The Europeans invented dessert, so it should come as no surprise this is where you’ll find some of the best!
As far as I am concerned, dessert is the best part of any meal, and I always look forward to travelling around and experiencing as many of these local delights as possible. Asia has some incredible desserts and sweets, but Europe has many more famous desserts than any other continent on the planet, and this is unsurprising seeing as it was in Europe where dessert was first integrated into meal times.
Here I take a look at 23 of the most tantalisingly tasty desserts from Europe, in alphabetical order:
Banoffee Pie
Banoffee Pie, United Kingdom. Banoffee pie is an English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee from boiled condensed milk, either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter.
Berliner, Germany. A Berliner Pfannkuchen is a traditional North German pastry similar to a doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil, with a marmalade or jam filling and usually icing, powdered sugar or conventional sugar on top.
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Germany. Typically, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (known in English as Black Forest Gateau) consists of several layers of chocolate cake, with whipped cream and cherries between each layer. Then the cake is decorated with additional whipped cream, maraschino cherries, and chocolate shavings.
Clafoutis
Clafoutis, France. Clafoutis is a baked French dessert of fruit, traditionally black cherries, arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter.
Cremeschnitte, Croatia. A cremeschnitte is a vanilla and custard cream cake dessert popular in several central-European countries, but it originated in Croatia. There are many regional variations, but they all include puff pastry base and custard cream.
Crema Catalana, Spain. Crema Catalana is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. It is normally served at room temperature after being burnt by a torch before serving.
Crepe Suzette, France. Crêpe Suzette is a French dessert consisting of a crêpe with beurre Suzette, a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, served flambé.
Dondurma, Turkey. Dondurma is the name given to ice cream in Turkey. Dondurma typically includes the ingredients milk, sugar, salep, and mastic.
Eton Mess, United Kingdom. Eton mess is a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue, and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College’s annual cricket game against the pupils of Harrow School.
Gelato – but which flavour?
Gelato, Italy. Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream, derived from the Latin word “gelātus”. In English this word commonly refers to varieties of ice cream made in a traditional Italian style.
Loukoumades
Loukoumades, Greece. Loukoumades are pastries made of deep fried dough soaked in sugar syrup or honey with cinnamon and sometimes sprinkled with sesame.
Panna Cotta, Italy. Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by blending thick cream, egg white and honey. The blend is then baked in a bain-marie in a low oven.
Peches Melba
Peches Melba, France. The Peach Melba is a dessert of peaches and raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream. The dish was invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London, to honour the Australian soprano, Nellie Melba.
Profiterole, France. profiterole, cream puff, or choux à la crème is a French dessert choux pastry ball filled with whipped cream, pastry cream, custard, or ice cream.
Ptichye Moloko, Russia. Ptichy Moloko is a soft chocolate-covered candy filled with soft meringue (or milk soufflé). Its name means “bird’s milk”, a substance somewhat resembling milk, produced by certain birds to feed their young.
Runeberg Torttu, Finland. Runeberg torte is a Finnish pastry flavoured with almonds and arrack or rum and it weighs about 100 grams. Raspberry jam inside a sugar ring is commonly placed on top of the tart.
Spotted Dick
Spotted Dick, United Kingdom. Spotted dick is a cylindrical pudding popular in Britain, containing dried fruit and commonly served with custard. It is made from a flat sheet of suet pastry sprinkled with currants and raisins, which is then rolled up into a circular pudding.
Stollen, Germany. Stollen is a fruit cake containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices.
Sutlac
Sutlac, Turkey. Sutlac is a Turkish rice pudding made from rice mixed with water or milk and other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Although it can be eaten at all times of the day, when used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.
Tarte au Chocolat
Tarte au Chocolat, France. Tarte au Chocolat is a famous French dessert consisting of dark chocolate, cream and eggs, beaten together, poured into a crisp, unsweetened puff pastry shell and baked until firm.
Tarte Tatin
Tarte Tatin, France. Tarte Tatin is an upside-down tart in which the fruit are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked.
Tiramisu, Italy. Tiramisu is a popular coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.
Trifle
Trifle, United Kingdom. Trifle is an English dessert dish made from thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or jelly, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers.
I must confess that if I had to pick 1 or 2, then Panna Cotta from Italy and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte from Germany would be my choices. I could get very, very fat eating those two every day!
So what’s your favourite European dessert?