Cakes & Custards

🇰🇷South Korea

Rainbow Rice Cake

무지개떡

A steamed rice cake with colorful layers (green, yellow, pink, white) resembling a rainbow, served at celebrations.

🇮🇳India

Rava Idli

रवा इडली

A variation of idli made from semolina instead of rice, originating from Karnataka. It is softer and often includes grated carrots and cashews.

🇬🇾Guyana

Red cake

Salara

A soft bread dough rolled around bright red sweetened coconut and baked, sliced to show the spiral.

🇺🇸United States

Red Velvet Cake

A crimson, cocoa-tinged layer cake with cream-cheese frosting — a Southern signature.

🇷🇸Serbia

Reform Torte

Реформ торта

Thin walnut meringue layers stacked with chocolate buttercream, dense and very sweet.

🇦🇱Istanbul, Albania

Revani

Ρεβανί

Semolina cake bathed in lemon syrup, baked golden and cut in squares — an Ottoman dessert that travelled across the Balkans and Greece under many names, served at cafés and home tables alike.

🇺🇸New England, United States

Rhode Island Doughboy

A Rhode Island fried dough, similar to a funnel cake, dusted with sugar or cinnamon.

🇭🇺Hungary

Rigó Jancsi

Rigó Jancsi is a chocolate sponge cake with chocolate mousse and apricot jam, named after a Roma violinist.

🇧🇳Brunei

Ring Cake

Kuih Cincin

Traditional Bruneian snack translating as 'ring cake'; made from wheat flour, brown sugar, and red palm sugar; the dough is shaped into floral forms with ring-shaped holes, coated in rice flour, and deep-fried; has a crispy texture and distinctive sweet flavour; a popular kuih-muih in Brunei.

🇫🇷France

Rum Baba

Baba au rhum

Yeast cake soaked in rum syrup, often served with whipped cream.

🇫🇮Finland

Runeberg Torte

Runebergintorttu

Small cylinder-shaped cake named after poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, with almond flour, ginger, cardamom, raspberry jam center.

🇱🇻Latvia

Rye Bread Potato Cake

Rupjmaizes kartupeļu torte

Cake made with rye bread crumbs and potatoes, a sweet dessert showcasing traditional ingredients.

🇱🇻Latvia

Rye Bread Trifle

Rupjmaizes kārtojums

Layered dessert of sweetened rye bread crumbs, cream and berry preserves, a type of trifle.

🇦🇹Vienna, Austria

Sachertorte

Famous chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam layer and chocolate icing, invented 1832 by Franz Sacher, Austria's most legendary dessert, iconic.

🇨🇳China

Sachima

萨其马

Strands of fried egg dough bound into a slab with malt sugar syrup and studded with raisins and sesame, cut into soft squares.

🇬🇧England, United Kingdom

Saffron Cake

Saffron Cake is a traditional pastry from United Kingdom.

🇸🇲San Marino

Sammarinese Fruit Cake

Bustrengo

Traditional Sammarinese Christmas fruit cake made with cornmeal, flour, stale bread, eggs, olive oil, milk, honey, apples, figs, raisins, and citrus zest; traditionally baked in a copper pot in a fireplace covered with hot coals; very rich and dense, served in small portions with sweet wine; a peasant dessert that never threw away food; a TasteAtlas-listed dish.

🇮🇳Goa, India

Sanna

साण्णं

Fermented rice batter is steamed into soft, slightly sweet cakes in Goa and coastal Karnataka.

🇷🇴Romania

Savarin

Savarină

A ring of yeasted sponge soaked heavily in sugar syrup, split and filled with whipped cream and topped with jam.

🇲🇲Rakhine State, Myanmar

Saw Hlaing Mont

စောလှိုင်မုန့်

Rakhine cake of millet or glutinous rice flour with coconut and jaggery, baked over coals until the top browns and the inside stays chewy.

🇮🇹Lombardy, Italy

Sbrisolona

Mantuan crumbly cake of cornmeal, almonds, and lemon zest, traditionally broken (not cut) into chunks. A rustic dessert from the Gonzaga era.

🇮🇹Tuscany, Italy

Schiacciata dell'Uva

Tuscan sweet focaccia baked with black grapes and sugar, a harvest-time bread. Also called schiacciata con l'uva.

🇨🇦Winnipeg, Canada

Schmoo Torte

Winnipeg dessert of angel food cake layers and whipped cream, covered with crushed pecans and caramel sauce.

🇲🇲Myanmar

Semolina Cake

ဆနွင်းမကင်း

Semolina baked with coconut milk, butter, sugar and egg into a dense, slightly gritty cake, topped with poppy or sesame seed and cut into diamonds.

🇵🇱Poland

Sernik

Polish cheesecake of twaróg (quark), eggs, sugar, and vanilla, baked on a shortcrust base. A national dessert, dense and creamy, served with raisins or fruit, a café and home staple.

🇵🇱Poland

Sernik z Rosą

'Wet cheesecake': a Polish cheesecake with a sponge-cake top that becomes moist ('with dew') during baking. A bakery specialty, dense and creamy, a beloved variant.

🇦🇱Albania

Shendetlie

Shëndetlie

Honey and walnut cake, the name means for health, dense sponge with ground walnuts and honey soaked in honey-lemon syrup, prominent walnut flavor with dense but moist texture, a celebration cake.

🇭🇷Croatia

Skradin Cake

Skradinska torta

Unique cake from Skradin with walnut base glazed with chocolate, a regional specialty, rich and traditional, rare and prized.

🇮🇸Iceland

Skyr Cake

Skyrkaka

No-bake cheesecake-style torte made with skyr, cream and berries.

🇸🇪Scania, Sweden

Skåne Spit Cake

Skånsk spettkaka

Conical spit cake from Skåne with protected geographical designation, extremely crisp and sweet.

🇺🇸United States

Smearcase

A Pennsylvania Dutch term for cheesecake — a simple, dense, cheese-and-egg custard.

🇺🇸United States

Smith Island Cake

Maryland's official dessert: a thin layer cake of eight to fifteen layers with chocolate icing.

🇪🇸Cantabria, Spain

Sobao

Sobao pasiego

A traditional buttery sponge cake from Cantabria, baked in a distinctive trapezoidal paper wrapper, with a dense, moist, slightly chewy texture.

🇭🇺Transdanubia, Hungary

Somlói Galuska

Somlói Galuska is a trifle with three sponge layers (plain, chocolate, walnut), vanilla cream, raisins, and chocolate sauce.

🇵🇦Panama

Sopa Borracha (Drunken Soup)

Sopa borracha

A Panamanian dessert of sponge cake soaked in plum, raisin, rum, and brandy syrup with cinnamon and cloves, a festive and wedding classic

🇷🇺Russia

Sour Cream Cake

Сметанник

Sour cream cake is a Russian layer cake with sour-cream frosting, moist layers, and a tangy flavour.