Korean desserts and sweets: bingsu, hotteok, tteok, yakgwa and bakery culture

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Korean sweets range from rice cakes made for ancestral rites to elaborate café desserts that change with every social media trend. Many traditional sweets are less sugary than Western desserts, with the flavour coming from roasted grains, red beans, honey and nuts.

Bingsu

Bingsu (빙수) is shaved ice piled high with toppings and the star of a Korean summer.

Patbingsu, the classic, is topped with sweet red beans and small rice cakes.
Injeolmi bingsu comes dusted with roasted soybean powder.
Fruit versions, especially mango and strawberry, are everywhere. Hotel lounges serve famously lavish, pricey mango bingsu in summer.
Modern bingsu uses finely shaved milk ice that is soft and snowy rather than crunchy.

It is made to share; one bowl is usually enough for two.

Street sweets

Hotteok: a pan-fried pancake filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Hold it in a paper cup, because the syrup is very hot.
Bungeoppang: fish-shaped pastries filled with red bean paste or custard, a winter favourite.
Gyeranppang: a small loaf of sweet bread with a whole egg baked on top.
Dalgona: a crisp honeycomb candy made from melted sugar and baking soda, pressed flat with a shape in the middle. The challenge of cutting the shape out without breaking it became famous worldwide through Squid Game.

Our Korean street food guide covers where to find them.

Tteok: rice cakes

Tteok (떡) is a whole family of sweets and savoury cakes made from rice or glutinous rice.

Injeolmi: soft, chewy squares coated in roasted soybean powder.
Songpyeon: half-moon cakes filled with sesame, honey or beans, steamed on pine needles and made for Chuseok.
Sirutteok: steamed layer cake with red bean, made for celebrations and moving into a new home.
Chapssaltteok: round, soft glutinous rice cakes with sweet bean filling, like daifuku.
Gyeongdan: small balls rolled in coloured powders.
Garaetteok: plain cylinders, used for tteokbokki and the New Year soup, tteokguk.

Tteok shops sell individual pieces, and fresh tteok is best eaten the same day, before it hardens.

Hangwa: traditional confections

Yakgwa: a flower-shaped honey cookie made with sesame oil and ginger, fried and soaked in syrup. It enjoyed a big revival among young Koreans in recent years, and modern cafés now use it in lattes and on desserts.
Yugwa: puffed rice crackers coated in honey and grain.
Dasik: pressed tea cakes, often served with tea.

Hangwa gift sets are popular for holidays; see our guide to Korean gift etiquette.

Korean bakery culture

Korean bakeries are everywhere, and the style is soft, sweet and creative.

Large chains are on every corner, selling bread, cakes and sandwiches.
Independent bakeries attract long queues for their signature items, and some regional bakeries are destinations in their own right.
Popular items include salt bread, red bean breads, cream-filled buns, garlic bread with cream cheese and soboro (streusel buns).
Take a tray and tongs, choose what you want, then pay at the counter.
Birthday cakes, often fresh cream with fruit, are a big business.

Café desserts

Cafés compete with desserts as much as coffee. Expect croffles (croissant waffles), elaborate cakes, tiramisu, financiers and seasonal specials. Trends rise and fall quickly, so the dessert everyone queues for this year may be gone the next. Our café culture guide explains how Korean cafés work.

Traditional drinks with sweets

Try sikhye (sweet rice drink), sujeonggwa (cinnamon and ginger punch), or yuja-cha (citron tea) alongside tteok or hangwa. Traditional tea houses in Insadong and Ikseon-dong serve them together. What is your favourite Korean sweet, or the bakery you would queue for? Share it in the comments.