Dessert

35 recipes in this course

dessertAITarte TatinAn upside-down caramelised apple tart from the Loire Valley — dark, sticky, buttery caramel beneath a blanket of tender apples and crisp, golden pastry. Simple in theory, spectacular in execution. Serve warm with crème fraîche.
  • Vegetarian
60 min20+406 servingsdessertAIFruit SaladOrange, apple, banana, kiwi and grapes with a spoon of honey and lemon. Fifteen minutes, no cooking, and the order you cut things in matters more than the recipe.
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten-free
15 min15+04 servingsdessertAILactose-Free Chocolate Ice CreamA deep, dark chocolate ice cream built on coconut milk, using both cocoa powder for flavour and melted chocolate for body. Check the bar: most 70% chocolate is dairy-free, but not all of it.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
30 min20+106 servingsdessertAILactose-Free Strawberry Ice CreamRipe strawberries cooked briefly with sugar, folded into a sweetened coconut base and churned or still-frozen. Genuinely lactose-free rather than a compromise, and it scoops straight from the freezer.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
35 min25+106 servingsdessertAIMlyntsiThin Ukrainian pancakes, lacy at the edges and thin enough to see light through. Rolled, folded or stacked, with sour cream or whatever the season offers.
  • Vegetarian
35 min10+254 servingsdessertAIPoires Belle HélènePears poached in vanilla syrup, covered in hot chocolate sauce as they are served. The pears can be poached the day before and lose nothing; the sauce is made at the last minute.
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten-free
45 min15+304 servingsdessertAISyrnykyUkrainian curd cheese pancakes, crisp at the edge and soft as custard inside. Breakfast in most houses, dessert in the rest, and twenty minutes either way.
  • Vegetarian
30 min15+154 servingsdessertAILamingtonSquares of plain sponge cake dipped in a thin chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut, so every side is coated in a snowy, textured crust around a soft crumb.
  • Vegetarian
60 min25+354 servingsdessertAIApple StrudelPaper-thin pastry rolled around spiced apples, raisins and walnuts, with a layer of butter-toasted breadcrumbs that keeps the inside from turning soggy.
  • Vegetarian
100 min30+708 servingsdessertAIBerliner DoughnutA pillowy yeasted doughnut, fried instead of baked so the crust stays pale on top and bottom, split and filled with raspberry jam and dusted with icing sugar.
  • Vegetarian
166 min40+12610 servingsdessertAIDairy-Free AlfajoresCrumbly Argentinian cornstarch shortbread sandwiched with a coconut milk caramel and rolled in coconut — no butter, no dulce de leche, all the snap and melt of the original.
  • Vegan
  • Lactose-free
72 min25+4712 servingsdessertAIBaklavaCrisp layers of filo pastry brushed with butter, filled with spiced chopped walnuts, baked golden and soaked in a hot honey-lemon syrup.
  • Vegetarian
75 min30+4512 servingsdessertAIBasbousa (Dairy-Free)A semolina and coconut cake, scored into diamonds, baked until golden, and drenched in a rose-water sugar syrup the moment it leaves the oven so it soaks all the way through.
  • Vegan
  • Lactose-free
50 min15+3512 servingsdessertAIBibingka (Dairy-Free)A dairy-free take on the Filipino Christmas rice cake — coconut milk stands in for the usual milk and butter, baked until just set and finished under a blanket of toasted coconut.
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
45 min15+306 servingsdessertAICoconut Milk BrigadeiroBrazil's favourite party sweet, made dairy-free — cocoa, coconut milk and a touch of coconut oil cooked down to a thick, fudgy paste, rolled into balls and coated in chocolate sprinkles.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
30 min10+2015 servingsdessertAIChurrosSpanish churros — a simple cooked dough piped into ridged strips, fried until deep gold and crackling-crisp, tossed hot in cinnamon sugar.
  • Vegetarian
  • Lactose-free
35 min15+204 servingsdessertAICocadasColombian coconut candy — desiccated coconut simmered down in sugar syrup and coconut milk until thick and glossy, then mounded into small chewy clusters.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
35 min10+2510 servingsdessertAICoconut MacaroonsFrench congolais — not the almond macaron, but a rustic coconut mound: whisked egg white and sugar folded through desiccated coconut and baked until the peaks turn deep gold.
