tumble of fresh fruit. The balance of sweetness and sharp, …
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Tres Leches Cake
MexicoSponge soaked in evaporated, condensed and fresh milk until it can hold no more.
Meet Pastel de Tres Leches, the beloved Mexican sponge cake soaked in three different kinds of milk. Its name literally means "three-milk cake", and that trio is exactly what gives it the lush, almost custardy texture and gentle …
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Crème Brûlée
FranceSet custard under a sugar crust cracked with a spoon. The contrast is the entire dish.
Treat yourself to Crème Brûlée, France's most beloved dessert. Beneath a brittle, glassy layer of caramelised sugar hides a silky vanilla custard that practically melts on the tongue. The magic lies in the contrast: the satisfying …
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Mochi
JapanGlutinous rice pounded into a paste. Still made with wooden mallets at New Year.
Discover Mochi, the chewy Japanese rice cake that has charmed dessert lovers around the world. Made from nothing more than steamed and pounded glutinous rice, it has a wonderfully soft, stretchy texture that is unlike anything …
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Knafeh
LebanonMelting white cheese under shredded pastry, soaked in syrup and eaten hot.
Discover Knafeh, one of Lebanon's most beloved desserts. This indulgent sweet brings together crisp, golden pastry and a layer of warm, gooey melted cheese for a treat that is as comforting as it is dramatic. Finished with a …
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Churros con Chocolate
SpainFried dough with chocolate thick enough to stand the churro in. Madrid eats it at dawn.
Few treats capture the spirit of a Spanish morning quite like Churros con Chocolate. These crisp, golden batons of fried dough are dusted with sugar and made for dunking into a cup of rich, velvety hot chocolate. Loved from busy …
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Sachertorte
AustriaChocolate cake with apricot jam under a hard glaze. Two Vienna hotels went to court over it.
Few cakes carry the romance of old Vienna quite like the Sachertorte. This rich chocolate cake hides a thin layer of tangy apricot jam beneath a mirror-smooth coating of dark chocolate glaze, and it has been a star of the city's …
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Kulfi
IndiaMilk boiled down for hours, then frozen in cones without churning. Denser than ice cream.
Cool, creamy and gently perfumed with spice, Kulfi is India's answer to ice cream, and arguably its richer, more luxurious cousin. Denser than the everyday scoop and slow to melt, it carries the heady fragrance of cardamom and the …
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Brigadeiro
BrazilCondensed milk and cocoa cooked to a fudge, rolled in sprinkles. At every Brazilian party.
Say hello to Brigadeiro, Brazil's beloved little chocolate truffle. Made from just a handful of pantry staples, these glossy, fudgy sweets are the heart and soul of every Brazilian birthday party and celebration. Rich, intensely …
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Alfajores
ArgentinaTwo soft biscuits with dulce de leche between them, rolled in coconut.
Discover Alfajores, Argentina's best-loved sweet treat. Two impossibly tender biscuits sandwiched around a generous layer of dulce de leche, then finished with chocolate or a snowfall of icing sugar. They turn an ordinary …
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Apple Pie
USANot American in origin. The recipe is medieval English, but the association stuck.
Discover Apple Pie, the dessert that has become a true symbol of American life. Tender, spiced apples nestle inside a golden, flaky pastry that crackles with every forkful. Warm with cinnamon and a whisper of nutmeg, it is the …
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Black Forest Gateau
GermanyChocolate sponge, cream and sour cherries, with kirsch that the law requires.
Discover Black Forest Gateau, surely the most famous cake to come out of Germany. Layers of light chocolate sponge are stacked with juicy sour cherries, billowing clouds of whipped cream and a generous splash of Kirsch. Finished …
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Halo-Halo
PhilippinesShaved ice over beans, jelly and purple yam ice cream. The name means mix-mix.
Cool off with Halo-Halo, the much-loved dessert that captures the spirit of the Philippines in a single glass. This colourful treat brings together shaved ice, sweet beans, tender root vegetables and a tumble of tropical fruit, …
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Om Ali
EgyptPuff pastry soaked in sweetened milk with nuts, baked until the top browns.
Treat yourself to Om Ali, the beloved bread pudding that many Egyptians cherish as their national dessert. Layers of crisp, golden pastry soak up warm, spiced milk before being scattered with almonds and plump raisins, then baked …
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Dobos Torta
HungaryFive sponge layers with chocolate buttercream under a hard caramel top, from 1885.
Meet Dobos Torta, Hungary's most celebrated cake and a genuine showpiece of European patisserie. Wafer-thin sponge layers are stacked with silky chocolate buttercream and crowned with a sheet of glassy caramel that shatters under …
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Kladdkaka
SwedenDeliberately underbaked chocolate cake. Sweden wants the middle sticky.
Meet Kladdkaka, Sweden's very gooey chocolate cake. Deeply fudgy with an intense cocoa flavour and a soft, sticky centre, this Scandinavian classic proves that the simplest bakes are often the best. Made with just a handful of …
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Medovik
RussiaHoney cake with a dozen thin layers, left overnight so the sour cream softens them.
Treat yourself to Medovik, Russia's beloved honey layer cake. Delicate sheets of honey-sweetened sponge are sandwiched together with a tangy, billowing sour cream filling, then left to rest until every layer turns meltingly soft. …
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Apple Strudel
AustriaDough stretched until it is transparent, wrapped around apples and breadcrumbs.
Discover Apple Strudel, the dessert that has come to define Austrian baking far beyond its borders. Wafer-thin pastry wraps around a fragrant filling of tender apples, cinnamon and plump raisins, then bakes to a crisp, golden …
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Nammoura
LebanonSemolina cake soaked in orange-blossom syrup, with an almond on each square.
Meet Nammoura, a sweet, syrup-soaked semolina cake that sits at the heart of the Lebanese dessert table. Tender yet pleasingly grainy, it brings together semolina, fragrant sugar syrup and a scattering of almonds for a treat that …
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Sernik
PolandCheesecake made with twaróg, drier and less sweet than the New York kind.
Discover Sernik, one of Poland's best-loved desserts. This traditional cheesecake pairs a wonderfully creamy quark filling with a crisp, buttery biscuit base, and the result is both gently sweet and pleasantly tangy. It graces …
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Cendol
MalaysiaGreen rice-flour jelly in coconut milk with palm sugar syrup and shaved ice.
Meet Cendol, Malaysia's favourite way to cool down on a sweltering afternoon. This iced dessert layers wobbly green pandan noodles with creamy coconut milk and a glossy drizzle of dark palm sugar syrup, a spoonful of pure tropical …
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Malva Pudding
South AfricaApricot jam sponge with hot cream poured over it as it leaves the oven.
Meet Malva Pudding, one of South Africa's most beloved sweet treats. This warm, spongy baked pudding is soaked in a rich cream sauce, giving it a soft, sticky texture and a gentle caramel flavour that is impossible to resist. Made …
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