10 Delicious Cakes Around The World Slideshow

Poor Marie Antoinette — history and her critics erroneously scorned her for admonishing poor starving Parisians to eat cake when bread was unavailable, but we understand the sentiment. Few things are as much fun to look at, or eat, as cake. Baked in molds, layered with dough, filled, glazed, frosted, and decorated — no matter what form they take, people around the world love to celebrate or mark a special occasion with a special cake. In Hungary, the delicious-looking Dobosh torte is layered sponge cake with chocolate buttercream. In France, the far Breton is a pudding-like cake, and the moon cake in China is made with four eggs as part of the recipe to symbolize the four lunar cycles. From China to Sicily, Jamaica to Morocco, there are sweet treats for every palate. Here are 10 delicious variations from around the world that you should try next time you're craving something for your sweet tooth.

In Sicily, Cassata is a regional specialty with origins that can be traced to medieval Arabs and their introduction of candied fruits.

It's traditionally served during winter and spring and has become popular at Easter.

This elaborate cake is made with sponge cake that is filled with sweetened sheep's milk ricotta cheese dotted with zuccata, chocolate, and almonds, topped with pastel-colored marzipan, and decorated with pastel frosting and brightly colored candied cherries, lemon, lime, and orange slices.

Popular in kaffeehauses in Budapest and Vienna, this classic Hungarian Dobosh torte bears the name of the Hungarian pastry chef who invented it in 1884, Jozsef C. Dobos.

Topped with hard caramel, this gorgeously decadent cake is composed of seven thin layers of sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and elegantly decorated with more buttercream and thinly sliced almonds.

France's northwestern region of Brittany is famous for its rich creamy butter and milk. 

Far Breton, one of the region's most celebrated cakes, epitomizes the beauty of these pristine ingredients in simple but delicious desserts.

A far is a custard or pudding-like cake, and this one, also eaten for breakfast, comes studded with Armagnac or rum-soaked prunes and raisins. It's dense, sweet, baked until golden brown, and irresistible.

In the Caribbean, black rum cake is a staple dessert, but in Jamaica it's also used in wedding cakes and at Christmas. It is always brought as a gift to someone's home.

Moist, aromatic, and richly flavored, this dark cake is made with rum-soaked (sometimes as long as a year) puréed raisins, prunes, dried cherries, or currants.

Spiced with brown sugar, lime, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, its distinctive color comes from long steaming in a hot oven.

Long, dark, cold winters, and a scarcity of sugar have created sweet desserts in the Ukraine based on buckwheat honey, nuts, and dried fruits, like medivnyk honey cake, which is traditionally served at Christmas and New Year's.

Every babushka has her own recipe, but medivnyk is usually flavored with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg with raisins, currants, dates, and walnuts.

Moist, finely textured, and scented with fresh lemon and vanilla, meskouta is easy to make and needs no adornment other than a bit of sprinkled sugar.

The cake is perfect served with a piping glass of Moroccan-style mint tea, for breakfast, or for a sweet snack during the day.

In China, a full moon is a time to celebrate family togetherness and of course, eat tasty food. Each year, during the eighth lunar month, when the moon is at its fullest, the 1,400 year-old Mid-Autumn Festival is held. People enjoy giving and receiving the most celebrated food tied to this holiday: moon cake.

Each round cake is elaborately decorated with Chinese characters; represents the moon at its fullest; is made with four eggs to represent the four lunar phases; and is filled with lotus or sweet bean paste.

Nowadays, the cakes have become so popular, both in and outside of China, that Häagen-Dazs makes an ice cream version anyone can enjoy.

For an exotic taste of ancient Persia and the spices of the Silk Road, few desserts can compare to Persian pistachio cake.

Made with rosewater, cardamom, and pistachios, and decorated with a honey buttercream, this elegant cake evokes the romance and adventure of the East and transports your senses. 

In Chile, desserts are often influenced as much by German and Swiss traditions as they are by Spanish, and Torta de Mil Hojas, or Cake of a Thousand Leaves, is a good example.

Made with 10 layers of flaky pastry filled with dulce de leche or manjar, frosted with more manjar, and then topped with a coating of chopped walnuts, preparing this cake is not for the faint of heart. But the taste is worth the effort, especially when paired with a strong Chilean espresso.

In Portugal, since the Middle Ages, cloistered nuns have made elegant, intensely flavored egg and nut-based desserts like Toucinho Do Céu, which literally means bacon from heaven.

Made with flour, eggs, sugar, almonds, orange zest, and lard (hence the bacon reference), this is one of Portugal's most popular cakes.

But don't let this simple recipe from the Guimarães region fool you, the cake is luscious, delicately crumbed, and will completely satisfy even the pickiest sweet tooth.