Are you a fan of desserts? Dessert is a sweet line that many people end their meal with, comforting and satisfying your sweet tooth, a tradition worldwide. Dessert originates from the French word desservir, which means ‘to clear the table.’ The common quality among desserts is their sweetness. At the same time, the subtypes of this delicious meal differ in flavour and texture depending on the place. There are several books written about desserts helping us taste the sweetness worldwide. So let us go through this article to know more about the types of Desserts you have to know.
What is a Dessert? It’s History:
A course that concludes a meal is called a Dessert. This course includes sweet foods like confections some beverages such as liqueur and dessert wine. Although many countries have a tradition of ending the meal with a dessert, Central Africa and West Africa, and most parts of China don’t follow the same tradition. Biscuits, custards, cakes, cookies, pastries, gelatins, ice creams, pies, puddings, macaroons, fruit salad, and tarts are popular dessert items.
12 Most Popular Types of Desserts:
We have presented you with the list of the prominent types of desserts available in the world and their classifications.
1. Cakes:
Cakes are the types of baked desserts popular worldwide, and they have flavours unique to the place. There usually is a combination of flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, yeast, and butter or oil in the modern cake, particularly layer cakes. There are also several eggless cake options available in the market.
Usually baked in a loaf or Bundt pan is referred to as a pound cake. Some of the dissimilarities of pound cake are chocolate cakes, sour cream cakes and fruit crumb cakes.
The cake is served during anniversaries, weddings, and birthdays as a particular dish. Some cakes are centuries old, some are rich and elaborate, and some are simple and bread-like.
In the olden days, a lot of labour went into preparing the cake. But nowadays, there are several baking utensils and instructions available that has made the baking process pretty simple.
2. Cookies or Biscuits:
A baked food dessert variety usually flat, round, small, and made with flour and sugar are called Cookies or biscuits. Crisp cookies are called biscuits in some English-speaking countries except for the US and Canada. Even in the UK, chewier biscuits are sometimes referred to as cookies. The shape of the cookies also determines the name of some of the cookies, such as bars or date squares. The baking process and the thickness of the dough is the significant difference between cookies and biscuits.
Cookies or biscuits can be homemade, baked in small bakeries, and mass-produced in the factories. Custard creams, Oreos, Jammy Dodgers and Bourbons, dipped in chocolate, jam rich, marshmallows are some cookie or biscuit variants.
Cookies or biscuits are often served with milk, tea, chocolate, and coffee as an addition to the beverage. You can get freshly baked cookies from coffee houses like Starbucks or bakeries, whereas grocery and convenience stores sell Factory-made cookies.
Biscuits were considered an inexpensive form of food for the poor during the olden days, unsweetened, dry and hard. But nowadays, there are several healthy and tasty options available, making cookies or biscuits a favourite snacking option for kids and adults.
See More: Popular Varieties of Cakes
3. Gelatins:
A protein acquired by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments of pigs or cows with water is called Gelatin. Marshmallows, cakes, ice creams, yoghurts, candy corn, gummy bears, trifles, jelly babies, candies are some desserts that use Gelatin. In addition, there is a product called “agar-agar” derived from a kind of seaweed, a vegetarian gelatin option.
There is extensive use of Gelatin in food and non-food products, and there are different kinds and grades of Gelatin. Worldwide, every year, the production of Gelatin is about 375,000 to 400,000 tons.
A liquid thickened with Gelatin or another thickening agent is used to prepare Jellied desserts. For example, yokan is a Japanese jellied dessert, Grass jelly and Annin tofu are Chinese jelly desserts. There are many dessert recipes based on Gelatin in addition to fruit or whipped cream in English-speaking countries.
4. Pastries:
A dough of flour, water, and shortening sweetened or savoury is called a Pastry. Likewise, the baked products prepared from ingredients like flour, sugar, milk, butter, egg, water, baking powder, and shortening are named “Pastries.” Pies, quiches, pasties are the usual pastry dishes. The primary phase of pastry and dessert preparation is the presentation.
Many people eat pastries such as breakfast food, with tea or coffee. For example, the shortbread with a high-fat and crispy texture or any light and flaky bread with an airy texture such as croissant are both considered pastries. In addition, fruits, chocolate, nuts, and spices are popular pastry fillings.
5. Frozen Desserts:
As the name suggests, a dessert that is frozen is called a Frozen dessert. This dessert category includes ice cream, sorbet, gelato and shaved ice.
- A cream base that is frozen to create a creamy consistency is referred to as Ice cream.
- Gelato is another dessert with less air whipped in than ice cream, making it denser and using a milk base.
- Sorbet is not a dairy-based dessert but is made from churned fruit.
- Shaved ice is nothing but shavings of ice with flavoured juice or syrup on top.
6. Pies:
Pies are a conclusive part of the desserts menu with their distinguishing crusts. A pastry lining in the baking dish with a filling located on top of the pastry is the description of a pie. Once done with the filling, the pie is covered with a pastry or other covering before baking. Pies come in different sizes, ranging from ones considered for numerous servings to bite-sized ones. Some of the popular types of pies include apple, cherry, pecan, banana cream, and lemon meringue.
