If You Fail This Dessert Quiz You May Just Be Way Too Vanilla
- by Jessie Dax-Setkus
- – on
- in Lifestyle
If there’s one thing we all love, it’s dessert. Who doesn’t look forward to clearing their plate in order to get some of the sweet stuff? We all have different treats we look forward to as well. Whether it’s ice cream, cake, pie, or even something less traditional like ube halaya—there’s always something that we look forward to after our meal. There’s something about a dessert that just ties the meal together or even gives us closure after we are done eating. Dessert lets us know that the meal is over and that it went out with a real bang.
So how well would you say you know your desserts? Would you say you eat enough of them that you could tell the difference between flan and Panna cotta? Do you know what makes gelato versus ice cream or why sorbet is not sherbet? It can be difficult because there are so many desserts out there, and these little differences can sometimes be pretty mind-blowing. So put yourself to the ultimate test by taking our dessert quiz and find out whether or not you really know your desserts or not. If you don’t maybe you are more vanilla than you think.
A New York favorite
This cake is arguably not really much of a cake at all as it really doesn't have any cake per se in it. It is actually comprised primarily of cream cheese and has a graham cracker crust much like a pie. The great thing about this cake is, it pretty much goes with anything. Whether you have berries, fudge, or even peanut butter, this cake will match up to whatever you pair with it. It's a pretty solid choice for dessert and New Yorkers tend to really love it.
Made with eggs
It is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, it may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce (crème anglaise) to a thick pastry cream (French: crème pâtissière) used to fill éclairs. Most commonly it is used as desserts or dessert sauces and typically include sugar and vanilla. Sometimes flour and corn starch is added as in pastry cream or crème pâtissière.
The American treat
This pie is typically served around the holidays, but really can be served anytime during the year because it is an American staple. Every grandma in America has a recipe for this pie, and it's actually not too difficult to pull off. Heck, there is even a saying about how easy it is. You add some cinnamon and allspice and it really brings out the flavors of the fruit used to make this pie. It's a great treat to eat anytime.
An ooey gooey treat
Everyone has an opinion about this dessert. Any person that has a recipe to make this dessert does it slightly differently than the next person that makes it. Whether you add nuts, marshmallows, or even caramel is up to you, but some people just prefer them to be the fudgey sweet morsels they were meant to be from the beginning and not add all the bells and whistles to them. You can also easily make them from a box or make them from scratch.
Thanksgiving sweets
Here we have a dessert that is usually served during the fall season, and boy do people ever look forward to having it. One good slice of this pie and a dollop of whipped cream is all you need to finish a good meal off. An interesting fact about this dessert is that many people thought it was present at the first Thanksgiving when it really wasn't. In fact, it was eel pie that was at this meal instead. Gross.
Nuts galore
This pie is a Southern tradition that has made its way onto holiday tables across the United States. In fact, this pie was also believed by some to be present at the first Thanksgiving, but wasn't even close to being on the menu. Sweet pies weren't on the radar of the Pilgrims or the Native Americans at that time, but eel pie did make the final cut when it came to setting the menu. Not exactly anyone's first choice nowadays.
A caffeinated dessert
This is a type of cake that not everyone is in love with because it is a wet cake. Why is it wet, you ask? Because it has been dredged in coffee, which gives it it's lovely flavor. Lady finger stacked on frosting comprises the rest of this cake, but what gives people a hard time is the consistency. Not everyone loves to have a wet cake when they are eating. Not to mention it is also served cold, not everyone's favorite.
Flame Broiled
This rich dessert is also known as burnt cream or Trinity cream, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. It is normally served at room temperature. The custard base is traditionally flavored with vanilla, but can have a variety of other flavorings. The earliest known recipe for "burnt cream" appears in François Massialot's 1691 cookbook Cuisinier royal et bourgeois. The name "burnt cream" was used in the 1702 English translation.
Sans dairy
Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from sweetened water with flavoring typically fruit juice or fruit purée, wine, liqueur or, very rarely, honey. In Italy, a similar though crunchier textured dish called granita is made. As the liquid in granita freezes it forms noticeably large-size crystals, which are left unstirred. Granita is also often sharded with a fork to give an even crunchier texture when served. Whereas ice cream is based on dairy products with air copiously whipped in, it has neither, which makes for a dense and extremely flavorful product.
Middle Eastern delight
It is a rich, sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the Levant, the Caucasus, Balkans, Maghreb, and of Central and West Asia.its current form was probably developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. The Sultan presented trays of it to the Janissaries every 15th of the month of Ramadan in a ceremonial procession. So it was basically royal.
Sweet not savory
This dessert is known for being made by more of a traditionally savory item, but turned into a sweet treat. Not to mention bourbon is usually part of the equation here. It's safe to say this is more of a Southern tradition as a dessert and usually finds its way onto many Southern themed menus because of it. It is usually served warm and comes with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side as well. Pretty good deal.
