Here is a professional guide to the best French pastries! This is my comprehensive list of the most famous French desserts, along with recipes and tutorials on how to make them yourself. I made sure to include all the classics and update the list regularly, too.

Katalin's Key Take On French Pastries
As a professional baker, I am passionate about French patisserie! I have traveled to France many times, and I always taste local desserts at the best places (Fou de Patisserie is one my favorites) and try sweet pastries from superstar pastry chefs like Pierre Hermes and Cedric Grolet. Here at Spatula Desserts, I've recreated all my favorite French desserts, and I make sure the recipes are easy to follow, complete with all my pro tips.
French patisserie is a unique science and can be quite uncompromising. But that’s why we love it! Because when you get it right, it feels like such an achievement. Baking French pastries like puff pastry and pate sablee requires precision and an understanding of both the ingredients and the baking environment.
Oven temperature is key, as always, so use an oven thermometer. However, kitchen temperature is often critical too, especially for things like puff pastry. And buy the best quality, high-fat, European-style butter you can find! Aim for at least 82% fat content (check the label). French pastry chefs will use what is known as ‘dry butter’ because it has a fat content of 84-85% (and, therefore, less water content), and even this tiny increase makes a difference.
My best advice overall is to use good French pastry recipes, like the ones I've gathered here, and stick to the instructions without making any guesswork, swaps, or tweaks. I also offer several online baking classes for particularly tricky recipes, which can help you get to grips with them.
The most famous French pastries and desserts
1. Profiteroles
Undoubtedly, proper profiteroles are one of the most classic French desserts you can find. Dainty choux buns filled with a crème diplomat and dipped in a glossy chocolate ganache. Surely, it's the definition of decadence! I really love making choux pastry, and I'll give you all my pro tips so you can get the perfect profiteroles every time.
2. Cream Puffs
Who doesn’t love the sight of a cream puff? A crispy choux bun filled with creamy Chantilly cream and dusted with powdered sugar epitomizes French elegance and simplicity.
3. Chouquettes
Try baking chouquettes, dainty little French sugar puffs made with choux pastry and sugar pearls. They taste delicious on their own as a sweet snack or served in a bowl with coffee.
4. Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread
If you have never made your own homemade brioche, this is your sign to try. It's a yeasted dough, so you need some extra time, but it is undoubtedly well worth the effort! It's pillowy, soft, buttery, and rich, and this version is studded with chocolate chips for extra goodness. Indeed, you'll finish it all in one sitting.
5. Chocolate Mousse Cups
A smooth, silky, and decadent chocolate mousse will please anyone. Mousse is a French classic, and this easy recipe means you can try it at home. Trust me, it is so much better than store-bought versions! All you need are a few basic pantry staples, and it comes together super fast.
6. Strawberry Mousse
Fresh and fruity, yet creamy and decadent. That's strawberry mousse! You'll love making this easy French recipe. And you'll enjoy eating it even more. Follow the simple instructions, and you will create a delicious French dessert filled with berry flavor in no time.
7. Beignets
Beignets are pillowy soft French donuts that make the most delicious sweet snack. A yeasted dough fried until golden brown on the outside and fluffy and warm on the inside. Dust Beignets with powdered sugar to make them pretty as a picture and even more irresistible. I seriously recommend trying to make these delightful French treats!
8. Chocolate Brioche
Honestly, I don't think French pastries get much better than this. Rich and buttery brioche dough swirled with a creamy chocolate filling makes the most irresistible dessert ever. Or, why not bake it as a sweet breakfast for a special treat! Dust with cinnamon to give it a hint of spice for the holiday season.
9. Croquembouche
A croquembouche is a showstopper! You'll see croquembouche in the windows of French bakeries, and it's easy to see why it's a famous French dessert. First, bake French pastry dough puffs and fill with crème diplomate. Then, I piled it all into a pyramid and wrapped it in a delicate cobweb of spun sugar caramel.
It crunches in the mouth when you eat it, which is why the name derives from "croque en bouche"! Croquembouches are traditionally served at weddings, Christenings, or First Holy Communion events, and they are an eye-catching and delicious spectacle that feeds a crowd.
10. 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, bake the puff pastry under weights so it remains compact and crisp, and doesn't puff up too 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.
You can easily make this flaky pastry using my classic French puff pastry recipe, or you can use store-bought puff pastry instead.
