List of desserts facts for kids

An assortment of desserts.

A chocolate-strawberry crumble ball.

Indian confectionery desserts (known as mithai, or sweets in some parts of India). Sugar and desserts have a long history in India: by about 500 BCE, people in India had developed the technology to produce sugar crystals. In the local language, these crystals were called khanda (खण्ड), which is the source of the word candy.

A dessert is typically the sweet course that, after the entrée and main course, concludes a meal in the culture of many countries, particularly Western culture. The course usually consists of sweet foods, but may include other items. The word "dessert" originated from the French word desservir "to clear the table" and the negative of the Latin word servire.

There are a wide variety of desserts in western cultures, including cakes, cookies, biscuits, gelatins, pastries, ice creams, pies, puddings, and candies. Fruit is also commonly found in dessert courses because of its natural sweetness. Many different cultures have their own variations of similar desserts around the world, such as in Russia, where many breakfast foods such as blini, oladyi, and syrniki can be served with honey and jam to make them popular as desserts.

By type

Brand name desserts

• Brand name desserts
• 

  Bird's Custard

• 

  Pumpkin pie topped with Cool Whip

• 

  Jell-O

Cakes

Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape. Modern cake, especially layer cakes, normally contain a combination of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter or oil, with some varieties also requiring liquid (typically milk or water) and leavening agents (such as yeast or baking powder).

• Dessert cakes
• 

  Battenberg cake is a light sponge cake

• 

  A birthday cake

• 

  Gingerbread

• 

  An ice cream cake

• 

  Madeira cakes tend to have a firm yet light texture, and are traditionally flavored with lemon

• 

  Molten chocolate cake

• 

  Gansito snack cakes, a baked dessert confectionery made with cake and icing

• 

  Malt loaves are a snack food from the United Kingdom

• 

  A pineapple upside-down cake

• 

  Zwetschgenkuchen is a sheet cake or pie made from yeast dough or shortcrust dough that is thinly spread onto a baking sheet and covered with pitted plums

Confectionery and candies

Confectionery is related to the food items that are rich in sugar and often referred to as a confection. Candy is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants may be added. Candies come in numerous colors and varieties and have a long history in popular culture.

• Candy (category)

cotton candy

Confectionery

• Confectionery
• 

  Candy apples

• 

  Chocolate-covered coffee beans

• 

  Lemon drops

• 

  Rock candy

• 

  Suikerboon

• 

  Chocolate truffles

Cookies

In the United States and Canada a cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing flour, eggs, sugar, and either butter or cooking oil, and often including ingredients such as raisins, oats, or chocolate chips.

• Cookies
• 

  Christmas cookies

• 

  Chocolate chip cookies

• 

  An opened fortune cookie

• 

  Krumkake, some dusted with powdered sugar

• 

  Masgati (left) and Koloocheh (right)

• 

  A plain sugar cookie

Custards

Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce (crème anglaise) to a thick pastry cream (crème pâtissière) used to fill éclairs. Most common custards are used as desserts or dessert sauces and typically include sugar and vanilla. Custard bases may also be used for quiches and other savory foods. Sometimes flour, corn starch, or gelatin is added as in pastry cream or crème pâtissière.

• Custards
• 

  A bowl of crème anglaise custard, dusted with nutmeg

• 

  Crème brûlée prepared using a torch

• 

  A Bavarian cream crumb pastry

• 

  Coconut custard is a dessert dish consisting of a coconut custard steam-baked in a pumpkin or kabocha.

• 

  Egg custard tarts

Dessert sauces

Chocolate syrup on top of ice cream

Dessert sauces are used to add flavor and texture to desserts, and tend to be sweet.

Italian cuisine

• Sauce – dessert sauces

Doughnuts

A doughnut, or donut, is a type of fried dough confectionery or dessert food. The doughnut is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets.

• Doughnuts
• 

  A bear claw

• 

  Glazed doughnuts

• 

  Fried Coke

• 

  Smultringer frying

• 

  Tulumba

Frozen desserts

Frozen dessert is the generic name for desserts made by freezing liquids, semi-solids, and sometimes even solids.