A grain-themed dessert
Here's a dessert with an unlikely ingredient that you have to boil up before you even make the pudding itself. Many times people sprinkle the top with cinnamon for a little extra flavor because this ingredient can make the mix a little bland as it soaks in a good amount of the moisture. Also, some people will mix in things like raisins as well to make the flavors pop a little more, but some people are also purists and like it as it is.
Sweet and sour
This is a pie that makes the crowds come running because the combination of sweet and sour is there—and who doesn't like that? The gelatinous lemon filling makes us pucker up just a little bit where the sugary top is the perfect balance to even out everything going on in the inside. This is a great pie to get while you are eating out or to give while having a bake sale as well. It tends to be a big hit.
Apples a la mode
Here we have another dessert that is best served fresh out of the oven. You want this one when it is fresh and warm. You also want it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (it's the best as it is melting on the top of it). It's a delicious dessert that really shows off the apples being used inside, which isn't hard to do if you're using fresh apples. But this dessert is like eating a warm hug from grandma.
Berries and cream
It is an English dessert made with fruit, a thin layer of sponge fingers soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, and custard. It can be topped with whipped cream. The fruit and sponge layers may be suspended in fruit-flavoured jelly, and these ingredients are usually arranged to produce three or four layers. The contents of it are highly variable; many varieties exist, some forgoing fruit entirely and instead using other ingredients such as chocolate, coffee or vanilla. Yummy indeed.
Italian ice cream
It is made with a base of milk, cream, and sugar, and flavored with fruit and nut purees and other flavorings. It is generally lower in fat than other styles of ice cream. It typically contains less air and more flavoring than other kinds of frozen desserts, giving it a density and richness that distinguishes it from other ice creams. In Italy, by law, it must have at least 3.5% butterfat. In the United States, there is no legal standard definition for it as there is for ice cream, which must contain at least 10% butterfat.
A Florida favorite
What is interesting about this pie is that is only uses fruit from a very specific location. You can't just use any old fruit or it won't work and people will somewhat freak out. how will they tell the difference? Oh, they just will. The fruit, actually comes from the Florida Keys and only from that area. You can find any variation of it just about anywhere, but you need that specific variation or else no dice for this dessert.
Caramel's best friend
It is an open, rimmed, pastry or sponge base, containing a sweet or savoury filling. Examples are the quiche lorraine, custard tart, and the South African melktert. The Hispanic version is a very rich, creamy custard usually adorned with a thin caramel-like sauce. It is known in Roman cuisine. It was often a savory dish, as in "eel flan"; sweet flans, made with honey and pepper, were also enjoyed. In the Middle Ages, both sweet and savory variations were very popular in Europe, especially during Lent, when meat was forbidden.
Fruity cake
It is a meringue dessert with a crisp crust and soft, light inside, usually topped with fruit and whipped cream.The nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two nations for many years. The dessert is a popular dish and an important part of the national cuisine of both Australia and New Zealand, and with its simple recipe, is frequently served during celebratory and holiday meals. It is a dessert most identified with the summer time and popularly eaten during that period including at Christmas time; however, it is also eaten all year round in many Australian and New Zealand homes.
Bananas and pie
It is an English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee (made from boiled condensed milk, or dulce de leche), combined either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Some versions of the recipe also include chocolate, coffee or both. Credit for the pie's invention is claimed by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding, the owner and chef, respectively, of The Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex. They claim to have developed the dessert in 1971 by amending an unreliable American recipe for "Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie" with a soft toffee made by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours.
"Cooked cream"
Italian for "cooked cream," it is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded. The cream may be aromatized with, coffee, vanilla, or other flavorings. Sugar is dissolved in warm cream. The cream may be flavored, either by infusing spices and the like in it, or by adding rum, coffee, vanilla, and so on. Gelatin is softened in a cold liquid, then added to the warm cream mixture. This is poured into molds and allowed to set. The molds may have caramel in the bottoms, giving a result similar to a crème caramel.
Ice cream and an oven
The dish is made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding and topped with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for a brief time, long enough to firm and caramelize the meringue.The meringue is an effective thermal insulator, and the short cooking time prevents the heat from getting through to the ice cream and melting it. The process for making it was simplified in 1974 by Jacqueline Halliday Diaz, who invented a baking pan that forms a fillable hollow in the cake that may be filled with ice cream.
A rich darkness
It is a chocolate sponge cake with a rich cherry filling based on the German dessert Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Typically, it consists of several layers of chocolate sponge cake sandwiched with whipped cream and cherries. It is decorated with additional whipped cream, maraschino cherries, and chocolate shavings. In some European traditions, sour cherries are used both between the layers and for decorating the top.Traditionally, kirschwasser, a clear spirit made from sour cherries, is added to the cake.Sounds divine to eat, doesn't it?
Semi-frozen loaf
It is a class of semi-frozen desserts. The principal ingredients are usually eggs, sugar and cream. It has the texture of frozen mousse. In Italian it actually means half cold. It is often called an ice-cream cake, but a true ice-cream cake has layers of cake and ice-cream. This cake comes in a rectangular shape and can be many different flavors. Anything from fruit based flavors to rich flavors can be part of the mix for this decadent cake. Yum.
