MAIN INGREDIENTS
Made from only four ingredients — milk, sugar, salep, and mastic — Maraş dondurması, which literally translates as Maraş ice cream, is a dessert enjoyed all across Turkey, and it originates from the city of Kahramanmaraş. Located in the southern Mersin province, this town lies on the slopes of the Ahir Mountain, which provides two out of the four ingredients mentioned.
The milk for Maraş dondurması is harvested from the Ahir Mountain goats, and their nutrition consisting of aromatic herbs gives it a distinctive taste. On the other hand, salep or sahlep is a type of flour made from bulbs of a special type of purple orchids growing on the slopes of Ahir Mountain.
TIME
- Preparation time: 45 min
- Cooking time: 25 min
- Total time: 15 h 10 min
Flaky, laminated pastry shells filled with a creamy egg yolk custard, flavored with cinnamon, or pastel de nata for short, is the world-famous Portuguese dessert invented by Catholic nuns and monks sometime before the 18th century. The preparation is a lengthy one, and every step should be done with the utmost care.
First, the pastry is made by laminating the dough with butter — however, lard was used before, and margarine is commonly used today. The custard is made with just milk, water, sugar, and egg yolks, and flavored with cinnamon, or in some recipes also with vanilla and lemon, which has the purpose of cutting the sweetness of the custard.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h 15 min
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 14 h 15 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
The name of this famous Italian dessert stems from “tira mi sù”, an expression in the Vèneto dialect that literally translates as “pick me up” — most likely a reference to the uplifting effects of tiramisù’s combination of sugar, cocoa, and coffee.
TIME
- Preparation time: 30 min
- Cooking time: 5 min
- Total time: 5 h 35 min
Crêpes are thin pancakes from France, originally from the Brittany region, and the name comes from the Old French word for curled. There are sweet crêpes, which use wheat flour and are often filled with things like Nutella or fruit, and savory versions that can be made with either wheat or buckwheat flour and filled with ingredients like cheese or ham.
In France, there's a special day called La Chandeleur (Candlemas), celebrated every February 2nd, on which occasion people traditionally eat crêpes. The basic recipe calls for flour, eggs, milk, water, butter, and salt. Sweet crêpes will also have sugar and be flavored with things like vanilla, orange/lemon zest, and alcohol such as rum, Cognac, Calvados, and Grand Marnier.
TIME
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 2 h 35 min
This South American caramel spread has developed a cult following in recent years, and it can be found as an ingredient in numerous different recipes, from desserts like cheesecake and crepes to salty snacks such as popcorn. It can also be found in many traditional desserts from Argentina and Uruguay.
There are several different ways to make this sauce, and the main difference between them is how long they take. Equally good dulce de leche can be made either from scratch or using shortcuts, so don't hesitate to cook up a batch of your own if you don't have much time on your hands.
TIME
- Preparation time: 5 min
- Cooking time: 2 h
- Total time: 5 h 5 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Light as a feather, but packed with flavor, chocolate soufflé may seem daunting at first but can be mastered by anyone, no matter how skilled. The preparation starts with making either crème pâtissière or crème anglaise which is flavored with chocolate or cocoa.
Stiffly beaten meringue is then folded into the cream, and the resulting mixture is poured into a buttered soufflé dish. Chocolate soufflé can be baked in a preheated oven, but sometimes, it is cooked in a water bath instead. Once baked, the soufflé should be served as quickly as possible; otherwise, it will fall on itself.
TIME
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Cooking time: 30 min
- Total time: 45 min
When we speak of cheesecakes, versatility may be one of their main attributes, and Polish sernik is no exception. Traditionally, sernik is made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour and twaróg, Polish cow’s milk cheese with a crumbly texture similar to Italian ricotta.
Everything else is a matter of choice — for instance, sernik can have a crust at the bottom, at both the top and the bottom, or have no crust at all. The filling can be based on twaróg cheese or enhanced with fresh, dried or canned fruit.
TIME
- Preparation time: 10 min
- Cooking time: 1 h
- Total time: 1 h 10 min
Regardless of what its name might imply, kaiserschmarrn (lit. the Emperor's mess), whether served as a dessert or a main dish, is one of the staples of Austrian cuisine. This light, fluffy pancake is made with eggs, flour, and milk topped with raisins soaked in rum and fried in butter.
The cooked pancake is then cut into pieces, sprinkled with butter shavings and crystal sugar, and caramelized under a broiler. The finished dish is served on preheated plates and dusted with cinnamon and caster sugar.
TIME
- Preparation time: 30 min
- Cooking time: 15 min
- Total time: 1 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Often dubbed the queen of Arab sweets, kunāfah or konafa is rather simple to prepare — that is if all the ingredients are available. The process starts with kunāfah dough, which is soaked with butter or sometimes ghee (clarified butter) and divided in half.
The first half is then spread on a round-shaped tin to cover the bottom and the sides. Since there are two ways to serve kunāfah — inverted or straight from the pan — the topping made from chopped pistachios or other nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, is placed on either top or the bottom of the kunāfah.
TIME
- Preparation time: 40 min
- Cooking time: 1 h
- Total time: 1 h 40 min
This Swedish chocolate cake is incredibly easy to prepare, and the basic recipe requires no more than seven ingredients: butter, salt, sugar, cocoa, flour, eggs, and vanilla. Because the cake does not include any baking soda, it will have gooey insides, similar to that of a fudgy brownie.
Sugar, salt, cocoa, and vanilla are added to melted butter, followed by flour and eggs. The resulting batter is poured into a buttered and floured cake pan and baked for approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on the recipe. Once baked, the cake is dusted with sugar or cocoa, and usually chilled, but can be eaten warm.
TIME
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Cooking time: 10 min
- Total time: 25 min
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 100 Dessert Recipes” list until February 16, 2025, 132,556 ratings were recorded, of which 86,927 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.