• Frozen desserts
• 

  Açaí na tigela

• 

  Baked Alaska

• 

  Patbingsu

• 

  Italian ice

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavors. Ice cream became popular throughout the world in the second half of the 20th century after cheap refrigeration became common.

• Ice cream
• 

  A choc-top

• 

  A dame blanche

• 

  Stracciatella gelato

• 

  Ice cream cones

• 

  An Ice cream sandwich

Pastries

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."

An assortment of pastries and cakes in a pâtisserie

Pastries with poppy seeds

Pies

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients.

Sweet pies

• Pies
• 

  Coconut cream pie

• 

  Lemon meringue pie

• 

  Pecan pie

• 

  Shoofly pie

• 

  Sugar cream pie

Tarts

Tarte Tatin

A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savory, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard.

Puddings

Pudding is usually a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish. In the United Kingdom and most Commonwealth countries, pudding can be used to describe both sweet and savory dishes. However, unless qualified, the term in everyday usage typically denotes a dessert. In the United States and Canada, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, instant custards or a mousse.

• Puddings
• 

  Almond jelly

• 

  Flummery

• 

  Kirschenmichel

• 

  Put chai ko is a popular snack in Hong Kong.

• 

  Rice pudding

By country

Algeria

• Khobz Mbesses

Argentina

Argentine pionono with dulce de leche

Australia

Azerbaijan

• Azerbaijani pakhlava
• Badambura
• Shekerbura
• Shorgoghali

Bangladesh

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Chomchom, traditional Bengali sweet originated from Porabari, Tangail, Bangladesh.

• Tufahija

Brazil

Canada

A pecan butter tart

Chile

• Chilean cuisine – Sweets, cakes, and desserts

China

Czech Republic

• Kolach
• Míša

Finland

• Finnish cuisine – Desserts

France

• 

  Crème brûlée

• 

  Croquembouche

• 

  Éclairs

Germany

• Brenntar

Greece

Loukoumades

Hong Kong

Hungary

India

Chhena Gaja from Pahala, Orissa, India

Indonesia

Iran

Kolompeh from Kerman,Iran

Italy

Cassatas are popular and traditional Sicilian desserts.

Italian pastries

Japan

Hakuto jelly is a seasonal Japanese dessert available in the summer.

Korea

Luxembourg

• Quetschentaart

Malaysia

• Batik cake
• Bubur cha cha
• Sarawak layer cake
• Ais kacang
• Cendol
• Bubur Kacang

Mexico

• List of Mexican dishes – Desserts and sweets

Netherlands

• Dutch cuisine – Desserts and puddings

New Zealand

Afghan biscuits

Pakistan

Peru

• Picarones
• Turrón de Doña Pepa
• Suspiro a la limeña
• Mazamorra morada

Philippines

Poland

Filhos

Portugal

• Bolo de arroz
• Bolo de mel
• Filhós
• Fios de ovos
• Malasada

Romania

Romanian pastries

Russia

Russian kartoshka (potato) cake

Slovenia

Kremna rezina

Spain

Sri Lanka

Switzerland

Swiss pastries

Syria

Taiwan

A plate of Bàobīng with strawberries and condensed milk

Thailand

Turkey

Turkish pastries

Şekerpare

Ukraine

Syrnyky with jam

United Arab Emirates

• Khabees

United Kingdom

Scotland

United States

Uruguay

Vietnam

Bánh phu thê, wrapped in palm leaves

By region

Indian Subcontinent

Quick facts for kids
Sweets from the Indian subcontinent

Gulab jamun Rasmalai Jalebi Gujiya Khoya sweets with varaq Bal mithai Khoa and almond mithais Bengal sweets in India Collection in UK Chikki Sohan sweets in India Street sweets in India

A sample of sweets from the Indian subcontinent

Bengal

• Bengali cuisine – desserts

Latin America

Latin America is a highly diverse area with cuisines that vary from nation to nation. Desserts in Latin American cuisine include, rice pudding, tres leches cake, teja and flan.

Polynesia

• Po'e
• Poi

Southern Africa

In Southern Africa, desserts may simply be fruit, but there are some western style puddings, such as the Angolan cocada amarela, which was inspired by Portuguese cuisine.

By time period

Middle Ages

• Medieval cuisine – sweets and desserts