Save room for a sweet tour of cakes, cookies, custards, frozen treats, and famous desserts from around the world.
These questions come with zero calories and a very real chance of inspiring a bakery run.
Let Them Eat Cake
Q: What cake gets its lift mainly from whipped egg whites and contains no added fat?
A: Angel food cake.
Q: What red-and-white layered cake is traditionally paired with cream cheese frosting?
A: Red velvet cake.
Q: What cake is baked over fruit and inverted before serving?
A: Upside-down cake.
Q: Which fruit stars in the classic American upside-down cake?
A: Pineapple.
Q: What dense cake traditionally uses a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour?
A: Pound cake.
Q: What cake combines chocolate, cherries, and whipped cream?
A: Black Forest cake.
Q: What Austrian chocolate cake is traditionally layered with apricot jam?
A: Sachertorte.
Q: What Italian dessert layers coffee-soaked ladyfingers with mascarpone?
A: Tiramisu.
Q: What cake is soaked in three kinds of milk?
A: Tres leches cake.
Q: What French cake resembles a log and is associated with Christmas?
A: Bûche de Noël.
Q: What German cake whose name means tree cake has many ring-like layers?
A: Baumkuchen.
Q: What ring-shaped cake is baked in a distinctive fluted pan?
A: A Bundt cake.
Q: What classic cake alternates chocolate and vanilla batter in a swirled pattern?
A: Marble cake.
Q: What tiny cakes are baked in individual paper liners?
A: Cupcakes.
Q: What ingredient gives carrot cake its name and moisture?
A: Grated carrots.
Pies, Tarts, and Flaky Things
Q: What citrus pie is topped with a cloud of browned meringue?
A: Lemon meringue pie.
Q: What Florida dessert is made with the juice of small tart limes?
A: Key lime pie.
Q: What nut fills the classic Southern pie made with a syrupy custard?
A: Pecans.
Q: What spice is especially associated with pumpkin pie?
A: Cinnamon.
Q: What fruit is paired with rhubarb in a popular spring pie?
A: Strawberries.
Q: What Pennsylvania Dutch pie has a molasses filling and crumb topping?
A: Shoofly pie.
Q: What Canadian tart has a gooey filling of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg?
A: A butter tart.
Q: What British tart combines a pastry shell, jam, frangipane, and almonds?
A: Bakewell tart.
Q: What French upside-down tart is traditionally made with caramelized apples?
A: Tarte Tatin.
Q: What Italian tart has a jam filling beneath a pastry lattice?
A: Crostata.
Q: What open-faced rustic tart is folded around fruit without a pie plate?
A: A galette.
Q: What is the woven pastry pattern on top of some fruit pies called?
A: A lattice.
Q: What fat creates flaky pockets when it melts inside pie dough?
A: Butter or shortening.
Q: What does blind baking mean?
A: Baking a crust before adding its final filling.
Q: What weights keep an empty pie crust from puffing during blind baking?
A: Pie weights.
Cookies, Brownies, and Bars
Q: What cookie is traditionally made with peanut butter and a crisscross fork pattern?
A: A peanut butter cookie.
Q: What Italian cookies are baked twice for a crisp texture?
A: Biscotti.
Q: What French sandwich cookie is made with almond-meringue shells?
A: A macaron.
Q: What coconut cookie has a similar name but no almond-meringue shells?
A: A macaroon.
Q: What spice gives classic gingerbread cookies their name?
A: Ginger.
Q: What cookie contains oats and often raisins?
A: An oatmeal raisin cookie.
Q: What crisp, curved cookie may contain a paper message?
A: A fortune cookie.
Q: What Mexican wedding cookies are rolled in after baking?
A: Powdered sugar.
Q: What British cookie is traditionally made from butter, sugar, and flour?
A: Shortbread.
Q: What chocolate bar dessert has a dense, fudgy or cakey crumb?
A: A brownie.
Q: What pale bar cookie is often described as a brownie without cocoa?
A: A blondie.
Q: What layered bar combines a graham crust, chocolate, coconut, and condensed milk?
A: A seven-layer bar.
Q: What citrus bar has lemon curd baked over a shortbread base?
A: A lemon bar.
Q: What campfire dessert sandwiches toasted marshmallow and chocolate between graham crackers?
A: A s'more.
Q: Which cookie was created by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn?
A: The chocolate chip cookie.
Custards, Creams, and Puddings
Q: What French custard has a brittle caramelized sugar top?
A: Crème brûlée.
Q: What Italian dessert name means cooked cream?
A: Panna cotta.
Q: What Spanish custard is served beneath soft caramel?
A: Flan.
Q: What French dessert bakes fruit in a custard-like batter?
A: Clafoutis.
Q: What British dessert layers sponge cake, custard, fruit, and whipped cream?
A: Trifle.
Q: What British steamed pudding is covered with a glossy toffee sauce?
A: Sticky toffee pudding.
Q: What South African sponge dessert is soaked in a warm cream sauce?
A: Malva pudding.
Q: What New Orleans dessert bakes stale bread in a sweet custard?
A: Bread pudding.
Q: What small French pastry puffs up around a hollow center for cream filling?
A: A profiterole.
Q: What pastry dough is used for éclairs and cream puffs?
A: Choux pastry.
Q: What dessert combines choux pastry, pastry cream, and chocolate glaze in a long shape?
A: An éclair.
Q: What egg-white foam is made by whipping whites with sugar?
A: Meringue.
Q: Which meringue style is made by streaming hot sugar syrup into whipped egg whites?
A: Italian meringue.
Q: What dessert floats poached meringue on crème anglaise?
A: Floating island.
Q: What rice-based dessert simmers grains in sweetened milk?
A: Rice pudding.
