🍰 Desserts - Postres
Beginner Spanish · Desserts and restaurant ordering
Desserts in Spanish
Dessert vocabulary becomes much more useful when you can ask what is available, choose a flavor, talk about favorites, and order politely at a restaurant or café.
Your next small win: name common desserts, describe flavors, say what you like, ask for a recommendation, and order dessert in Spanish.
Start with a useful dessert set
Common Desserts
These desserts give you enough vocabulary to handle many simple restaurant and café situations.
Cake, depending on regional usage
Ice cream
Cookie
Chocolate
Flan
Small cake or muffin-like pastry
Choose a dessert
Say that you want chocolate ice cream.
Quiero un helado de chocolate.
More sweets and treats
Donut
Candy or sweet, depending on context
Pudding
Ice cream sundae
Strawberries with cream
Regional dessert vocabulary
Dessert vocabulary can vary by country, especially words for cake and other baked sweets.
Words that can refer to cake in different regions and contexts
Regional forms for donut
Choose the flavor you want
Dessert Flavors and Descriptions
Flavor vocabulary becomes especially useful when ordering ice cream or describing a dessert.
Chocolate
Vanilla
Strawberry
Lemon
Sweet
Delicious
I want vanilla ice cream.
The birthday cake is delicious.
The strawberries with cream are delicious.
My favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla.
Agreement: changing adjectives match the noun. For example, el pastel está delicioso but las fresas están deliciosas.
Choose an ice cream flavor
Say that your favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.
Mi sabor de helado favorito es el chocolate.
Talk about favorites
Me Gusta, Me Gustan, and Me Encanta
Desserts give you an easy way to practice talking about things you like or love.
I love chocolate.
I like flan.
I like cookies with milk.
Homemade flan is my favorite dessert.
Useful pattern: use me gusta with a singular thing and me gustan with plural things. Me encanta expresses a stronger preference.
Talk about cookies
Say that you like cookies with milk.
Me gustan las galletas con leche.
Use dessert Spanish at a restaurant
Ordering Dessert
These phrases let you see the dessert options, ask about flavors, request a recommendation, and make your choice.
What's for dessert?
I would like to see the dessert menu, please.
What ice cream flavors do you have?
What do you recommend for dessert?
I'll have the flan, please.
Can we share a dessert?
Useful ordering patterns: Quisiera... is a polite request. Para mí... is a simple way to state your choice when ordering.
Choosing dessert
Do you want dessert?
Yes, I want chocolate ice cream.
Asking for a recommendation
What do you recommend for dessert?
The homemade flan is very popular.
Order dessert yourself
Ask to see the dessert menu, ask about ice cream flavors, then choose the flan.
Quisiera ver el menú de postres, por favor.
¿Qué sabores de helado tienen?
Para mí, el flan, por favor.
More desserts in context
The apple pie smells delicious.
I bought some cookies to share.
Your turn · 8 quick questions
Practice: Desserts
Choose the answer that fits each situation. Focus on dessert vocabulary, flavors, preferences, and restaurant ordering.
Practice complete
You can choose and order dessert in Spanish.
A few dessert phrases to revisit
One last step: order dessert without choices.
Ask what desserts are available, ask for a recommendation or flavor choice, then order one dessert politely.
¿Qué hay de postre?
¿Qué recomienda de postre?
Para mí, el flan, por favor.
You want to know what dessert is available. What do you ask?
- ¿Qué hay de postre?
- ¿Qué recomienda de postre?
- ¿Qué sabores de helado tienen?
- ¿Podemos compartir un postre?
¿Qué hay de postre? asks what is available for dessert.
¿Qué hay de postre?
Someone asks whether you want dessert. You want chocolate ice cream. What do you say?
- Sí, quiero un helado de chocolate.
- Sí, quiero un helado de vainilla.
- Sí, quiero fresas con crema.
- Sí, quiero el flan.
Helado de chocolate means chocolate ice cream.
Sí, quiero un helado de chocolate.
You ask for a dessert recommendation. The server suggests homemade flan. Which response matches?
- El flan casero es muy popular.
- El pastel de cumpleaños está delicioso.
- Las fresas con crema son deliciosas.
- Mi sabor de helado favorito es la vainilla.
El flan casero es muy popular is the recommendation given in the lesson.
El flan casero es muy popular.
You want to know which ice cream flavors are available. What do you ask?
- ¿Qué sabores de helado tienen?
- ¿Qué hay de postre?
- ¿Qué recomienda de postre?
- ¿Cuál es tu postre favorito?
Sabores means flavors, so this question asks which ice cream flavors are available.
¿Qué sabores de helado tienen?
You and a friend want to split one dessert. What do you ask?
- ¿Podemos compartir un postre?
- ¿Podemos pedir dos postres?
- ¿Podemos ver el menú de postres?
- ¿Podemos pedir un café?
Compartir means to share, so ¿Podemos compartir un postre? asks whether you can share one dessert.
¿Podemos compartir un postre?
You want to see the dessert menu. Which polite request fits?
- Quisiera ver el menú de postres, por favor.
- Quisiera un helado de vainilla, por favor.
- Quisiera el flan casero, por favor.
- Quisiera unas galletas, por favor.
Quisiera ver el menú de postres, por favor asks politely to see the dessert menu.
Quisiera ver el menú de postres, por favor.
Which set contains regional words that can refer to cake?
- pastel / tarta / torta
- helado / flan / galleta
- vainilla / fresa / limón
- dona / caramelo / pudín
Pastel, tarta, and torta can refer to cake depending on the country and context.
pastel / tarta / torta
You have decided to order the flan. What do you say?
- Para mí, el flan, por favor.
- Para mí, un helado de chocolate, por favor.
- Para mí, las galletas, por favor.
- Para mí, la tarta de manzana, por favor.
Para mí, el flan, por favor is a natural way to state your choice when ordering.
Para mí, el flan, por favor.