25 Apr 2025
The interest in Korean food and flavors around the world is peaking, with massive attention for gochujang, kimchi and Korean BBQ. But Korean pastry and baked goods are in demand as well. Let’s look at the most trendy creations from the streets of Seoul to predict what pastries and sweet bakes will soon take over the rest of the planet.
Korean bakery pilgrimage
In Korea, the term ‘bbangjisullae’ has become popular recently, which translates as bread pilgrimage. People are travelling across the country to try exclusive treats from different bakeries. It isn’t uncommon to take an overnight train to ensure a good spot in the queue for the limited supply of baked goods. Despite economic downturns, Korea’s bakery market continues to flourish, with an estimated worth of 7.57 trillion won ($5.53 billion). According to Euromonitor, for the last 5 years, Korea witnessed a +2.8% CAGR in bread and +6.4% in pastry. Experts attribute this bakery craze to the psychological comfort that desserts offer, making them an indulgence worth the splurge. So what better place to look for inspiring new bakery products than Korea's capital, Seoul?
Bread’s evolution: from dessert to daily staple
Traditionally, Koreans viewed bread as a sweet treat rather than a meal. But shifting dietary habits are challenging that perception, with bread now gradually replacing rice in some households. Soft, fluffy, and often cream-filled, Korean-style bread emphasizes texture and indulgence over the crusty, rustic loaves commonly found in Europe.
Trending pastries and bakery creations from Seoul
Seoul’s bakery scene is setting global trends with its innovative takes on pastries and sweet bakes. Here are some of the most exciting baked goods from Seoul that are capturing the attention of food lovers worldwide and you’ll definitely want to keep on your radar:
Crème brûlée french toast
Crème brûlée french toast is an indulgent twist on this brunch dish by combining it with the classic French dessert. It typically features thick, fluffy brioche or milk bread that is prepared as French toast, topped with a creamy sauce and then finished with fine sugar that is torched to create a thin, crackly layer of caramel, just like the one you'd find on a crème brûlée. Beekend is a popular brunch spot known for its French toast variations, such as the crème brûlée one. This viral hit has led to the spawning of new flavor varieties like matcha, coffee or sweet potato brûlée.
Tissue bread
Tissue bread is a cube-shaped loaf that features a pull-apart texture with ultra-thin, tissue-like layers. Unlike the cube croissant, which focuses on rich fillings, tissue bread highlights its delicate layers, offering the same buttery, flaky flavor as a croissant but with an impossibly airy bite. The crisp exterior gives way to paper-thin slices that practically melt in your mouth. Fans also referred to this treat as ‘1000-layer bread’.
Strawberry mochi souffle
The strawberry mochi souffle is a textural masterpiece: a light and bouncy soufflé pancake is topped with whipped cream and draped with a chewy layer of mochi and finished with fresh strawberries. The secret to the super high and jiggly pancakes is lots of egg white to give them a super airy cloud-like texture that contrasts beautifully with the gentle bite of the mochi. Tortoise is the most popular place to eat this souffle, and they also offer these mochi souffles in flavors like ube (purple potato), matcha and peach.
Towel cake
The viral sensation towel cake is a chewy dessert, inspired by the Chinese Manjinjian. The treat is made by rolling thin crepes with layers of cream to resemble a neatly folded towel. The combination of the chewy crepe and soft textures of the filling makes the treat irresistible. The snack was popularized by famous YouTubers who included the towel cake in their mukbang videos: a popular Korean video genre in which hosts eat large amounts of food while interacting with their audience.
(Soha) salt bread
This buttery, lightly salted bread is gaining traction for its balanced, rich flavor. Soha Salt Pond is the bakery café that popularized this snack, a place that is known for paying homage to Korea’s rich cultural heritage and its creative use of salt. The treat resembles a small croissant and is available in sweet and savoury flavors such as corn, milk cream, leek, cheese, caramel, peanut butter, truffle and cheese olive.
Oniwassant
Walking into bakery café Nudake, you might suspect it was a museum because of the huge croissant statue and artsy croissant-shaped door handles. The pastries are put on display as precious objects. Each Nudake outlet has their own specialty, and for the Sinsa-dong store, it's the oniwassant they're best known for. A triangular croissant that is shaped like an onigiri, a Japanese-style filled rice ball that is wrapped with seaweed. The oniwassant comes in several flavors such as spicy kimchi with bacon or pollock roe with cream cheese.
Steamed bread
Those who order steamed bread at Mil House Toast, get to see how the buns are made right in front of their eyes. The bread is made in the bamboo baskets you typically see at dim sum restaurants. This soft and fluffy delicacy is served warm with different fillings, including red bean, chestnut and corn. It's the unique preparation method and presentation that thrusted the bread’s popularity among both locals and tourists.
Trendy Korean-French fusion patisserie
We’ve reported on Korean-French crossover creations before and this trend is still going strong. Pastry chefs are combining Korean flavors and ingredients with time-honored French patisserie techniques. This leads to interesting treats such as milk cream castella croissants by Teddy Beurre House but also black sesame madeleines and jujube breton cookies. Seoul bakeries famous for this fusion style are Goutmontee, Happy Happy Cake and 44 means nothing.
