Dessert menu: puddings, coffee and after-dinner drinks

Usual sections

1. House desserts: sticky toffee pudding, cheesecake, crème brûlée, chocolate fondant, crumble.
2. Ice creams and sorbets, if you have several flavours.
3. Cheese, if you offer it as an alternative to something sweet.
4. Coffee and tea: espresso, Americano, flat white, cappuccino, herbal teas.
5. Dessert and fortified wines: Sauternes, Tokaji, Muscat, port, sherry.
6. Digestifs and spirits: Cognac, Armagnac, single malts, amaro, limoncello.

Five or six desserts is a good number. With more, it’s hard to choose, and the kitchen has to keep too many preparations going that don’t last.

Writing to whet the appetite

The guest has already eaten: the description has to give them a reason to order.

• A simple name: “Baked vanilla cheesecake”, “Sticky toffee pudding”.
• One line on what makes it special: “Molten centre, twelve minutes in the oven”, “Caramelised to order”.
• Waiting times, if there are any. A fondant that takes twelve minutes gets ordered earlier, or flagged on the menu.
• The house dessert, featured: your best-seller or the one that best represents you.

Avoid empty adjectives (“delicious”, “irresistible”, “indulgent”). A well-described dessert already sounds good.

Ice creams and cheese

If you have several ice creams or sorbets, give them their own section. You can price per scoop or per serving, or use price columns (“1 scoop”, “2 scoops”) if you sell several sizes. Say which flavours are made in-house and which aren’t: guests value that.

Cheese works as a savoury alternative for anyone who doesn’t want something sweet. Put the number of cheeses or the weight in the quantity field (“three British cheeses”, “150 g”) and their origin in the description. And remember that the chutney, crackers, oatcakes or walnuts served alongside have allergens of their own.

Coffee, dessert wines and digestifs

Small amounts that add up, and they sell better on the dessert menu than by word of mouth.

• Coffee, with a price for each type. If plant-based milk costs nothing extra, say so: it’s one question fewer for your staff.
• Dessert wines, with the region in the description: “Sauternes, Bordeaux”, “Tokaji, Hungary”.
• Digestifs, with their origin when it’s part of the appeal: Calvados from Normandy, a Speyside single malt.
• By the glass: say so once, in the section note.

If you want to suggest pairings (a Pedro Ximénez sherry with the cheesecake, a Tokaji with the tarte Tatin), add them to the wine’s description.

Allergens in desserts

This is the section with the most allergens per dish on the whole menu:

• Gluten: sponges, biscuit bases, pastry, crumbles.
• Eggs: almost all baking: custards, crèmes, meringues, tarts.
• Milk: cream, butter, cheese, ice cream and milky coffees.
• Tree nuts: praline, frangipane, almond sponges, nut crumbles.
• Soybeans: the lecithin in many chocolates and coatings.
• Sulphites: all dessert wines, and desserts made with wine, fizz or dried fruit.

If a dessert is gluten-free (crème brûlée, panna cotta, some mousses, sorbets), mark it: it’s the first thing a coeliac guest looks for on this menu. If it’s vegan, such as a fruit sorbet, mark that too. In the US, sesame is now one of the nine major allergens: watch for it in brittles and tuiles.

Watch out for cross-contamination in the pastry section: flour in the air, the same piping bag or the same tin for everything. If you can’t avoid it, say so in a note.

Writing tips

• Few, short sections. This is a menu for deciding in a minute.
• A clear price for every dessert, even on an elegant menu. A hidden price doesn’t sell more.
• Coffees in the order people ask for them: espresso, Americano, flat white, cappuccino, then specials.
• One menu for the whole year, with seasonal desserts in a section you change and download again.

Format and style

• A5 or slim A4: a small menu that arrives with the coffee and doesn’t take over the table.
• A4 in a single column, as in the template, if you want it to have presence.
• Tri-fold or booklet, if you also include a long list of spirits.

The template’s style is Sobremesa, with fine-dining type and gold prices. Déco gives it the feel of a 1920s café, and Brasserie that of a classic grand café. More in menu templates.

Make it in MenuDesign

Open the dessert menu template, add your desserts, coffees and digestifs, mark the allergens and download the PDF in the format you’ll use. Free, no sign-up, and saved in your browser.