Free PDF · the Elegant Landscape design

Dessert menu template

Desserts on the left, dessert wine and coffee on the right, all on one landscape card the server can set down after the plates clear. This is a sample dessert menu set in Gaslamp’s Elegant Landscape design.

Start free 30-day trial

No card needed · then $19/mo or $190/yr · cancel anytime

Try the editor on your phone, no signup
Over a server’s shoulder, hands holding a notepad at a busy table
Illustrative scene. The menu on this page is a real Gaslamp render.

The real menu, first two pages

The sample is one landscape page in two columns: desserts and plates to share on the left, dessert wine, coffee and tea, and after-dinner cocktails on the right. The soufflé carries its fifteen-minute note under the section heading.

Elegant Landscape dessert menu menu template, first menu pageElegant Landscape dessert menu menu template, second menu page

Sample menu. Dishes and prices are examples. Want to see one on a phone? Scan a live sample menu.

  • The filePDF, 53 KB
  • Pages3, with a coverThe cover carries the name and a QR code to the live menu.
  • PaperUS Letter, landscape
  • To download and printfree
Download the dessert menu template (PDF)

No signup, no email. It is a finished sample, so it carries sample dishes. Putting your own menu into it takes the free trial. The trial includes one published live menu with QR codes. PDF downloads and additional menus start when you pick a plan.

What belongs on a dessert menu

The dessert menu is handed over at the moment a table decides whether to stay. It works best as one small card that puts the drink beside the dessert it goes with.

  1. Desserts

    Five or six, with one that needs time. Put the wait in the note under the heading (“Soufflé takes 15 minutes”) so the server can take that order with the mains.

    • Chocolate soufflé16
    • Crème brûlée12
    • Affogato9

  2. To share

    A cheese board, a cookie plate, churros. Tables that would not order four desserts will order one thing for the middle.

    • Cheese board22
    • Cookie plate10

  3. Dessert wine

    Three or four pours, with the pour size in the note and a word on what each goes with. This is where a dessert menu earns its margin.

    • Sauternes, Bordeaux163 oz
    • Tawny port, 10 year14

  4. Coffee and tea

    Espresso, a milk drink, a pot of tea. Short, and on the same card, so nobody has to ask.

    • Espresso4
    • Cappuccino6

  5. After dinner

    An espresso martini, an amaro, an Irish coffee. The drinks that replace dessert for guests who are too full.

    • Espresso martini15
    • Amaro, 2 oz13

Example lines and prices show format only. They are not pricing advice.

How Elegant Landscape sets it

Elegant Landscape prints on US Letter turned sideways, two columns with a thin rule between them. That is the natural shape of a dessert card: the server sets it down flat, and the table reads desserts and drinks side by side.

Section names are set in wide spaced caps with a small note to the right. Keep notes short in this design; a long one crowds the section name. “For two or more” and “Poured by the glass, 3 oz” fit.

Prices sit in a column at the right of each half, no leaders. There is no QR code on the dessert pages; the code lives on the PDF’s cover. If you print only the dessert page for the table, leave the everyday QR tent where it is.

Prices on a dessert menu

Dessert prices cluster tightly, so a guest compares them on what the dish is. Keep the spread small and let the share plates carry the higher numbers.

Dessert wine is sold by the glass with the pour size in the note under the heading. If you also sell the Sauternes by the half bottle, give that line two labeled prices, Glass and Half bottle, instead of a second line.

Price every dessert from its plate cost like any other dish. The menu item price calculator gives you a starting number from the cost and the food cost you want to run.

Set it up in Gaslamp

DESSERTS Chocolate Soufflé 16 Crème anglaise poured at the table Crème Brûlée 12 Tahitian vanilla, seasonal berries Warm Apple Tarte Tatin 13 Calvados caramel, crème fraîche TO SHARE Cheese Board 22 Three cheeses, honeycomb, fig jam, walnut bread Cookie Plate 10 Chocolate chip, shortbread, ginger molasses Churros 11 Cinnamon sugar, dark chocolate sauce DESSERT WINE Sauternes, Bordeaux 16 Honeyed, apricot, with the brûlée or the cheese Tawny Port, 10 Year 14 Nutty and dried fig, with chocolate Moscato d’Asti, Piedmont 11 Light and fizzy, with fruit desserts COFFEE AND TEA Espresso 4 Single or double Cappuccino 6 Whole, oat, or almond milk Pot of Loose-Leaf Tea 6 Earl grey, chamomile, or green
The start of the sample, as plain lines: section, dish, price, a short description. You type yours over them in the editor.
  1. 1

    Start from this dessert card

    Pick Elegant Landscape and start from this sample. Every section, line, and price is already in place, so you type your own over it instead of building a blank page.

  2. 2

    Type your dishes over it

    Replace each name, description, and price in the editor. Delete the lines you do not serve and add the ones you do. The layout reflows as you type.

  3. 3

    Pair the drinks

    Type your dessert wines and after-dinner drinks into the right column, with a few words on what each goes with in the description.

  4. 4

    Publish, then print

    Publish the live menu behind one QR code that never changes, print the table tents once, and print the PDF whenever the paper copy needs to catch up.

Running it

  1. 9:15 p.m.

    Soufflé batter is gone

    The last soufflé fired at 9:10. Mark it sold out on your phone and save; the QR menu shows it struck through before the next table asks.

  2. 2:30 p.m.

    New sorbet flavor

    The pastry cook spun a new sorbet. Edit the sorbet description with today’s flavors and save; it is right on the QR menu by dinner.

Dessert menus, straight answers

Is this dessert menu template free?
Yes. The Elegant Landscape PDF on this page is free to download and print, with no signup. It is a sample, so it carries sample dishes and prices. To put your own menu into the design, start the 14-day free trial, no card needed. The trial includes one published live menu with QR codes. PDF downloads and additional menus start when you pick a plan.
Should the dessert menu be separate from the main menu?
Many restaurants hand over a separate dessert card after the mains, which is when the decision gets made. In Gaslamp it can be its own menu with its own QR code (a paid plan feature) or a Dessert section at the end of the main menu.
Should dessert wines be on the dessert menu?
Yes, beside the desserts they go with. The sample puts them in the right column with the pour size in the note under the heading.
How do I note that a dessert takes time?
Put it in the note under the section heading, like “Soufflé takes 15 minutes”, so the server can take that order early.
Why is the dessert template landscape?
A landscape card fits two columns, desserts and drinks, on one sheet a server can set down flat. You can switch to any portrait design in Gaslamp and your items stay put.
How much does it cost?
Start with a 30-day free trial, no credit card needed. Then it is $19 a month, or $190 a year (2 months free). No setup fee. Cancel anytime. The trial includes one published live menu with QR codes. PDF downloads and additional menus start when you pick a plan.

If you run one

Every design takes every menu. Switch between them anytime and your dishes stay put.

For the day-to-day, menu software for fine dining covers what changes on menus like yours and how often. For what to serve and how to price it, read how to build a dessert menu.

The free QR code menu generator makes a code for whatever menu you have now.

All menu templates
A long shared table with plates passing between friends

The soufflé went at 9:10. The dessert card can know at 9:11.

Start free 30-day trial

No card needed · then $19/mo or $190/yr · cancel anytime

Try the editor on your phone, no signup