11. Crème brûlée
Crème brûlée, which translates to "burnt cream," is one of my favorite French desserts. It is a rich cream custard baked in a water bath with sugar sprinkled on top, which is torched (or brûléed) until it melts to form a hard, crunchy top layer.
You can flavor crème brûlée with cinnamon, chocolate, or vanilla. Crème brûlée is an excellent French dessert to serve at a dinner party. It's also naturally gluten-free.
I love crème brûlée so much that I also make some twists on it. Try my creme brulee cake, creme brulee cookies, and creme brulee cupcakes!
12. Eclair
Eclairs are famous French pastries made from choux pastry dough, such as profiteroles or cream puffs. For the choux pastry, you will need only a few simple ingredients, including water, flour, milk, and eggs. The eclairs are baked and then filled with various creams, e.g., crème diplomate, and afterward glazed in melted chocolate ganache. They are so indulgent!
13. 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.
I love Paris Brest so much that I created a Paris-Brest online Class that you can join to make this delicious dessert in a special, Ferrero Rocher flavor.
14. Financier
French Financiers are another small bite-sized tea cake, but don't confuse them with madeleines! 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 are often decorated with chopped nuts as well.
Financiers are shaped like little bars of gold, which is where they get their name, which I think is so sweet!
15. 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 just minutes, you'll have a crispy, buttery, and fruity French dessert.
Galettes are very simple, and you can have fun with flavors and fillings, which makes them one of my favorite easy French desserts. The best thing is that no special equipment is required; the dough comes together in just a few minutes, and then the entire shaping process is done by hand.
16. Macaron
Macarons are delightfully pretty cookies made with almond paste and meringue mixed together to form a batter, which is then piped into little rounds and can be filled in various flavors.
Macarons are classic French desserts that make great gifts and work well as petit fours to serve after dinner, too. I love making macarons so much that I even created a macaron class that you can join online today!
17. 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, forming a crackly, patterned exterior and a delicious, crunchy texture.
Choux au craquelin puffs up as they bake and form an air pocket inside (like profiteroles). This is another choux pastry you can fill with all sorts of creams, including pastry cream.
18. Galette des Rois - Kings' cake
French families serve Galette des Rois on the Epiphany to mark the end of the Christmas season. Two layers of puff pastry are sandwiched with a frangipane filling and baked. The windows of French patisseries are full of these circular golden-brown desserts in early January, and they are hugely popular!
French home bakers will sometimes put a dried bean inside the cake and whoever finds it becomes king or queen for that day. Children love this game!
19. Yule log
Yule log (or "Bûche de Noël") is another festive French dessert served at Christmas. A thin layer of moist sponge cake is spread with filling and then rolled into a log shape. It is sometimes made with chocolate frosting to resemble an actual log, but you can try lots of other flavors, too.
Yule log is named after the wooden log that families burn at Christmas time, which is traditionally known as "yule time."
20. Mousse Cake
A light and airy French mousse is traditionally made with whipped egg whites folded into an egg yolk sabayon base, or sometimes made in other ways, such as with a cream cheese base. Mousse is sometimes served in a cup or can be made into a light and airy cake.
If you make homemade mousse you can play with all kinds of flavor combinations, the possibilities are endless! Mousse can be made with fruit purees or chocolate as a dessert, but you can also make a savory mousse that works well as an appetizer.
21. Brioche
Brioche is a type of French bread made from dough enriched with butter and eggs. It has a tender, moist crumb and a signature golden brown crust. Brioche is a versatile, sweet, and rich bread used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Try making Brioche for French cinnamon toast, or even use it for sandwiches.
22. Tarte
Have you ever seen dainty fruit tartes in the windows of French patisseries? These classic French desserts are not that hard to make, and they are very beautiful. 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.
Join my online tarte class if you want to learn more about how to make pastry shop-looking French tarts in your home kitchen!
23. Floating island
Floating Island is a classic French dessert that resembles an island, hence the name! The dessert is essentially a crème Anglaise custard with a poached meringue floating on top, which sounds complicated, but it's a lot easier to make than it sounds.
This fancy-looking French dessert does not require baking and only contains simple ingredients, so it is, in fact, quite simple to make at home.
24. Fraisier cake
Fraise means strawberries in French, which is where fraisier cake gets its name. 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.
Assembling a homemade fraisier cake can be tricky, but it's well worth the effort. In my recipe, I teach you how to make it step by step.
