French dessert menus and pâtisseries include cakes, tarts, pastries, ice cream, and other sweets. Even when a dessert is unfamiliar, its name can often tell you what kind of dessert it is and how it is flavored.
You will see this vocabulary in a pâtisserie, on restaurant menus, in cafés, and anywhere sweets are sold.
Une pâtisserie can refer to a pastry or cake, as well as the shop where these foods are sold. For more about the distinction between boulangerie and pâtisserie, see Boulangerie, pâtisserie, viennoiserie.
Cakes and tarts
The general word for cake is le gâteau. Une tarte is a tart:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un gâteau | cake |
| une tarte | tart |
| une tarte aux pommes | apple tart |
| une tarte au citron | lemon tart |
| une tarte aux fraises | strawberry tart |
| un flan | custard tart / flan |
Many cakes and tarts are described by their flavor or main ingredient, as in une tarte au citron or un gâteau au chocolat.
Pastries and other desserts
A pâtisserie may have many individual pastries and small desserts:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un éclair | éclair |
| un macaron | macaron |
| un mille-feuille | mille-feuille |
| un chou | small cream-filled pastry |
| une crêpe | crêpe |
| une mousse au chocolat | chocolate mousse |
An éclair is a long pastry filled with cream. You may see un éclair au chocolat or un éclair au café.
A mille-feuille has thin layers of puff pastry and cream. The name means "a thousand leaves."
Ice cream and frozen desserts
These words are useful when choosing ice cream or another frozen dessert:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| une glace | ice cream |
| un sorbet | sorbet |
| une boule | scoop |
| un cornet | cone |
Une boule de glace is a scoop of ice cream. You can add the flavor: une boule de glace à la vanille or une boule de glace au chocolat.
Candy and other sweets
The word bonbons includes many kinds of candy and sweets:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un bonbon | candy / sweet |
| le chocolat | chocolate |
| un caramel | caramel |
| une sucette | lollipop |
| un biscuit | cookie / biscuit |
Be careful with un biscuit. In French, it is a cookie or another small crisp baked sweet. An American biscuit is a different food.
Describing flavors
Dessert names often include the flavor or main ingredient:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un gâteau au chocolat | chocolate cake |
| un éclair au café | coffee éclair |
| une tarte au citron | lemon tart |
| une glace à la vanille | vanilla ice cream |
| une tarte aux fraises | strawberry tart |
You will see au, à la, and aux depending on the word that follows: au chocolat, à la vanille, aux fraises. For more about this pattern, see À or de between nouns.
From learning to practice
When you look at a dessert menu or a pâtisserie display, start with the type of dessert and then look for the flavor. In tarte au citron, tarte tells you what it is and au citron tells you the flavor. The same pattern can help you understand many dessert names you have not seen before.