This glossary defines 70 French pastry words. Abaisser means to roll out dough to an even thickness, pâte sablée is a crumbly sweet shortbread pastry, and crème pâtissière is pastry cream, the thick custard in éclairs and tarts. It also covers techniques, doughs, creams and classic cakes.
- abaisser
- to roll out dough to an even thickness
- bain-marie
- a water bath, for gentle cooking or melting
- beurre noisette
- browned butter, cooked until nutty and golden
- beurre pommade
- butter softened to the texture of face cream
- biscuit
- in pastry, a light sponge cake made with whipped eggs (not a cookie)
- blanchir
- to whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick
- bûche de Noël
- the Christmas log cake: rolled sponge with buttercream or ganache
- canelé
- small Bordeaux cake with a caramelized crust and custardy center, flavored with rum and vanilla
- chantilly
- sweetened whipped cream
- charlotte
- a molded dessert of ladyfingers around a mousse or bavarois
- chemiser
- to line a mold (with butter and flour, paper, or a layer of cake)
- chouquette
- small choux puff topped with pearl sugar
- clafoutis
- fruit (classically unpitted cherries) baked in a thick pancake-like batter
- coulis
- a smooth fruit sauce
- crème anglaise
- pourable vanilla custard sauce
- crème au beurre
- French buttercream
- crème brûlée
- baked custard with a burnt-sugar top
- crème d’amande
- almond cream, the filling of many tarts and the galette des rois
- crème diplomate
- pastry cream lightened with whipped cream
- crème mousseline
- pastry cream enriched with butter, used in the fraisier
- crème pâtissière
- pastry cream: thick custard for éclairs and tarts
- croquembouche
- a tower of cream puffs held with caramel
- dacquoise
- nut meringue baked as a cake layer
- détendre
- to loosen a thick mixture with a little liquid
- dorer
- to brush with egg wash
- éclair
- long choux pastry filled with cream and glazed
- entremets
- a layered, molded cake, often mousse-based
- far breton
- dense Breton flan, often with prunes
- financier
- small almond cake made with browned butter and egg whites
- fond
- a base layer (of cake, dough or meringue)
- foncer
- to line a tart ring or pan with dough
- fontaine
- a well of flour into which liquids are added
- fraisier
- strawberry cake: génoise, crème mousseline and whole strawberries
- galette des rois
- Epiphany cake: puff pastry filled with almond cream
- ganache
- chocolate and cream emulsion
- gâteau au yaourt
- yogurt cake measured with the yogurt pot; the first cake French children bake
- génoise
- sponge cake made by whipping whole eggs and sugar
- glaçage
- glaze or icing
- île flottante
- poached meringue on crème anglaise
- kouign-amann
- Breton laminated cake of butter and sugar
- macaron
- almond-meringue sandwich cookie
- madeleine
- small shell-shaped butter cake
- meringue française
- raw whipped egg whites and sugar
- meringue italienne
- whites whipped with hot sugar syrup; stable
- meringue suisse
- whites and sugar warmed over a water bath, then whipped
- mille-feuille
- layers of puff pastry and pastry cream
- monter
- to whip (cream or whites) to add volume
- mousse
- a light, aerated dessert set with whipped cream or whites
- napper
- to coat with a sauce or glaze
- nappage
- a clear glaze for fruit tarts
- nougatine
- caramel and nuts, set and shaped
- opéra
- layers of almond sponge soaked in coffee, coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache
- pain d’épices
- spiced honey bread
- palmier
- caramelized puff pastry cookie
- paris-brest
- ring of choux filled with praline cream
- pâte à choux
- choux pastry, for éclairs and puffs
- pâte brisée
- shortcrust pastry for savory and fruit tarts
- pâte feuilletée
- puff pastry
- pâte sablée
- crumbly sweet shortbread pastry
- pâte sucrée
- sweet tart pastry, firmer than sablée
- praliné
- paste of caramelized hazelnuts or almonds
- profiteroles
- choux puffs filled with ice cream and covered in chocolate sauce
- quatre-quarts
- pound cake: equal weights of eggs, butter, sugar and flour
- religieuse
- two stacked cream puffs glazed and piped like a nun
- ruban (stade ruban)
- the ribbon stage: batter falls in a ribbon that holds briefly
- sabler
- to rub butter into flour until sandy
- saint-honoré
- puff pastry base, caramel choux and chiboust or chantilly cream
- tarte Tatin
- upside-down caramelized apple tart
- tuile
- thin curved cookie
- zester
- to remove citrus zest
Questions people ask
What is the difference between pâte sablée and pâte sucrée?
Both are sweet tart doughs; sablée is richer and crumblier (butter rubbed into flour), sucrée is firmer and holds its shape better.
What is a biscuit in French pastry?
A light sponge cake made with whipped eggs, not a cookie or a US biscuit.
Cite this page: Mangez Moi, “French Pastry Glossary: 70 Terms in Plain English,” mangezmoi.com, updated October 11, 2026, https://mangezmoi.com/french-pastry-glossary/. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit and a link.