25. Charlotte cake
Charlotte cake (or "Charlotte aux Fraises") looks so professional but is, in fact, incredibly easy to make! It's a beautiful French cake filled with silky and luxurious Crème mousseline and decorated with fluffy ladyfinger biscuits and fresh strawberries.
Charlotte cake has a wonderful, fresh, and fruity flavor. It is similar in texture to tiramisu and just as delicious. The best thing about Charlotte cake is that it is super easy to make and does not require baking, you do not even have to turn the oven on!
26. 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.
It traditionally contains cherries that grow in central France, but you can make it with other fruits if you prefer. Trust me, every mouthful has the most amazing fruity flavor.
27. 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!
Palmiers are really easy to make at home with store-bought puff pastry, and you can enjoy them in no time.
28. 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 is perhaps best enjoyed by adults!
29. Madeleine
Madeleines are soft French tea cakes with the most delicious texture. Make these sponge cakes from a Genoise cake batter baked in special madeleine trays shaped like shells. Madeleines are such dainty and cute French cakes and they surely taste great with afternoon tea or even with morning coffee.
Madeleines are also super versatile. You can flavor the batter or glaze them with chocolate. These mini teacakes are considered easy French pastries to make.
30. Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc is a French dessert named after the famous mountain in the Alps, and it certainly looks like a little mountain! To create your own Mont Blanc, bake a crunchy meringue base and top it with chestnut puree and whipped cream. The result is a simply beautiful (and tasty) mini snow-capped mountain.
Significantly, Mont Blanc is also very popular in tart form and can sometimes be made in small individual portions or as one large dessert to feed a crowd.
31. Crème caramel
Undoubtedly, baked vanilla custard (quite similar to flan) with a layer of caramel sauce sounds good to anyone! This French dessert has a smooth and creamy texture and wobbles a bit like jelly but contains no gelatine! Crème caramel is a very popular French dessert often found on the menus of Parisian-style brasseries worldwide.
32. Opera cake
Opera cake is an elaborate almond sponge cake with layers of coffee syrup, coffee-flavored French buttercream, and chocolate ganache. It is called opera cake as it apparently resembles the tiered seating of a grand opera house! A French pastry chef called Cyriaque Gavillon created them in the 1950s, and they have been adored ever since. Enjoy them with strong coffee!
33. Canele
Canelés are small French pastries with rich, moist, and custard-like interiors and crispy, caramelized shells. You must bake them in copper molds at a very high temperature to achieve the deep golden color and glossy sheen. The texture of canelé is incredible; I highly recommend you try them!
34. Croissant
Croissants are famous French breakfast pastries renowned around the world. But schedule several days to make them! It takes time to laminate the dough, but it is well worth it. Roll the enriched puff pastry, then fold and roll again to form the ubiquitous crescent shape. Brush it with an egg wash and bake until golden brown.
Croissants are one of the most closely associated foods with French culture, and consequently, I've never met anyone who didn't love them!
35. Kouign-Amann
Kouign-Amann (pronounced "queen-a-mahn") is a notoriously difficult French pastry to make, but notoriously tasty! This delicious French pastry is originally from Brittany, France. Interestingly, the name translates as "butter cake" in Breton, a Celtic language spoken there. I love learning where the French pastry names come from!
The Kouign Amann dough is laminated with butter and sugar that caramelizes and goes crispy as it bakes, like a caramelized croissant. Use salted butter for a deliciously sweet yet salty, crunchy yet buttery soft French pastry.
36. Soufflé
Soufflés are made with whipped egg whites that trap air and expand as they bake, causing the soufflé to rise majestically in the oven. The result is a tremendously light and fluffy French dish!
Soufflés can be sweet with melted chocolate or fruit purees. For a savory version, cheese is folded into the egg whites before being poured into a soufflé dish and baked. Make and serve soufflés before they deflate, and you'll be universally adored!
37. Pains d’Amandes
Crisp and aromatic French almond cookies, lightly spiced with cinnamon, taste incredible over the holiday period. I love the crunch.
38. Tarte Tatin
The Tatin sisters invented tarte Tatin at Hôtel Tatin in the 1880s. It is a famous French dessert made from puff pastry and sweet, caramelized apples. It tastes delicious when served warm with vanilla ice cream and a dusting of cinnamon. Make a French tarte Tatin with classic puff pastry, rough puff, or use store-bought puff pastry to save time.
