13 Iconic Desserts Named After Real People

Saying that the English language is weird is putting it lightly, and food names are no exception. Some make absolute sense, like mushy peas. You know exactly what you're going to get when that shows up on the menu, right? Ice cream. That's perfectly fine. Others are incredibly strange, and we'd even argue that they just sound normal because we hear them all the time. Some types of foods and drinks have names that are incredibly deceptive, and others just make no sense from the start — especially when it comes to desserts. They leave more questions than answers, like what is in possum pie, anyway? And what about shoo-fly pie?

There are also plenty of desserts — both with strange names and names not-so-strange — that get their monikers because of their association with famous people. Whether it's a sweet treat that was carefully concocted for the person in question or it's named for the chef who created it, let's be honest: There's few better honors than having a dessert named after you. Let's talk about famous desserts, and answer some questions you may not even know you have. Who is the princess behind a Princess cake? Does Joffre cake have anything to do with "Game of Thrones," or not? And sure, German chocolate cake is named for the country, right? Not quite.

If you love chocolate cake, you're not alone. It regularly takes the top spot in surveys that ask people about their cake preferences, and connoisseurs know that an old-fashioned German chocolate cake is defined by the addition of frosting laden with shredded coconut and pecans. But even connoisseurs might think that clearly, it's just named after the country it was invented in. However, that's both taking the easy way out and not true at all. German chocolate cake is American, and it's named for Samuel German.

Pay attention to the difference between chocolate that's meant for snacking and chocolate for baking, and you'll find that baking chocolate isn't as sweet. The exception to that is German's chocolate, which was invented in 1852 by Samuel German. It's dark chocolate meant for use in baking, but it's higher in sugar than other kinds of baking chocolate. Surprisingly, it was around 100 years before home bakers started to sit up and take notice of it, and that happened only after a newspaper in Dallas published a recipe for what was named a Summer German Chocolate Cake. German's chocolate was a key ingredient, and the recipe was reprinted, shared, and loved to wild success. Although it might seem pretty cool to have a cake named after you, history has forgotten some key details about German, including his birth date, death date, and even his nationality.

As much as we would love to be able to tell you that Peach Melba was named after someone who had been christened "Peaches," we can't. The namesake in question was actually an Australian opera singer named Nellie Melba, and that was only her adopted stage name: Had she kept her birth name, this fruit dessert would have been named after Helen Porter Mitchell. Peach Mitchell doesn't have quite the same ring to it. 

A standard Peach Melba consists of vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce atop poached peached. Interestingly, "Melba" itself has a story behind it: Mitchell chose it because she was born a stone's throw from Melbourne. The name allowed her to carry a little bit of home with her when she traveled, and she traveled a lot. Born in 1861, she was performing by the time she was six and first performed as Nellie Melba in 1887. She toured Europe and the U.S., and was in London in 1893 when the French chef, Auguste Escoffier, honored her with the dessert he dubbed the peach Melba. (He also named the ultra-thin Melba toast for her, four years later.)

Yes, Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia is, of course, named for musician Jerry Garcia, who needs almost no introduction. He's one of those musicians that's larger than life, having fronted the Grateful Dead when they provided the soundtrack for an entire generation. The ice cream is still one of the company's biggest sellers, and the story of just how it came to be is pretty hilarious — and, we think, one that Garcia himself must have appreciated. (And according to Ben & Jerry's, he did love the ice cream itself.)

The idea came not from a roundtable meeting or brainstorming session, but from an anonymous postcard that was sent to Ben & Jerry's headquarters. It suggested naming an ice cream for the musician, calling it Cherry Garcia, and explained that "We are talking good business sense here, plus it will be a real hoot for the fans." They did, and after the ice cream debuted in 1987, another postcard was sent from Jane Williamson. Identity of the source confirmed, they credited her with the idea. 

Garcia died in 1995, and you might wonder what that meant for the ice cream — and it's a weird story. Just like a singer gets royalties every time their song is played, the holder of the Cherry Garcia royalty rights gets paid when the ice cream sells. Sometimes, those royalty rights go up for auction, like they did in 2022 and in 2020.

The classic Swedish Princess cake might not be on regular rotation for birthdays and holidays, but if you're having a serious tea party or dress-up sesh, this should definitely be on the menu. This multi-layered sponge cake is absolutely something that wouldn't look out of place on a royal table, and there's a good reason for that: It was created by a teacher who literally worked for Sweden's royal family.

