German chocolate cake is an American classic, named after a chocolatier called Samuel German (as opposed to the European nation). Milder than devil's food cake, this chocolate cake has layers that are...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
Rice flour makes this poundcake melt-in-your-mouth tender, and gives it a mild and delicate flavor that's spiced with a touch of black pepper. It keeps well, so feel free to bake it a day or two ahead...
Author: Melissa Clark
This recipe requires a little extra effort - you have to whip the egg whites separately and then fold them into the batter - but the reward is a light, ethereal cake topped with glistening, caramelized...
Author: R. W. Apple Jr.
Clafoutis is a classic French dessert most often made with cherries. But since clafoutis is little more than a rich, sweet pancake batter poured over fruit and baked, substitutions are easy. If you're...
Author: Mark Bittman
If you think you don't need another Bundt cake recipe, this one exists to prove you wrong. Adapted from Nell Lewis of Platte City, Mo., who entered the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest in 1963, it is a favorite...
Author: Margaux Laskey
This Technicolor cake is a project, but one you can pull off with a little elbow grease and lots of butter (nine sticks, to be exact). Most rainbow cakes call for coloring the individual layers of cake...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
This dessert is somewhere between a sponge cake and a clafoutis: light and airy, yet rich from the addition of dark chocolate and rum. Make sure you use really ripe, in-season figs, as they make all the...
Author: Yotam Ottolenghi
A classic British bakewell tart is a threesome: a crust; a layer of raspberry jam - one chockfull of seeds; and a sponge cake redolent of almonds. Sliced almonds and a drizzle of icing may or may not be...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
The flavor of this ultrabuttery layer cake, adapted from Odette Williams's "Simple Cake" (Ten Speed Press, 2019), can be as mild or pronounced as you like, depending on the variety of honey you use. Clover...
Author: Melissa Clark
There is very little that needs to be said about a chocolate mousse cake. This one lives up to its name. It is gloriously intense. But the whisked egg whites ensure that it has a balancing lightness. A...
Author: Nigella Lawson
This moist and springy Persian almond cake is generously spiced with ground cardamom (two full teaspoons). We like it with fresh berries. If you want to serve it for Passover, be sure to use kosher for...
Author: Joan Nathan
This orange cranberry cake is a gift to the holiday baker. It can be made ahead. It travels well. And it can be brought out any time of day - with coffee or tea in the morning or afternoon, or with Cognac...
Author: Joan Nathan
Maida Heatter's famous lemon cake first appeared in The Times in a 1970s feature highlighting a few of her best-loved cake recipes. This one was actually found by her daughter, Toni Evins Marks, who lived...
Author: Craig Claiborne
Layered with whipped cream, raspberry purée, saltines and fresh fruit, this easy icebox cake balances bright, fresh flavors with tangy cream cheese. The saltines add a nice saltiness, but you can substitute...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
Tres leches, which means "three milks" in Spanish, refers to the whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk that make up a creamy soaking sauce for the baked cake. Over time, it saturates the cake,...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
Alex Levin, the pastry chef of Osteria Morini in Washington, adapted this Rosh Hashana honey cake recipe from his grandmother, an accomplished baker, though he put his own touches on it. Mr. Levin took...
Author: Joan Nathan
This cake elicits awe on sight, and it's a delightfully easy stir-and-bake dessert created by Margarita Manzke, the pastry chef and an owner at République, a restaurant and bakery in Los Angeles. Dense...
Author: Alexa Weibel
This layer cake is affectionately referred to as "Grandma's Cake" by many Southerners. Using jelly as the filling and the frosting is a wonderful way to add fruity flavor to a cake year-round. The jelly...
Author: Vallery Lomas
This wheat-free chocolate cake with the earthy flavor of chestnuts is surprisingly light. The recipe is a slight adaptation from one in Alice Medrich's baking book "Flavor Flours." The cake may be baked...
Author: David Tanis
Why doesn't maple syrup find its way to American cheese platters the way chestnut honey does to Italian ones? We think it works particularly well with subtle, creamy cheeses, a conviction that inspired...
Author: Matt Lee And Ted Lee
Making this cake, which is adapted from "Sweet," by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh, is a labor of love, but that's only appropriate, for a cake adorned with rose petals. If you want to save time, however,...
Author: Yotam Ottolenghi
This is the kind of dessert worth dreaming about: a buttery yellow cake topped with a chocolate-sour cream frosting, made doubly rich with cocoa powder and melted chocolate. The batter may seem thin when...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
Like carrot cake, parsnip cake is lightly spiced, exceedingly moist and slathered with cream cheese frosting. This version, adapted from Susan Spungen's cookbook, "Open Kitchen," is less sweet than most....
Author: Melissa Clark
Without much prompting, Maria Luca Caudullo, whose in-laws founded the Bronte pistachio company Antonino Caudullo, will reel off any number of pistachio recipes. Filet of beef with a pistachio crust, "olives"...
Author: Florence Fabricant
Not your traditional gingerbread, this cake is flavored with familiar spices and enhanced with freshly grated ginger. (And yes, of course, there is still molasses.) Unlike a brittle cookie or dense loaf,...
