The best French desserts
The top 3 according to 48 votes from people: Crème brûlée · Tarte Tatin · Mille-feuille. (Updated Jun 12, 2026.)
The great classics of French pâtisserie and grandmother-style desserts, the ones that appear in every ranking and poll of France's favourite desserts.
Automatically translated (original in Français). See the original
Top 15
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1
Crème brûlée
Vanilla custard baked in the oven and topped with a thin layer of torched caramelised sugar.
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2
Tarte Tatin
Upside-down caramelised apple tart, attributed to the Tatin sisters of Lamotte-Beuvron (Loir-et-Cher).
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3
Mille-feuille
Three layers of puff pastry and two of pastry cream, with white icing marbled with chocolate.
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4
Rum baba
Yeast cake soaked in rum syrup, often served with whipped cream.
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5
Cherry clafoutis
Dessert from Limousin: cherries (stones in) baked in a flan batter.
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6
Far breton
Dense Breton flan with prunes, made of flour, eggs, milk and butter.
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7
Chocolate mousse
Melted chocolate and whipped egg whites, nothing more; on the podium of France's favourite desserts.
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8
Chocolate fondant
Cake with a molten centre, first in the ranking of French people's favourite desserts in several polls.
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9
Paris-Brest
Ring of choux pastry filled with praline mousseline cream, created in 1910 as a tribute to the cycling race.
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10
Floating island
Poached egg whites floating on crème anglaise, drizzled with caramel.
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11
Profiteroles
Small choux buns filled with vanilla ice cream and covered in hot chocolate sauce.
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12
Opéra cake
Coffee-soaked Joconde sponge, ganache and coffee buttercream, chocolate glaze; a Parisian pâtisserie classic.
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13
Canelé from Bordeaux
Small rum and vanilla cake from Bordeaux with a caramelised crust and soft centre.
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14
Macarons
Two almond shells and a ganache, popularised by Ladurée and Pierre Hermé.
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15
Chocolate éclair
Long choux pastry, chocolate pastry cream and fondant icing.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 15… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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16
Kouign-amann
Cake from Douarnenez with laminated, caramelised butter and sugar.
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17
Lemon meringue tart
Shortcrust pastry, tangy lemon curd and golden Italian meringue.
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18
Crêpes
Thin sweet wheat pancakes with butter and sugar, jam or Nutella; the queens of Candlemas.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (8)
Testé le Paris-Brest de Conticini grâce à cette liste, je confirme : une tuerie.
Le kouign-amann aussi bas ? Les Bretons vont pas être contents 😂
Je confirme, scandale.
Il manque la tarte aux fraises, le dessert de tous les dimanches chez ma grand-mère.
Les macarons en dernier, normal, c'est surtout joli à regarder.
mdr t'as jamais goûté ceux de Pierre Hermé alors
Mousse au chocolat numéro 1, je valide. Simple et parfait.
Le Paris-Brest de chez Philippe Conticini, c'est une tuerie absolue.