It must be rectangular, with two layers of puff pastry, similar to the cream slice in the United Kingdom.

It may also be orange-coloured when the national football team plays in large international tournaments; this dates from about 1990.

White glazing on top is the norm in Belgium, sometimes with a chocolate pattern similar to mille-feuille.

The cakes are usually served with tea, beer, or coffee, and in formal settings are eaten with pastry forks.

But the hard biscuit-like layers, which squash the pastry cream when trying to cut a piece off, make this difficult and messy, inspiring the humorous article "Hoe eet je een tompoes?"