Frozen Desserts
Q: What Italian frozen dessert generally contains less air than American ice cream?
A: Gelato.
Q: What fruit-based frozen dessert is usually made without dairy?
A: Sorbet.
Q: What frozen dessert contains fruit puree plus some dairy?
A: Sherbet.
Q: What dessert is made by churning a sweetened cream mixture while freezing it?
A: Ice cream.
Q: What frozen dessert layers ice cream, sauce, and toppings in a tall glass?
A: A sundae.
Q: What dessert places ice cream between two cookies or cake-like wafers?
A: An ice cream sandwich.
Q: What Japanese treat wraps ice cream in a soft rice dough?
A: Mochi ice cream.
Q: What Indian frozen dessert is traditionally dense and molded on a stick?
A: Kulfi.
Q: What Sicilian frozen dessert has a coarse, crystalline texture?
A: Granita.
Q: What French frozen dessert is a still-frozen mixture often enriched with eggs or cream?
A: Parfait.
Q: What airy frozen dessert folds meringue or whipped cream into a flavored base?
A: Semifreddo.
Q: What American frozen treat is made by freezing flavored liquid around a stick?
A: An ice pop.
Q: What machine serves a softer frozen dessert directly from a chilled dispenser?
A: A soft-serve machine.
Q: Why is salt added around ice in a hand-cranked ice cream maker?
A: It lowers the freezing point.
Q: What tiny structures should stay small for smooth ice cream?
A: Ice crystals.
Chocolate, Caramel, and Candy
Q: What seeds are fermented, dried, and roasted to make chocolate?
A: Cacao beans.
Q: What chocolate ingredient provides most of its natural fat?
A: Cocoa butter.
Q: What two ingredients form a basic chocolate ganache?
A: Chocolate and cream.
Q: What is chocolate called after it has been carefully heated and cooled for shine and snap?
A: Tempered chocolate.
Q: What French chocolate confection has a soft center and is often rolled in cocoa?
A: A truffle.
Q: What candy is made by heating sugar until it browns?
A: Caramel.
Q: What brittle candy combines caramelized sugar with nuts?
A: Nut brittle.
Q: What hard, buttery candy is made by cooking sugar and butter to a high temperature?
A: Toffee.
Q: What smooth candy is made by controlling sugar crystals in a cooked syrup?
A: Fudge.
Q: What fluffy confection is made with sugar, water, gelatin, and whipped air?
A: Marshmallow.
Q: What almond-and-sugar paste is shaped into candies or used to cover cakes?
A: Marzipan.
Q: What sesame-seed confection is common across the Middle East and Mediterranean?
A: Halva.
Q: What airy candy forms when baking soda reacts in hot sugar syrup?
A: Honeycomb candy.
Q: What spun-sugar treat is called candy floss in Britain?
A: Cotton candy.
Q: What sweetened hazelnut paste is often combined with chocolate in praline fillings?
A: Hazelnut praline.
Sweet Treats Around the World
Q: What layered pastry combines phyllo, nuts, and syrup or honey?
A: Baklava.
Q: What Indian sweet consists of fried milk-solid balls soaked in syrup?
A: Gulab jamun.
Q: What South Asian spiral sweet is fried and soaked in syrup?
A: Jalebi.
Q: What Japanese confection is made from pounded glutinous rice?
A: Mochi.
Q: What Japanese fish-shaped cake is commonly filled with sweet red bean paste?
A: Taiyaki.
Q: What Chinese pastry is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival?
A: Mooncake.
Q: What Portuguese custard tart has a flaky shell and browned top?
A: Pastel de nata.
Q: What Spanish fried dough is often dipped in thick chocolate?
A: Churros.
Q: What Greek doughnut-like bites are drizzled with honey?
A: Loukoumades.
Q: What Italian tube-shaped pastry is filled with sweetened ricotta?
A: Cannoli.
Q: What are Polish filled doughnuts called?
A: Pączki.
Q: What Austrian pastry rolls thin dough around apple filling?
A: Apple strudel.
Q: What New Zealand and Australian dessert tops crisp meringue with cream and fruit?
A: Pavlova.
Q: What Filipino shaved-ice dessert mixes colorful fruits, beans, and milk?
A: Halo-halo.
Q: What Mexican bread pudding often includes raisins, cheese, and spiced syrup?
A: Capirotada.
Baking Science and Dessert Know-How
Q: What protein network gives wheat-based cakes and cookies structure?
A: Gluten.
Q: What gas released by baking powder helps batter rise?
A: Carbon dioxide.
Q: What reaction creates browned flavors on baked cookies and cakes?
A: The Maillard reaction.
Q: What process turns heated sugar brown and develops nutty flavors?
A: Caramelization.
Q: What does creaming butter and sugar add to cake batter?
A: Tiny air pockets.
Q: Why are cold butter pieces useful in flaky pastry?
A: Their steam helps separate layers.
Q: What does docking a pastry crust mean?
A: Pricking it to limit puffing.
Q: What tool checks whether sugar syrup has reached a precise stage?
A: A candy thermometer.
Q: What is the soft-ball stage used for making?
A: Fudge and similar candies.
Q: Why is flour gently folded into foam-based cake batter?
A: To preserve as much trapped air as possible.
Q: What does proofing allow yeast dough to do?
A: Rise through fermentation.
Q: What thickener sets many fruit pie fillings when heated?
A: Starch.
Q: What enzyme in fresh pineapple can prevent gelatin from setting?
A: Bromelain.
Q: What does an egg wash add to pastry surfaces?
A: Gloss and browning.
Q: Why should many cheesecakes cool gradually?
A: To reduce cracking.
That Was the Icing on the Cake
If you devoured all 120, you are officially the cherry on top of trivia night. Find another tasty course in our food trivia.
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