Cakes & Custards

🇮🇳Gujarat, India

Handvo

હાંડવો

A savory baked cake from Gujarat made from rice, lentils, and vegetables. It is crispy outside and soft inside.

🇱🇧Lebanon

Hareeseh

هريسة

A Lebanese semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup, often studded with almonds or coconut, dense and sweet with a crisp golden top.

🇯🇴Jordan

Harissa Semolina Cake

هريسة

Semolina cake baked with yoghurt and coconut, scored into diamonds, topped with an almond and soaked in syrup.

🇰🇾Cayman Islands

Heavy Cake

The official national dessert of the Cayman Islands (gazetted in 2024); a very dense, slightly sweet and spicy cake made from grated cassava, coconut milk, brown sugar, butter, and spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves); almost the consistency of bread pudding; can also be made with yam, sweet potato, pumpkin, or breadfruit.

🇵🇸Palestine

Hilbeh

حلبة

Semolina cake made with fenugreek seeds and olive oil, topped with nuts, nigella, or sesame, then soaked in sugar and rose water syrup.

🇱🇻Latvia

Honey Cake

Medus kūka

Layered honey cake with creamy filling, popular for celebrations, adopted from Soviet cuisine.

🇰🇷South Korea

Honey Rice Cakes

꿀떡

Colorful, bite-sized steamed rice cakes drizzled with honey syrup, sometimes filled with sesame and dusted with soybean powder.

🇮🇩Medan, Indonesia

Honeycomb Cake

Bika Ambon

Honeycomb cake from Medan with distinctive porous texture, pandan aroma, and caramel flavor.

🇺🇸United States

Hot Milk Cake

A light sponge cake made by beating hot milk and butter into the batter — tender and fine-crumbed.

🇪🇸Aragon, Spain

Huesca Almond-Meringue Cake

Pastel ruso

Huesca Almond-Meringue Cake, locally pastel ruso, layers crisp almond meringue around a pale praline cream.

🇺🇸United States

Huguenot Torte

A Charleston dessert of apples, pecans, and whipped egg batter that puffs and falls into a soft, nutty pudding.

🇯🇲Jamaica

Hummingbird Cake

A Jamaican layer cake made with mashed banana, crushed pineapple, and pecans or walnuts, frosted with cream cheese icing.

🇺🇸United States

Icebox Cake

A no-bake dessert of whipped cream and cookies layered and chilled until the cookies soften into cake.

🇮🇳India

Idli

इडली

Soft, steamed rice and lentil cakes from South India. They are light, fluffy, and served with sambar and coconut chutney for breakfast.

🇮🇩Indonesia

Indonesian-Dutch Layer Cake

Lapis Legit

Dutch-Indonesian spiced layered cake with many thin buttery layers and warm spices.

🇦🇹Austria

Ischler Torte

Ischler Torte is a dessert made with a defined local recipe and ingredients.

🇵🇱Poland

Jabłecznik

A Polish apple cake, often with a sponge or meringue top, lighter than szarlotka. A home-baked and café dessert, sweet and tart, served with coffee or tea.

🇬🇧United Kingdom

Jaffa Cakes

A sponge disc topped with orange jelly and covered in dark chocolate, sold in boxes of twelve.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka

Jaggery Oil Cake

අතිරස

Rice flour and jaggery treacle kneaded into a stiff dough, flattened into discs and deep-fried until dark, dense and very sweet.

🇯🇲Jamaica

Jamaican Sweet Bread

Sweet bread

A dense, moist Jamaican quick bread of flour, coconut, sugar, spices and sometimes raisins, baked into a loaf with a crisp, sweet crust, a tea-time staple.

🇯🇵Japan

Japanese cheesecake

スフレチーズケーキ

Japanese soufflé cheesecake, the jiggling airy cake baked in Japan and exported worldwide as a phenomenon, is a named Japanese invention.

🇷🇴Bucharest, Romania

Joffre Cake

Tort Joffre

A small dense cake of chocolate sponge and heavy chocolate ganache, named for a French general who visited in 1920.

🇩🇰Denmark

Jordbærkage (Strawberry Cake)

Jordbærkage

A Danish strawberry cake with fresh strawberries, cream, and a sponge or meringue base, a summer and birthday classic. A national and seasonal staple a versatile and beloved cake, a fresh and creamy dessert, a cake, a delicacy.

🇨🇦Canada

Jos Louis

Vachon snack cake of chocolatey cake and creamy filling wrapped in chocolatey coating, Quebec since 1923.

🇩🇪Germany

Kaesekuchen

Kaesekuchen is German baked cheesecake made with quark, egg, sugar and lemon over a pastry or crumb base.

🇩🇿Algeria

Kalb el Louz

قلب اللوز

Coarse semolina cake with an almond layer inside, baked and then drowned in orange-blossom syrup while still hot.

🇮🇳Kanchipuram, India

Kanchipuram Idli

காஞ்சிபுரம் இட்லி

A spiced idli from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, steamed in bamboo baskets with a tempering of pepper, cumin, curry leaves, and ginger.

🇬🇷Greece

Karidopita

Καρυδόπιτα

Greek walnut cake, spiced with cinnamon and cloves, soaked in syrup, a café and home dessert. A moist, nutty, sweet cake, a national treat, served with ice cream or cream, a winter favorite.

🇸🇪Sweden

Karleksmums

Kärleksmums

Chocolate coconut sheet cake, a popular fika cake.

🇬🇺Guam

Kek Chokulåti

Kek chokulati is a moist Chamorro chocolate cake made with cocoa and a tender crumb, served as a fiesta or family-table sweet.

🇲🇾Sarawak, Malaysia

Kek Lapis Sarawak

Kek Lapis Sarawak is a finely layered Malaysian cake with alternating colours and spiced batter.

🇼🇸Samoa

Keke Fa'i

Keke fai is a Samoan banana cake baked until the fruit perfumes a moist, tender crumb; it is served in slices with tea or cocoa.

🇵🇱Poland

Keks Świąteczny

A Christmas fruitcake variant, richer with more dried fruits, nuts, and spices. A festive dessert, dense and fruity, served sliced with coffee or tea, a Christmas tradition.

🇺🇸United States

Kentucky Jam Cake

A spiced layer cake with blackberry jam between layers, topped with caramel or buttercream icing.

🇵🇼Palau

Kereker

Mashed taro with coconut milk, sometimes with dried fish or shrimp; steamed then pan-fried until crispy; a traditional Palauan dish that transforms taro into a savoury cake

🇮🇷Yazd, Iran

Keyk-e Yazdi

کیک یزدی

Small Yazdi cakes rise with cardamom and rose water into a tender, lightly domed crumb baked in individual moulds.