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
33 min15+1810 servingsdessertAICoconut Rice PuddingShort-grain rice simmered low and slow in coconut milk with cardamom and a stick of cinnamon until thick, creamy and lightly spiced.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
40 min5+354 servingsdessertAIDate Maamoul (Dairy-Free)Semolina dough wrapped around a soft spiced date paste, pattern-pressed by hand, baked until pale gold and dusted in icing sugar — the shortbread-like cookie made across the Levant for Eid and Easter alike.
  • Vegan
  • Lactose-free
60 min40+2016 servingsdessertAIGulab Jamun (Dairy-Free)Soft fried dumplings soaked in a cardamom-and-saffron sugar syrup scented with rose water — a dairy-free take on the classic that swaps the usual milk-solid dough and ghee for coconut milk and oil.
  • Vegan
  • Lactose-free
50 min20+306 servingsdessertAICoconut Milk KheerA coconut-milk take on Bengali rice pudding — basmati rice simmered low and slow with cardamom until it collapses into the liquid, finished with saffron, raisins and chopped pistachios.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
45 min10+354 servingsdessertAILemon SorbetSorbetto al limone — a sugar syrup steeped with lemon zest, sharpened with fresh juice, then churned until it's smooth, bright and almost fizzy on the tongue.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
20 min15+56 servingsdessertAIDairy-Free Malva PuddingA soft, spongy South African apricot pudding, baked until deep gold and drenched the moment it leaves the oven in a hot coconut milk sauce that soaks all the way through — no butter, no cream, same sticky result.
  • Vegetarian
  • Lactose-free
62 min15+478 servingsdessertAIMango Sticky RiceSteamed glutinous rice soaked in sweetened, salted coconut milk and served warm beside ripe mango, with a drizzle of extra coconut sauce and a scatter of sesame seeds.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
45 min20+254 servingsdessertAIMochiSoft, chewy rice cakes made from steamed glutinous rice flour, wrapped around sweet red bean paste and dusted in starch so they never stick to a thing — including your fingers.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
55 min40+158 servingsdessertAIPavlovaA meringue base with a shatteringly crisp shell and a soft, marshmallow centre, baked low and slow, then piled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and kiwi.
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten-free
95 min20+758 servingsdessertAISweet Potato Pudding (Dairy-Free)Grated sweet potato cooked down with coconut milk, warm spices and sugar into a thick, custardy pudding — a dairy-free take on a Nigerian home-kitchen favorite.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
55 min15+406 servingsdessertAITurkish DelightA soft, chewy cornstarch-thickened sugar gel, slow-cooked and stirred constantly, scented with rose water, studded with chopped pistachios, and dusted in icing sugar.
  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Lactose-free
70 min20+5016 servingsdessertAISponge Cake with Cream and BerriesA tall, airy whisked sponge made with only eggs, sugar and flour, split into layers with raspberry jam, whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
  • Vegetarian
80 min50+308 servingsdessertAIKozunakThe braided, golden Easter bread of Bulgaria: a soft, buttery yeast dough scented with citrus and vanilla, spun into a long plait and baked until it shreds into silky strands.
  • Vegetarian
75 min40+3510 servingsdessertAIMedovik Honey CakeEight thin honey layers sandwiched with tangy sour cream frosting and left to soften overnight into a tender, fragrant cake.
  • Vegetarian
110 min60+5012 servingsdessertAIRaisin and Lemon MuffinsTall, tender muffins with a domed top, scented with lemon and dotted with raisins, made in one bowl by simply stirring wet into dry.
  • Vegetarian
37 min15+2212 servingsdessertAINapoleon CakeCrisp, flaky layers of quick puff pastry sandwiched with silky vanilla custard and left overnight to soften into a tender cake.
  • Vegetarian
130 min70+6012 servingsdessertAIOladkySmall, thick Ukrainian kefir pancakes — fluffy inside, lacy and golden at the edge. The breakfast that gets made before anyone has properly woken up.
  • Vegetarian
30 min15+154 servings