Strawberries galore
The star of the show in this dessert is the humble strawberry. It's not known for being overly sweet, and that's why a glaze has to be made in order for this dessert to acquire the sweetness needed for people to really run for this dessert. It is actually a really simple dessert to make as all that is required is a crust, a glaze, and some fresh strawberries. No fancy bells and whistles to this dish, just sweet and simple.
Yeast cake
It is made from a doubled and twisted length of yeast dough and is typically baked in a high loaf pan. Instead of a fruit filling, the dough contains cinnamon and/or chocolate. The babka is usually topped with streusel. A similar cake called a kokosh is also popular in Jewish bakeries. Kokosh also comes in chocolate and cinnamon varieties, but it is lower and longer than this cake, is not twisted, and not topped with streusel. Cakes of these styles are typically but not universally considered couronnes baked in loaf pans.
South Asia Sweet
It is a milk-solid-based South Asian sweet, particularly popular in the Indian subcontinent, notably India, Nepal (where it is known as lal mohan), Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as well as Myanmar. It is also common in Mauritius, Fiji, southern and eastern Africa, Malay Peninsula, and the Caribbean countries of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and Jamaica. It is made mainly from milk solids, traditionally from Khoa, which is milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough. It is often garnished with dried nuts such as almonds to enhance flavor.
Oh sugar
It is a typical dessert of the western European countries of Northern France and Belgium; the Canadian province of Quebec, where it is called tarte au sucre; and Midwestern United States states such as Indiana, where it is known as Indiana cream pie, Indiana farm pie, and finger pie. It has a filling made from flour, butter, salt, vanilla, cream, and brown sugar or maple syrup (sometimes both). When baked, these ingredients combine into a homogeneous mixture similar to caramel. If maple syrup is used, it might be referred to as maple pie.
Sweet wine and sweet cream
It is an Italian dessert, or sometimes a beverage, made with egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine (usually Moscato d'Asti or Marsala wine). Some versions of the recipe incorporate spirits such as cognac. The dessert version is a light custard, whipped to incorporate a large amount of air. Since the 1960s, in restaurants in areas of the United States with large Italian populations, zabaione is usually served with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc. in a champagne coupe. In France, it is called sabayon.
A deserted dessert
It is a dessert of French origin, consisting of meringue on crème anglaise (a vanilla custard). The meringues are prepared from whipped egg whites, sugar and vanilla extract then quickly poached. The crème anglaise is prepared with the egg yolks, vanilla, and hot milk, briefly cooked. Some variations use a thicker sauce, served on top of the dumplings, but usually the milk mix is thin, almost liquid, and the dumplings are on top. The egg whites are beaten with sugar and poured into a mould lined with a thin layer of caramel.
The finest of Vienna
Chocolatier Franz Sacher completed his training as a chef settled in Vienna, where he opened a specialty delicatessen and wine shop. Sacher's eldest son Eduard carried on his father's culinary legacy, completing his own training in Vienna with the Royal and Imperial Pastry Chef at the Demel bakery and chocolatier, during which time he perfected his father's recipe and developed the torte into its current form. The cake was first served at the Demel and later at the Hotel Sacher, established by Eduard in 1876. Since then, the cake remains among the most famous of Vienna's culinary specialties.
Sweet strands
Also known as zulbia, it is a sweet popular food in some parts of South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and East Africa. It is made by deep-frying maida flour batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup. They are particularly popular in Iran and in the Indian subcontinent. This dessert can be served warm or cold. They have a somewhat chewy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating. Citric acid or lime juice is sometimes added to the syrup, as well as rose water. Jalebi is eaten with curd or rabri.
Dessert salad
This is a salad that consists of fruit, marshmallows, and coconut instead of the typical lettuce and veggies that you would find in a regular salad. This sweet salad is meant to be eaten after dinner instead of before dinner like a dinner salad would be eaten, which is odd for many people. However, this salad is too sweet to be eaten before your main course. You would fill up on it way too fast as well because it is hard to say no after just one spoonful.
Balls of ice cream
It is an Italian ice cream dessert originating from Pizzo, Calabria. It is usually composed of two or more flavors of ice cream, often with either fruit syrup or frozen fruit—typically raspberry, strawberry, or cherry—in the center. It is typically covered in a shell made of chocolate or cocoa, but cinnamon or nuts are also used. Essentially, this treat is ice cream that is surrounded by a hardened shell. There may be a few layers of ice cream as well.
Yam pastry
It is typically served cold. The main ingredient is peeled and boiled purple yam which is grated and mashed. The mashed yam, along with condensed milk and/or coconut milk, are then added into a saucepan where butter or margarine had been melted, and the mixture is stirred until thickened. Once thickened, the mixture is cooled down and placed into a platter or into a container with various shapes. Finally, the it is served once it had been in a refrigerator. Optional topping includes browned grated coconut or condensed milk.