7. Puddings:
The base of a pudding is crème or milk, similar to custards. The only primary difference is that starch such as corn starch or tapioca thickens the puddings. On the other hand, custards are usually more firm because they are thickened using only eggs. The term pudding comes from the French word boudin, which means “small sausage,” a type of food that can be savoury and Dessert. The preparation of pudding involves boiling, baking, steaming and chilling methods or a combination of these methods.
8. Confection:
Confection is a dessert that features sugar as a principal ingredient, referred to as lollies or sweets. Several confections use sugar heated into crystals with subtle differences making them different. Chocolate, sugar candy, chewing gum are the perfect examples of candies. The candied form of vegetables, fruit, or nuts covered and glazed with sugar are also considered confections. Taffy, toffee, fudge, and caramel are dairy and sugar-based confections.
See More: Types Of Biscuits Names
9. Fruit:
The naturally occurring fruits make them commonly found in dessert courses. Fruit-based desserts are full of excellent nutrients and antioxidants and delicious. In addition, there is no need to add sweeteners because they are naturally sweet. So if you have a sweet tooth but want to enjoy something natural, fruits are a perfect choice. Chocolate covered strawberries, cherry pie, blueberry cheesecake are some famous examples of fruity desserts.
10. Custards:
A Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese or cream. Sometimes, flour, cornstarch, Gelatin, egg or egg yolk are used to thicken it. The consistency of the Custard varies from thin pouring sauce to thick pastry cream, depending on the recipe.
Two of the most popular puddings in the Indian subcontinent are Kheer and phirni. Flan and crème Brulee are baked custards used for pies or pastries fillings.
11. Deep-fried Desserts:
The topic of desserts is incomplete without discussing the different types of dee-fried dessert options. In addition, there is a popular deep-fried dessert that is special to every cuisine and country. These Deep-fried desserts are usually starch-based batter or dough, which is sometimes filled with jelly or Custard, adding a unique taste to them.
Gulab Jamun is a perfect example of a deep-fried Indian dessert made of milk solids kneaded into dough, then deep-fried and soaked in sugar syrup. In many countries, churros are eaten as desserts, a deep-fried and sugared dough.
12. Chocolate:
Chocolate is a popular dessert for kids and adults worldwide. Cocoa solids are the prominent ingredients in unsweetened dark chocolate, and varying proportions of Cocoa butter is also added. Combining chocolate with sugar forms sweet chocolate, which is most of the chocolates available in the market. But to form sweetened chocolate, theobroma cacao beans can be used as a substitute mixed with sugar.
Yet another sweet chocolate that has milk powder or condensed milk is Milk chocolate. It doesn’t contain cocoa solids but only cocoa butter, sugar and milk. At the same time, Dark chocolate has little to no milk with fat and sugar to the cacao mixture.
Depending on the proportion of cocoa and fat content used in a particular formulation, there are several types of chocolates. They are Raw chocolate, Dark chocolate, Dark chocolate, White chocolate, Baking chocolate, Modeling chocolate, Organic chocolate, compound Couverture chocolate, Ruby chocolate.
Chocolate cake, Easy chocolate souffle, Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, and Choco lava cake are popular types of chocolate desserts.
Interesting Facts About Dessert:
Here are some facts about the different types of desserts you might find interesting:
- Ice cream is the most missed item in space by the Astronauts, pizza taking up second place and fizzy drinks taking third place.
- German cake is named after Sam German, an American baker. However, the Dessert is not German.
- The frozen Haute Chocolate ice cream sundae, which costs $25,000, is the most expensive, globally recognized ice cream and Dessert.
- Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory exists, containing 150000 gallons of mixed chocolate, cream and water. However, it turned out to be smelly and spoilt and didn’t stay alive for long.
- To improve the longevity of a fruitcake, many people add a rich content of alcohol.
- You can depict a person’s personality with their flavour preferences. For example, realistic people usually choose apple pie.
- On the other hand, compassionate, thoughtful and analytic people usually prefer pecan pie.
- Self-independent and funny people presser pumpkin, whereas lovely people are chocolate pie lovers.
See More: Different Kinds of Salads
Dessert is a generic term used to refer to anything sweet. We have presented you with the classification of different types of desserts and where they are popular. Learn more about the popular desserts available around the world. Don’t forget to let us know if you found this article helpful!
FAQ’s:
1. What is India’s national Dessert?
Jalebi is considered India’s national sweet, and you can find this Dessert in every nook and corner of the country. Every part of the country adds a unique taste to this Dessert making it more special.
2. What are the most popular Indian Desserts?
India is a large country, and every state has a unique dessert. Here are some of the popular desserts in India:
- Gulab jamun.
- Gajar ka halwa.
- Sandesh.
- Modak.
- Payasam.
- Kaju ki barfi.
- Aanshrikhand.
- Shahi tukda.
3. What are some of the diabetic-friendly desserts?
Even Diabetic patients can consume desserts as long as they don’t overindulge and follow a balanced diet. Here are the popular diabetic-friendly desserts:
- Granola without sugar with added fruit.
- Trail mix with dried cranberries, roasted pepitas, seeds and nuts.
- Nut butter and graham crackers.
- Chia seeds pudding.
- Avocado mousse (low sugar).
4. Which country consumes the most candy?
Although the United States might experience a sugar high during Halloween, the most candy per capita is consumed by Germany.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is based on research and not a replacement for a professional opinion. The website is not responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of the information.
