12 French Desserts That Are Easier to Make Than You’d Think
French desserts have a reputation for being intricate and challenging, but many classic recipes are surprisingly approachable for home bakers. With the right guidance, you can enjoy the elegance of French patisserie right in your own kitchen. Light, airy cakes, rich, creamy desserts —these 12 desserts bring all the charm and flavor of France without the complexity. Impress your friends and family with these simple yet delicious recipes that anyone can master.
Strawberry 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 minutes you will have a crispy, buttery, and fruity French dessert.
Get the recipe: Strawberry Galette
Charlotte Cake
A Charlotte cake (or “Charlotte aux Fraises”) looks so professional but is in fact incredibly easy to make! This beautiful French cake is filled with silky and luxurious Crème mousseline and decorated with fluffy ladyfinger biscuits and fresh strawberries.
Get the recipe: Charlotte Cake
Pear Puff Pastry Tarts
Made with fresh pears and a flaky, sweet puff pastry crust, these pear puff pastry tarts will undoubtedly be the talk among your family and friends! Using just six basic ingredients, this 10-step easy pear tart recipe is the perfect go-to when you need a simple yet eye-catching treat to impress your guests. Serve them warm with a bowl of vanilla ice cream for the perfect puff pastry dessert!
Go to the recipe: Pear Puff Pastry Tarts
Fraisier Cake
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. It is really much easier to make than any other cake and looks so fantastic!
Get the recipe: Fraisier Cake
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.
Get the recipe: Paris-Brest
Crème Brûlée
Crème brûlée (which translates as “burnt cream”) is one of my favorite French desserts. It is a rich cream custard baked in a water bath with sugar sprinkled over the top that is torched (or brûléed) until it melts to form a hard and crunchy top layer. It is made of a few simple ingredients, and many people don´t know how incredibly easy to prepare!
Get the recipe: Crème brûlée
Financiers
French Financiers are small bite-sized tea cakes, kind of like fancy French muffins! 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 they are often decorated with chopped nuts, too.
Get the recipe: Financiers
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!
Get the recipe: Palmiers
Mini Strawberry Tartlets
Have you ever seen dainty fruit tarts in the windows of French patisseries? These mini strawberry tartlets are not that hard to make, but they are very beautiful desserts. 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.
Get the recipe: Mini Strawberry Tartlets
Chocolate Mousse
These no-bake, five-ingredient chocolate mousse cups are a chocolate lover’s dream come true! Made with rich dark chocolate and topped with delicious airy chantilly cream and sweet chocolate shavings, they are the perfect treat to satisfy your post-dinner sweet tooth. Not only are these drool-worthy desserts easy to make, but they are also eye-catching and beautiful!
Go to the recipe: Chocolate Mousse
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 perhaps best enjoyed by adults!
Get the recipe: Rum Baba
Chouquettes
Made with fluffy choux pastry dough and sweet Swedish pearl sugar, these light and airy chouquettes may be only one or two bites, but they are absolutely irresistible! Serve these delicious French sugar puffs for breakfast with a hot cup of tea or coffee, and enjoy a few as an afternoon snack or after dinner.
Go to the recipe: Chouquettes
