The best French sweet pastries and cakes to try during your stay in Paris
France is world-renowned for its gourmet cuisine and sophisticated sweet treats. Whether you’re a fine foodie, enjoy trying local specialities or just want to practise your French, sampling our local specialities is all part of experiencing a language stay in Paris.
ACCORD French language school in Paris actively encourages students to practise their French outside the classroom. Visiting a bakery, ordering a cake, asking the baker for a recommendation and chatting with the staff and customers are golden opportunities to use your French in real-life situations.
Some French pastries and cakes s are famous all over the world, others are local gems that overseas visitors are yet to unearth. Here’s a mouth-watering selection that you won’t be able to resist ticking off your to-do list after your French class in Paris.
Did you know…
The French don’t class croissants and pains au chocolat (also known as chocolatines) as pâtisseries in France; they call them viennoiseries. They’re made using puff pastry and traditionally served for breakfast or as an afternoon snack, whereas pâtisseries tend to be served as dessert or as a sweet treat.
French pâtisserie classics
Éclair
Éclairs are one of the most iconic French cakes. They’re made with choux pastry filled with crème pâtissière with a glossy glaze on top. Chocolate and coffee are classics but pâtissiers make them in all kinds of flavours, including vanilla, caramel and pistachio.
Lightbulb moment: éclair means lightning in French, so does it take its name from the fact that we eat it at lightning speed?
Millefeuille
Millefeuilles are made up of three crispy puff pastry layers with vanilla crème pâtissière sandwiched between each layer. Its white glaze adorned with chocolate feathering make it instantly recognisable. It’s named after the many layers created by the puff pastry or feuilletage. Are there really one thousand? Find out for yourself!
Tarte Tatin
A Tarte Tatin is essentially an upside-down cake from the 19th century. The apples are caramelised in butter and sugar in a pan before being given a pastry top and baked. When it’s ready to serve, the tart is turned over so the apples are on top and the pastry is on the bottom.
Legend has it that the recipe came about from a happy accident when the Tatin sisters overcooked their apples at their inn.
Paris-Brest
This sweet treat was designed in 1910 to celebrate the famous Paris-Brest-Paris bike race, which is why it looks like a wheel. Its choux pastry ring is filled with praline cream and decorated with almond slivers. It’s a wheel French pâtisserie classic.
Opéra
Sleek and stylish Opéra cakes are made up of delicate layers of Joconde biscuit, coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache and a glossy chocolate glaze.
The beautiful balance between chocolate and coffee makes it a popular dessert and its good looks make it a regular in Parisian pâtisserie shop windows.
Fraisier
The French love a fraisier in spring for its light sponge, crème mousseline and fresh strawberries. It’s a favourite at birthday parties and family get-togethers.
Religieuse
This cute concoction has two choux buns, one on top of the other, filled with chocolate or coffee crème pâtissière and topped with a chocolate or coffee glaze. Why’s it named after nuns? Just take a look at the shape… doesn’t it remind you of a nun’s traditional headdress?
Unmissable French treats
If you want to try something different once you’ve sampled France’s signature sweets, push the boat out and try some of our regional specialities during your time in Paris. The French may know and love them, but not many people have heard of them overseas. Our regional cakes capture the diversity and variety of French pâtisserie in all its glory.
Kouign-amann
The kouign-amann from Brittany is often said to be one of the most indulgent cakes in France. Its name means gâteau au beurre or butter cake in Breton. It’s made using bread dough and lots of butter and sugar, making it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Saint-Honoré
The Saint-Honoré was first concocted in the 19th century in tribute to the patron saint of bakers. It has a puff pastry base with lashings of whipped cream and a ring of little caramelised choux buns. Look out for this chic showstopper in the best cake shops and tea rooms in Paris
Flan pâtissier
If may look simple, but the flan pâtissier is a French pâtisserie favourite. The indulgent creamy filling is made using eggs and vanilla in a shortcrust or puff pastry case. Locals love serving it for dessert or grabbing a slice of flan for an afternoon snack.
Pithiviers
This frangipane-filled puff pastry cake hails from the town of Pithiviers in the Loiret (not to be confused with the savoury meat-filled pithiviers pie). Bakers score pretty patterns into the crust with a knife before baking it until golden.
Can you tell the difference between a pithiviers and a galette des Rois?
Tropézienne
The Tropézienne comes from 1950s Saint-Tropez and is a soft brioche filled with whipped cream and topped with sugar crystals. It shot to stardom after the release of the Brigitte Bardot film, And God Created Woman, and is the perfect summer dessert.
Merveilleux
A merveilleux is the perfect combination of crisp meringue, whipped cream and chocolate shavings. It’s light as a feather and melts in your mouth. It originated in Northern France and Belgium and is popular all over France. It’s certainly merveilleux!
Foodies describe the merveilleux as a cake that looks as good as it tastes!
Gourmet glossary
France is home to a few different types of shop:
- A boulangerie sells bread, pastries and a few cakes too.
- A pâtisserie specialises in sweet treats and desserts.
- A boulangerie-pâtisserie brings the two together.
- A salon de thé is the place to go for cake with coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
French phrases to use when you’re in a Parisian pâtisserie
These phrases could come in handy during your stay in Paris:
- Bonjour, je voudrais…
- Qu’est-ce que vous me conseillez ?
- Je vais prendre cette pâtisserie.
- Est-ce que je peux manger sur place ?
- C’est à emporter, s’il vous plaît.
- Combien je vous dois ?
- Merci beaucoup. Bonne journée !
Practise your French in real-world situations as you explore the wonderful world of French pâtisserie.
A mouth-watering must-do during your language stay in Paris
No trip to Paris would be complete without visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Montmartre and the French capital’s bakeries to sample a French speciality and make chit-chat with the shop owners. These slices of everyday life are often the best way to improve your French as they help you broaden your vocabulary, build your confidence and get to grips with French culture.
ACCORD FLE language school encourages its students to squeeze every drop out of their immersive language experience. So once your French lessons have finished for the day, why not plan a gourmet tour visiting the pâtisseries in 15th arrondissement, Le Marais, Saint-Germain-des-Prés or Rue de Rivoli? It will satisfy your appetite for culture, French practice and sweet treats!
Come hungry!
Which of all the French bakes and cakes we’ve mentioned are you the most excited to try?
Feel free to ask your teacher or ACCORD staff for advice: they are only too happy to recommend a few great little spots near the school!
Bon appétit et à bientôt chez ACCORD à Paris!
