This glossary explains 70 French pastry words you meet in recipes and bakery cases, from techniques (abaisser, blanchir, foncer) to doughs (pâte brisée, sablée, sucrée, feuilletée, choux), creams (pâtissière, anglaise, mousseline) 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 6, 2026, https://mangezmoi.com/french-pastry-glossary/. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit and a link.