Jenny Akerstrom published her iconic cake recipe in 1948, and it was named for the three princesses who were Akerstrom's charges — and, who by all accounts, were the biggest fans of the cake. They were the daughters of Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg, and were Princess Margaretha (pictured, born in 1899, who married a prince of Denmark), Princess Martha (born in 1901, who married the prince who would become King Olav V of Norway), and Princess Astrid (born in 1905, who married the Crown Prince of Belgium but died in a car accident the year after they took the throne). Today, the cake remains closely connected to the Swedish royal family, and for one week out of the year, sales benefit a royal charity. It's also wildly popular in San Francisco, thanks to the influx of Swedish immigrants that moved into the area about a century ago, and remained in touch with their roots back home.

The brilliant thing about pavlova is that if you love it, there are no shortage of ways to make a version that will satisfy anyone's taste buds. Whether that's a chocolate pavlova made with layers of whipped cream or a tropical passion fruit pavlova with an intensely unique, tart flavor, it's the perfect light dessert to serve after a big meal. Pavlova has always been something of a blank canvas for pastry chefs, and there are a lot of things that no one can decide on — like whether Australia or New Zealand should get credit for inventing it. There are two things that are agreed upon, though: The meringue needs to be soft, and that soft airiness is a tribute to the grace of a ballet dancer who was appearing on Australia's stages in the 1920s.

That was Anna Pavlova, a St. Petersburg dancer who was born to a poor family, recognized for her natural talent, and was formally trained at the Imperial School of Ballet. She toured the world, stunned audiences with not only her ballet skills, but with her performances of Indian, Polish, and Mexican traditional dances, and spent two decades on the road. When it was announced that the 45-year-old had died in 1931 after being diagnosed with influenza, it was also reported that her performances had taken her on a journey of somewhere around 350,000 miles.

Sure, there are a number of tips for preserving leftover wedding cake, but how many couples can say their wedding cake was enjoyed for generations afterwards? Technically speaking, that is, and we're talking about Battenberg cake. Those iconic squares of marzipan-covered cake are incredibly popular today, and while you can pick them up in almost any grocery store, that wasn't always the case. When it was created, it was fit for royalty.

Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Victoria, married into Germany's royal family in 1884. Those were the Battenbergs, and this particular cake was named in honor of the newlyweds. Princess Victoria's life story was a pretty fascinating one: She spent her childhood years in both Britain and Germany, and when it came time for her to marry, she actually married against her father's wishes. How'd she get away with that? Her mother had previously passed away, and her father had scandalously married his mistress. In other words, he was in no place to argue. It was her husband who adopted the Mountbatten name, and they were the grandparents of the current King Charles.

If you've never had a Joffre cake, you're seriously missing out — and don't worry, this has absolutely nothing to do with that unbearable little weasel from "Game of Thrones." This cake is a decadent, chocolate, ganache-filled Romanian dessert that was created and named for a French general. 

Joseph Joffre might not be a household name these days, but he should. Born in 1852 as one of 11 children, he opted for a career in the military. It's safe to say it suited him: By the eve of World War I, he had risen high enough that he had been tasked with overhauling the entirety of the French Army. He was at the head of some of the biggest battles of World War I — including the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Verdun — and while he was a somewhat controversial figure thanks in large part to the unimaginable number of casualties the war claimed, he was still widely loved. The cake was named after him when Romania's royal family invited him to the country in 1920, and he passed away in 1931.

Even those who have had Marie biscuits might not recognize the name immediately — if, that is, you're from one of the countries where they're not wildly popular. These British biscuits were made at the end of the 19th century, and as Britain spread, so did they. They were initially made with what was probably a sweet thought in mind, but well, we just can't help but appreciate a weird story. 

Royal families are ridiculously complicated, so here's the short version: In 1874, Queen Victoria's son married Emperor Alexander II's daughter. Her name was Maria Alexandrovna, and although she did some great things — like expanding Russia's Red Cross — she also had, well, a bit of a reputation. Of what kind, you might ask? It was rumored that she'd been so shocked by an informally-addressed telegram that she died on the spot. The biscuits themselves are tasty but unremarkable, and their spread was a case of right place, right time: They were durable, and with more and more people traveling farther and farther, they were perfect for going global. The fact that London bakers named a boring and utilitarian biscuits after their prince's Russian bride is British humor at its finest.

