Cakes & Custards

🇺🇸United States

Meyer Lemon Cake

A layer cake made with fragrant, sweeter Meyer lemons.

🇭🇺Hungary

Mezes Kremes

Mézes krémes

Hungarian honey cake.

🇭🇷Međimurje, Croatia

Međimurska gibanica

Međimurska gibanica layers walnut, poppy seed, apple and fresh cheese under sour cream in a rich regional pastry.

🇵🇭Cebu, Philippines

Millet Suman

Budbud Kabog

A Cebuano suman made from millet (kabog) instead of rice, wrapped in banana leaves, a rare regional delicacy.

🇱🇺Luxembourg Moselle, Luxembourg

Mirabelle Tart

Mirabellenkuchen

Yeast tart topped with halved mirabelle plums, the summer sister of quetschentaart.

🇰🇲Comoros

Mkatra Siniya

A white cake made from soaked rice blended with coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, and baking soda; no wheat flour; 'siniya' means tray in Swahili, referring to the tray it is baked in; a classic Comorian dessert.

🇲🇬Madagascar

Mofo Akondro

Ripe bananas folded into a Malagasy batter and cooked as a soft breakfast or tea cake.

🇲🇬Madagascar

Mofo Mangahazo

Cassava cakes cooked or baked as a Malagasy market snack.

🇵🇾Paraguay

Molasses Cake

Torta de Miel

Dense dark cake built on miel negra (raw cane molasses) rather than honey, a legacy of the Mennonite and German ovens of the Chaco.

🇺🇸United States

Molten Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with a liquid chocolate center that runs when cut — a 1990s restaurant dessert.

🇯🇵Chugoku, Japan

Momiji manjū

もみじ饅頭

Momiji manju, the maple-leaf-shaped filled cake of Miyajima, is a named regional omiyage with dedicated makers on the island approach.

🇲🇸Montserrat

Montserrat Rum Cake

Rum Cake

Dessert made with rum, served with vanilla ice cream at restaurants like Isles Bay Beach Bar in Montserrat; a traditional Caribbean-style rum cake; a popular Montserrat dessert.

🇱🇺Luxembourg

Mummentaart

A cheese tart of fresh curd and cream on a thin pastry base, baked until barely set and eaten cold.

🇨🇳China

Mung Bean Cake

绿豆糕

Skinned mung beans steamed, sweetened and pressed into small moulded blocks that crumble to a dry paste on the tongue.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka

Mung Bean Oil Cake

මුං කැවුම්

Mung bean flour and rice flour mixed with treacle into a diamond-shaped paste and deep-fried so it puffs and turns dark golden.

🇸🇾Syria

Nammoura

نمورة

Semolina cake baked in a tray with a whole almond on each diamond and drenched in syrup while hot.

🇨🇦British Columbia, Canada

Nanaimo Bars

No-bake three-layer dessert: graham crumb-coconut base, custard buttercream middle, chocolate ganache top.

🇷🇺Russia

Napoleon Cake

Наполеон

Napoleon cake is a Russian layered cake of puff pastry and custard cream, typically chilled before serving.

🇳🇷Nauru

Nauru Christmas Cake

Traditional Christmas cakes made from banana and coconut; celebrated by the predominantly Christian Nauruan population; a seasonal dessert that combines two of the island's most important local ingredients; a festive tradition that reflects the adaptation of Western Christmas customs with local produce.

🇨🇳China

New Year Rice Cake

年糕

Pounded glutinous rice steamed into a dense sticky cake, sweet and sliced in the south, or cut into ovals and stir-fried as a savoury staple.

🇺🇸New York, United States

New York Cheesecake

New York-style cheesecake

A dense, rich cheesecake made with cream cheese on a graham cracker crust, smooth and custardy with a hint of lemon.

🇰🇭Cambodia

Num Akor

នំអាកោ

Steamed rice flour cake with palm sugar and coconut milk, topped with fresh coconut shavings.

🇰🇭Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Num Barang

នំបារាំង

Sponge cake made with duck eggs and wheat flour, believed to be of Portuguese origin, baked in a wood-fired oven.

🇰🇭Cambodia

Num Kachai

នំកាជៃ

Savoury rice flour cake flavoured with Chinese chive flowers, steamed and cut into squares, topped with sesame and oil.

🇲🇰Ohrid, North Macedonia

Ohrid Cake

Охридска торта

Layered cake of walnuts, jam and cream built in the lakeside towns and served in thin slices.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka

Oil Cake

කැවුම්

Rice flour and palm treacle batter deep-fried in a ladle of coconut oil so it forms a peak on top, made for the April New Year.

🇫🇷France

Opera Cake

Gateau Opera

Layered almond sponge cake with coffee buttercream and chocolate glaze.

🇨🇳China

Osmanthus Cake

桂花糕

A soft translucent cake of rice flour and sugar set with osmanthus blossoms, cut into small squares and eaten cool.

🇳🇷Nauru

Pandanus Cake

Pandanus cake mixes preserved pandanus fruit pulp with coconut and flour or starch, then bakes it into a fragrant, tender cake.

🇮🇹Veneto, Italy

Pandoro

Verona's star-shaped Christmas bread, buttery and tall, dusted with vanilla sugar. No candied fruit—just butter, eggs, and vanilla.

🇮🇹Milan, Italy

Panettone

Milan's tall dome-shaped Christmas bread of brioche-like dough studded with raisins and candied orange, slow-proofed for days. A national Christmas ritual.

🇮🇹Tuscany, Italy

Panforte di Siena

Sienese dense spiced fruit-and-nut cake with honey, pepper, and candied fruit—a medieval Christmas specialty. Chewy, spicy, and rich.

🇹🇻Funafuti, Tuvalu

Papa

Tuvaluan papa is a dense coconut cake made from grated coconut and sugar, then steamed or baked into a moist snack or dessert.

🇨🇿Pardubice, Czech Republic

Pardubicky Pernik

Pardubický perník

Pardubice gingerbread, a dark spiced honey cake.

🇬🇧England, United Kingdom

Parkin

A dense oatmeal and black treacle gingerbread, baked and then left in a tin for days to go sticky.

🇪🇸Cantabria, Spain

Pasiega Cheesecake

Quesada pasiega

A Cantabrian dessert similar to cheesecake, made with fresh cheese, butter, eggs, sugar, and lemon zest, with a creamy texture and golden top.