French Yeast Sugar Pie with Cream
Tender, airy, creamy, with a sugar crust! This pie is quick and easy to make from yeast dough, without any filling. Yet the flavor turns out very rich. The cream topping makes it seem as though the pie has cream inside. A crunchy caramelized top completes the picture.
Updated : 04 May, 2026
Easy
More than 1 hour.
Ingredients
Batter
250 grams
Wheat flour
100 milliliters
Milk
1.5 teaspoon
Dry yeast
2
Eggs
50 grams
Butter
1 teaspoon
Sugar
0.3 teaspoon
Salt
Crumble
50 grams
Butter
150 grams
Sugar
200 milliliters
Cream
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
How do you bake French Sugar Pie? Prepare the ingredients for the dough. All of them should be at room temperature, this is important when making yeast dough, because warm ingredients help it rise better. So take the eggs and butter out of the refrigerator in advance.
Step 2
Warm the milk to about 40°C (104°F). It should feel pleasantly warm. Add the sugar and yeast to the milk and stir. Cover the bowl with a napkin or towel and leave it for 15 minutes. This activates the yeast, waking it up with warmth and feeding it with sugar.
Step 3
Good, fresh yeast should form a foamy cap over the milk. If this does not happen, the yeast is old or spoiled. You will need to use different yeast.
Step 4
Crack the eggs into a large bowl, add the softened butter and salt. Mix the mass with a whisk. There is no need to use a mixer. The goal is simply to combine the ingredients, not whip them. The dough will rise because of the yeast, not because of whipped eggs.
Step 5
Add the milk with the activated yeast to the egg mixture. Mix everything again with a whisk.
Step 6
Sift all the flour into the bowl with the other ingredients. Do not skip this step. Sifting fills the flour with air, which makes the baked goods softer and fluffier.
Step 7
Mix the dough with a spatula. It will turn out fairly loose, but that is exactly how it should be, the less flour, the softer the pie. Stir it until smooth and until all lumps disappear. Cover the bowl with a towel, plastic wrap, or a lid, and leave it in a warm place for 1 hour to rise. I place it in a cold oven, where there is no draft and the temperature stays steady.
Step 8
While the dough is rising, prepare the topping. Get the ingredients ready for it. It is better to use cold butter, it will mix better. I used cream with 20% fat, but you can also use 10% cream or rich cream with 33% fat. Go by your taste. The fattier the cream, the tastier the pie, but it will also be higher in calories.
Step 9
Mash the sugar and butter with a fork until crumbly.
Step 10
By the end of the proofing time, the dough should have doubled in size.
Step 11
Take any baking pan. Mine is a glass dish measuring 25×20 cm (about 10×8 inches). A round pan 24 cm (about 9 1/2 inches) in diameter will also work well. Grease it with vegetable oil. I recommend doing this directly with your hand, because you will use that same hand to work with the dough afterward, and it is very sticky. Put the dough into the pan and spread it into an even layer. Because your hand will be oily, the dough will not stick to it. Cover the pan with a napkin or towel and leave it to rest for 20 minutes.
Step 12
Make indentations all over the surface of the dough with your finger.
Step 13
Spread the sugar and butter crumbs over the top.
Step 14
Place the pie into an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F), using the top-and-bottom heat setting. Bake the pie for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Then remove it from the oven and pour the cream evenly over it. Return the pie to the oven for another 10 minutes.
Step 15
Remove the finished pie from the oven and let it cool until warm. You can eat this pie either warm or cold.
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