What, you've never had a Lamington Cake, the beloved national dessert of Australia? If you're the type to skip the frosting and roll your cupcakes in flaked coconut instead, this is the dessert for you. These chocolate-covered sponge cakes have a few likely apocryphal stories assigned to them, but it's generally agreed that they were named with one of two people in mind: Lord Lamington, or his wife.

Lamington was the governor of Queensland at the turn of the 20th century, and at the time, the idea of using coconut in a dessert wasn't exactly commonplace. The first recipes popped up in 1900, and call for a cake that's flavored with vanilla or lemon, covered with a chocolate icing, and then covered in coconut. Sounds pretty delicious, doesn't it? There's a hilarious footnote to this, and that's the fact that Lamington didn't really seem to use words like "delicious" to describe them, and instead, called them "those bloody, poofy, woolly biscuits." We can't help but wonder what his chef thought of those comments, but it's safe to say that not everyone agreed with him: July 21st is National Lamington Day.

We here at Tasting Table believe that every baker should have a frangipane recipe in their back pocket. Why? It's easy to make, versatile, delicious, and it's essentially a creamy almond spread that can be used in a variety of ways. Use it in tarts, croissants, pies, or even spread it on bread or puff pastry, add some fruit, and dessert's done. Tracking down where the name came from is surprisingly complicated, but it goes back to the early days of modern fragrances. 

After the French Revolution, the perfume industry kicked into high gear with part of the increased demand being due to advances in tanning and leatherworking. One of the early pioneers of creating scents was the Marquis Muzio de Frangipani, who created an almond perfume that many — including other French nobles and royalty — used on their gloves. The scent became wildly popular, and for anyone who's ever been tempted to taste a really delicious-smelling candle or bar of soap, these are your people. French bakers loved the smell so much they made an edible version of it, and named it frangipane. And yes, there's a connection to the plant here, too: The flower of the same name is often used in scents, oils, and aromatherapy.

Bananas Foster was invented at a famous New Orleans restaurant called Brennan's, and it happened around the time something new was hitting the city. It was the 1950s, bananas were making their way across the Gulf of Mexico and into the U.S., and while there's a few different stories about just how the dessert was made, the inspiration for the name is pretty straightforward. Brennan's owner, Owen Brennan, was good friends with New Orleans Crime Commission chairman Richard Foster.

The dinner that the dessert was created for was a congratulatory one, held for Foster and celebrating his new title. That's a sweet enough story for a sweet dessert, but it's worth mentioning that at the time, the banana industry was all kinds of awful. The entire industry was built on shocking human rights abuses, with several New Orleans-based organizations making their fortune on importing bananas ahead of the relentless advance of plantation-destroying viruses. Strangely, there isn't much information about Foster himself available, and his lasting contribution to society seems to be providing the name for Bananas Foster.

Victoria Sponge Cake is another one of those things that every home baker should know how to make, particularly because it's incredibly versatile. No matter what the occasion, there are toppings that can take your sponge cake to the next level with minimal work... and the only thing that's better than a dessert is an infinitely customizable one. And yes, it's named after the woman who might be the most famous "Victoria" in history, the British queen who gave her name to an entire era. 

In the form that we know and love, at least. An early version dates back to the 17th century, but today's version is a fascinating look at baking science and history. In an attempt to make an egg-free custard for his wife, chemist Alfred Bird invented the famous Bird's custard. When his wife had a similarly poor reaction to yeast, he invented baking powder — and if that's not a testament to true love, we don't know what is. Baking powder is the ingredient that gives sponge cake that deliciously light texture, and at the same time Bird was marketing his new creation, Queen Victoria was popularizing the idea of lunch. One of her favorites was the sponge cake that would later bear her name: It was officially christened after the death of her beloved Alfred.

Jefferson Davis Pie is a bit of a weird one, and historians say that it has an equally weird history. This turn-of-the-20th-century was perhaps predictably popular in the Southern part of the U.S., and it was a meringue-topped pie with strong holiday flavors of allspice, nutmeg, pecans, and dates. And yes, it was named for the Confederate General Jefferson Davis — even though any actual connection to him is uncertain. 

Davis was a career politician and military leader who served in both the U.S. House and Senate, and was the Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce. He was almost immediately elected as president of the Confederacy when it formed, and at the end of the war, he ended up spending several years in jail before ultimately retiring in Mississippi. Ironically, sources seem to suggest that the person who actually created the pie was an enslaved woman from Missouri who history only remembers by the name of Mary Ann.