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What to eat in England? Top 50 English Desserts

Last update: Sat Mar 15 2025
Top 50 English Desserts
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01

Ice Cream

CORNWALL, England and  one more region
4.6
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Clotted cream ice cream is a traditional ice cream that’s associated with Cornwall, although it’s sold in supermarkets throughout the United Kingdom. This ice cream is made with Cornish whole milk, eggs, and clotted cream. The use of Cornish clotted cream gives the ice cream a unique flavor and a velvety consistency.


This decadent ice cream can be flavored with various additional ingredients such as vanilla, and it can be found in many bars and cafes across the region. It is also not uncustomary to add a dollop of clotted cream on top of the scoops of Cornish ice cream.

02

Dessert

ENGLAND and  one more region
4.2
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Sticky toffee pudding is a rich, moist sponge cake filled with dates, covered in a sticky toffee sauce. The dessert is traditionally served with custard or a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Its origins are quite murky as some claim it originates from the Sharrow Bay Hotel in the Lake District, some report that it's especially popular in Cartmel, while others say that it was invented at the Udny Arms Hotel in Aberdeenshire.


Today, the dessert is also popular in Australia, Ireland, and Scotland.

MOST ICONIC Sticky toffee pudding

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03

Sweet Pie

JEVINGTON, England
4.2
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Banoffee pie is an English dessert made with cream, bananas, and toffee on top of a pastry shell or on top of a base made with crumbled biscuits. The name of the dish is a combination of the words banana and toffee. The sweet pie was invented in the 1970s by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding at The Hungry Monk restaurant in East Sussex.


It became extremely popular when the customers started to check regularly if the dessert was still on the menu. Today, banoffee pie is so popular throughout the world that it even has its own place in the dictionary, denoting "a tart or pie made with cream, bananas, and toffee", while the recipe for the pie can often be found on tins of Nestlé's condensed milk.

MOST ICONIC Banoffee pie

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04
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Treacle tart is a traditional dessert consisting of a shortcrust pastry filled with sugar syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, and spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Originally, treacle was the most inexpensive sweetener, so food historians believe that the dish was invented as a way for peasants to use up leftover bread.


This classic dish is traditionally served warm, with a dollop of clotted cream, whipped cream, or a few scoops of ice cream on the side. Local variations include Yorkshire's treacle tart with added dried fruit and grated apple, and Suffolk's, which has eggs beaten into it for a custard-like result.

MOST ICONIC Treacle tart

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05
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Lemon drizzle cake is a traditional cake and a staple of afternoon tea. Although not much is known about its origin, it is believed that the first lemon drizzle was made by a Jewish woman named Evelyn Rose in 1967. This simple sponge cake is usually made with a combination of flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, baking powder, lemon zest, and lemon juice.


The ingredients are mixed in a bowl, then placed into a baking tray and baked in an oven. The lemon juice is mixed with icing sugar, and once the cake is done, the icing is drizzled over it in order to give the cake a refreshing, bright, lemony, and slightly sharp flavor. 

MOST ICONIC Lemon drizzle cake

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06

Dessert

ETON, England
4.0
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Eton mess is a popular English dessert made by combining fresh strawberries, meringue, and cream. The dessert was invented in the 1930s at the English Eton College, when it was traditionally served at the school's prize-giving celebration, held annually on June 4th.


Originally, it was made with either strawberries or bananas that were mixed with ice cream because meringue is a recent addition to the dish. The word mess refers to the untidy visual appearance of the dish. Today, Eton mess can be made with other fruit, such as raspberries, redcurrants, or even blackberries, and because it is very easy to prepare and flavorful, it is popular throughout the country, especially in the summer.

MOST ICONIC Eton mess

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07
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Knickerbocker glory is a classic British dessert that is simple to prepare, yet seriously impressive when served. It is made by layering ice cream, whipped cream, and fruit (usually berries) in a large, tall glass. The dessert is traditionally topped with various syrups, but some might ad nuts, and a single cherry on top.


Knickerbocker glory should be consumed with a long spoon.

MOST ICONIC Knickerbocker glory

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08
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Victoria sponge is an English layer cake filled with fruit jam (and sometimes, whipped cream). It was invented by Queen Victoria's cooks in the 19th century, when it was one of the main stars at the Queen's tea parties, along with sandwiches and scones.


The jam used in Victoria sponge is usually raspberry or strawberry jam, although modern variations are sometimes filled with apricot and greengage jam. Whipped cream is a 20th-century addition to the filling, and some purists, such as the official Women's Institute, claim that a true Victoria sponge can only have a jam filling. 

MOST ICONIC Victoria sponge

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09

Tart

BAKEWELL, England
3.9
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Bakewell tart is a traditional dessert consisting of shortcrust pastry filled with fruit jam and a combination of sugar, eggs, ground almonds, and butter. The tart is baked so that it remains light and moist, and it is usually served warm, with a dollop of cream or a scoop of ice cream on the side.


The name of the dish is a corruption of the words bad (bath) and kwell (source), referring to the numerous wells that used to flow in the Bakewell area of Derbyshire.

VARIATIONS OF Bakewell tart

MOST ICONIC Bakewell tart

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Eggy bread is the British version of French toast. Also known as Poor Knights of Windsor, the dish is usually prepared with a combination of crustless sandwich bread, milk, icing sugar, eggs, butter, cinnamon, and often a bit of sherry and strawberry jam.


The bread slices are soaked in a whisked mixture of icing sugar, milk, sherry, and eggs. The bread is then pan-fried in butter until browned on both sides. Once cooked, the bread is sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, then topped with strawberry jam or blackberry compote, if desired. 

MOST ICONIC Eggy bread

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11
12
13
Cookie
CORNWALL, England
3.9
14
15
Tart
BAKEWELL, England
3.7
16
17
18
19
20
Cake
YORKSHIRE, England
3.6
21
Dessert
CORNWALL, England
3.6
22
23
Dessert
LONDON, England
3.5
24
25
26
Sweet Bread
LONDON, England
3.5
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Tart
MANCHESTER, England
3.3
36
37
38
39
Sweet Pastry
CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE, England
n/a
40
Tart
YORKSHIRE, England
n/a
41
42
Tart
KENT, England
n/a
43
Dessert
EAST SUSSEX, England
n/a
44
Cookie
GOOSNARGH, England
n/a
45
Cookie
DERBYSHIRE, England
n/a
46
Cookie
SHREWSBURY, England
n/a
47
Cake
CORNWALL, England
n/a
48
49
50

TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 50 English Desserts” list until March 15, 2025, 2,464 ratings were recorded, of which 2,221 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.

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English Desserts