39. Cronut
The cronut is a recent pastry invention, but it's very French! Acclaimed French pastry chef Dominique Ansel invented the cronut at his bakery in New York, causing a sensation. Cronuts went viral! A cronut is a perfect cross between a croissant and a donut, circular morsels of flaky, buttery pastry that are deep-fried, glazed, and filled with pastry cream.
Cronuts are definitely one of the best French pastries to make at home if you have several days and a lot of patience. They are so worth the hard work!
40. Tuile Cigars
If you've ever had an ice cream sundae in France, you'll have likely been served this fancy French pastry as a garnish. Delicate, sweet, and crisp, these rolls of light, crunchy cookies have the most amazing flavor and texture. They taste great on their own but are surely perfect with any dessert.
41. Tuiles Aux Amandes
Take it one step further with an elegant almond tuile, which is very popular and served with coffee in France! The extra nutty taste and crunch are so delicious. What's more, they are really fun to make, too. Curl the almond wafer cookies around a rolling pin while still warm to get the iconic shape.
42. Pain Suisse
Buttery, flaky pain Suisse will definitely become one of your favorite French viennoiseries. A pillowy brioche dough is filled with custard and chocolate chips, brushed with an egg wash, and baked for pull-apart pastry heaven. Undoubtedly, every bite has everything you'll ever need from a pastry!
43. Pot de crème
Kids and grown-ups love a traditional "pot of cream," which is French custard, typically served in a little pot. This chocolate version is super smooth and silky, and is made the authentic French way. Be warned, it’s addictive.
44. Quatre-Quarts (French Pound Cake)
I love the way the French name their desserts. A quatre-quarts cake translates as "four-fourths" because it is made with equal parts flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. The classic flavoring is lemon, and it is unbelievably light and moist! Eat it for dessert, breakfast, or simply as a snack!
45. Crepes Suzette
You may have seen a waiter in a French restaurant wheeling out a trolley containing a mobile stove and cooking ingredients. You watch with interest as they make a classic French crepe and then an orange butter sauce that smells divine!
Suddenly, there is a flash of purple flame, and the whole restaurant gasps. This is Crepe Suzette, flambeed with Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) and served warm with whipped cream. And it is undoubtedly delicious. To make things simpler, you can also use pre-bought crepes.
46. Pain au chocolat
And once you can make croissant dough, you can also use it to make pain au chocolate! Cut rectangles rather than triangles and roll them around a chocolate baton. Brush with egg wash and bake to become everyone's favorite person at breakfast time.
Have you tried these recipes?
Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well!
45+ Best Famous French Pastries and Desserts
French pastries and desserts
- Profiteroles
- Cream Puffs
- Chouquettes
- Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread
- Chocolate Mousse Cups
- Strawberry Mousse
- Chocolate Brioche
- Beignets
- Croquembouche
- Mille feuille
- Crème brûlée
- Eclair
- Madeleine
- Financier
- Galette
- Macaron
- Choux au craquelin
- Galette des Rois
- Yule log
- Mousse
- Brioche
- Tarte
- Floating Island
- Fraisier cake
- Charlotte cake
- Clafoutis
- Palmier
- Rum baba
- Paris-Brest
- Mont Blanc
- Crème caramel
- Opera cake
- Canelé
- Croissant
- Kouign-Amann
- Soufflé
- Pains d’Amandes
- Tarte Tatin
- Cronut
- Tuile Cigars
- Tuiles Aux Amandes
- Pain Suisse
- Pot de crème
- Quatre-Quarts (FrenchPound Cake)
- Crepes Suzette
- Pain Au Chocolat
Instructions
- Select your favorite recipe(s)
- Go to the individual recipes
- Enjoy the most amazing French pastries and desserts
Ophélie
As a French person (living in France), some pastries were unknown to me, like crème brûlée tart. So yes, it sounds very French, but I've never seen one in a bakery. But few
Lindsay Passmore
Do you have a cookbook of this recipe post
Katalin Nagy
Not yet but good idea:)
shoib
All the great stuff in one place. So convenient. Many are unknown to me. Big bonus. Thank you so much. Less time searching. It all right here.
William wise
Wow!
All the great stuff in one place. So convenient. Many are unknown to me. Big bonus. Thank you so much. Less time searching. It all right here.