Author: Alison Roman
This is the birthday cake I've made for my son since he was about 11. After boxed cakes, ice-cream cakes, a cake in a Darth Vader mold (that year, the party's theme was "May the Fours Be With You), this...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
This prune apple cardamom cake by the chef Genevieve Gergis was inspired by sticky toffee pudding, a dish that her husband and business partner, the chef Ori Menashe, loves. It's on the menu at their restaurant...
Author: Joan Nathan
A roulade is a classic dessert made by rolling a thin cake around a flavorful filling, which creates an inviting swirl once sliced. This roulade starts with a subtly spiced, moist pumpkin cake that is...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
This towering trifecta of flavor and texture - crisp wafer, creamy peanut butter and glossy dark chocolate - comes together quickly and easily. The hidden star here is Katherine Yang's utterly delicious...
Author: Gabrielle Hamilton
With a texture that falls somewhere between pudding and ganache, this bittersweet torte is silky smooth and very rich. The whipped cream topping, run through with spiced pumpkin purée, is a fluffy contrast...
Author: Melissa Clark
Soaking a cake in liquor or syrup is an old concept. Bake a standard cake, like this golden one, and when it's done, pour enough sweetened, butter-laden alcohol over the top to really saturate it. The...
Author: Mark Bittman
A dulce de leche swirl adds caramel sweetness to this light, moist pound cake, adapted from Margarita Manzke of République in Los Angeles. Although Ms. Manzke makes her own dulce de leche, the jarred...
Author: Melissa Clark
Susan Levin Turner has taught many Southerners, both professional chefs and home cooks, how to bake a proper cake. She has made cakes for politicians and celebrities, and turned out five when the chef...
Author: Kim Severson
This cake, at its best when warm, is full of dark molasses flavor and three kinds of ginger (fresh, ground and crystallized). It can be served with powdered sugar, whipped cream or even ice cream - a drizzle...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
Joe Trivelli, the head chef of the River Café in London, has a recipe for an apple cake in his 2018 cookbook, "The Modern Italian Cook." It's simple to prepare but complex in flavor, because its batter...
Author: Charlotte Druckman
You get the best of both worlds with this tender and moist cake adapted from a version that was served at the 76th birthday of Edna Lewis, the legendary Southern chef. It is quite simple to put together...
Author: The New York Times
From the outside, this looks like your standard, run-of-the mill poundcake. But slice into it, and you'll discover a ruby-red row of raspberries nestled into the sour cream-lemon cake. It's light yet moist,...
Author: Molly O'Neill
This coconut cake was adapted from a recipe by Simone (Simca) Beck, best known as Julia Child's co-author on "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." She called it "Gâteau d'Hélène: a white cake filled...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
This is a fancy restaurant dessert that's easy to make at home: mix up the little cakes, stash them in a fridge for a day and then take them out as you sit down to your meal, popping them in the oven just...
Author: Nigella Lawson
When my Paris friend, Bernard Collet, told me about this cake, a favorite for over 60 years in his family, I was expecting something tall, soft, frosted and fit for candles. I expected a gâteau but got...
Author: Dorie Greenspan
This crunchy, spicy carrot cake is much lighter and less cloying than most I've tasted. It's important to grate the carrots on the fine holes of your grater, or else they'll remain too crunchy. For best...
Author: Martha Rose Shulman
This beautiful tea cake from the San Francisco chef Elisabeth Prueitt has all the fall flavors of pumpkin spice channeled into a moist, spicy loaf with a base of sweet potato purée. It also has a delicious...
Author: Tejal Rao
More coffeecake than dessert, this moist apple cake is pure comfort, with candied ginger, a touch of honey in the batter and a honey glaze. New crop autumn apples are wonderful to use in season, but you...
Author: David Tanis
This magnificent version of the popular banana-pineapple-pecan cake developed by Southern Living magazine in 1978 is adapted from the chef Ashley Christensen's cookbook, "Poole's: Recipes from a Modern...
Author: Margaux Laskey
Layer cakes are always festive, particularly when they are four-layered, fluffy and cloudlike. This one, based on the flavors of an Indian dessert called ras malai, combines rose water, ricotta cheese...
Author: Melissa Clark
This deeply spiced gingerbread cake recipe comes from the cookbook author Genevieve Ko, who found inspiration in the light-as-air cakes she tasted from Chinese bakeries in Southern California, as well...
Author: Tejal Rao
This cake is a showstopper that a baker with rudimentary skills could pull off. The topping is a toffee glaze made with brown sugar, agave, butter and sea salt; you pour half of it over the cake while...
Author: Oliver Strand
In her new book, "My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life," Ruth Reichl calls this the cake that cures everything. The recipe produces a large stacked rectangular layer cake with whipped cream...
Author: Kim Severson
This cake was adapted from Kim Sunée, the Korean-born author of "Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home" (Grand Central, 2008).
Author: The New York Times
Extra-virgin olive oil gives this easy cake richness and a tender crumb. The cake keeps well for several days, as does the syrup, so it makes sense to prepare it in advance. However, wait to add the syrup...
Author: David Tanis