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Mystery Cake

This is an easy spice cake from "The Joy of Cooking" made moist and delicious by using a stealthy ingredient: a can of condensed tomato soup. Make it and see if your guests can guess the secret.

Author: Jennifer Steinhauer

Easter Egg Nest Cake

It is, I hope, the acceptable face of culinary cute: a chocolaty flourless cake that falls on cooling. The sides crack, forming the outside of the nest, and into the cake's sunken cavity you spread a soft,...

Author: Nigella Lawson

Seis Leches Cake

This recipe for a tres leches cake (a traditional syrup-soaked confection from Latin America) takes a good thing - namely the combination of milks that saturate its crumb - and doubles it. Instead of just...

Author: Melissa Clark

Coconut Marzipan Cake

If you live near a store that sells good coconut ice cream, then please buy a tub to serve alongside. But these days I am all restraint and go simply for a jeweled scattering of raspberries.

Author: Nigella Lawson

Classic Birthday Cake

A birthday cake needn't be elaborate. A few layers of tender yellow cake and creamy chocolate frosting will do the trick. In this version of the classic pairing, brown sugar and buttermilk provide a sophisticated...

Author: Alison Roman

Watermelon Rose Trifle

This trifle is inspired by one of Sydney's most exquisite cakes - layers of almond dacquoise, ripe watermelon and rose-flavored cream, covered in strawberries. The pastry chef Christopher Thé invented...

Author: Tejal Rao

Citrusy Cheesecake

The nice thing about this cheesecake is that it doesn't require a water bath or any sort of special baking pan: More shallow than a traditional version, it gets baked right in a pie plate (or tart pan,...

Author: Alison Roman

Easy Rhubarb Trifle

Boozy, soggy, creamy, sweet and tart, this simple cake is somewhat like a tiramisù, since it is layered with ladyfingers. (But let's not call it a tiramisù, because it's really not authentic or traditional.)...

Author: David Tanis

Upside Down Date Cake With Marmalade

The upside-down cake never goes out of style - and it can be revived again and again by exploring different flavor combinations. This one tops a medjool-date studded cake with a vibrant kumquat marmalade...

Author: Yotam Ottolenghi

Sesame, Date and Banana Cake

Even though this cake is packed full of dates, bananas and tahini (also known as tahini paste in Britain), it's surprisingly soft and light. You can serve it warm, if you like, with the tahini cream cheese...

Author: Yotam Ottolenghi

Pumpkin Cheesecake In Nut Crust

Some cheesecakes are the culinary equivalent of a punch in the gut: too sweet, too heavy, too filling. This one, first published in The Times in 1984, is delightfully different. It's lightly-sweet, slightly...

Author: Marian Burros

Pumpkin Cheesecake

This dessert delivers all the warm spices of pumpkin pie along with the tangy creaminess of cheesecake. To help the filling come together easily, make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, and...

Author: Vallery Lomas

Chocolate Soufflé With Candied Squash

In this intensely rich recipe, you'll jazz up a fudgy chocolate soufflé cake with crème fraîche and candied, cinnamon-scented butternut squash, turning a decadent dessert into something stunningly autumnal....

Author: Melissa Clark

Strawberry and Cream Layer Cake

This delicate cake is inspired by fraisier, a French cake made from layers of sponge, strawberries and cream. Fraisier cakes are elaborately constructed and typically combine several components to make...

Author: Claire Saffitz

Campari Olive Oil Cake

When I posted a photo of this very modest-looking cake on Instagram, I was blown away by the response. Honestly, it didn't look like much - a generic yellow cake with a golden top. I think just the very...

Author: Melissa Clark

Peach Polenta Cake

This simple, summery cake gets its rustic texture from polenta and ground almonds. Most of its sweetness comes from cut peaches that bubble in a light caramel at the bottom of the cake, then decorate the...

Author: Tejal Rao

Buckwheat Berry Striped Cake

A combination of buckwheat and whole wheat flour gives this deeply buttery cake a character that is nutty, rich and complex, while a little almond flour adds tenderness. Baking it in a shallow tart pan...

Author: Melissa Clark

Bibingka (Filipino Coconut Rice Cake)

This recipe for bibingka, the celebratory rice cake traditionally eaten around Christmastime in the Philippines, comes from the New York restaurateur Nicole Ponseca. It's a savory side dish with an edge...

Author: Tejal Rao

Walnut Cake

I have to thank a couple of people for this recipe: first, the chef Stevie Parle, of Dock Kitchen in London, who published the recipe to inspire this one, and second, the aunt of one of my recipe testers,...

Author: Yotam Ottolenghi

Candied Fruitcake

I discovered that candied fruit likes getting soused with currants or dates, and that it isn't fussy about the medium: sherry, rum or Cognac all make it happy. And the trick to baking with it is simple:...

Author: Kay Rentschler

Gâteau Breton

With its soft, buttery crumb, this classic French cake is similar to a giant shortbread, though moister and more tender. Its hidden prune filling is traditional, although you can use other dried fruit,...

Author: Melissa Clark

Strawberry Cassata

The classic Sicilian cassata is a spongecake layered with creamy sweetened ricotta, a heavenly combination. Though usually topped with colorful candied fruits, this summery version is covered with ripe...

Author: David Tanis

Celebration Cake

This cake, which was developed by the British-Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi, may not look perfect. You may end up with cracked layers, roughly cut edges and a white-chocolate ganache spread willy-nilly....

Author: Sam Sifton

Almond Cake

This moist and fragrant cake from Molly Wizenberg, the author of the popular food blog Orangette, calls for a whole orange and lemon, almonds and olive oil. It does require a little effort and the use...

Author: Mark Bittman and Sam Sifton

Lemon Spice Visiting Cake

Whether you pack this cake as a gift or have it ready when visitors come to you, the imperative to share is implicit in its name. The cake is built for comfort and durability - make it on Thursday or Friday...

Author: Dorie Greenspan

Easy as Pie Apple Cake

The name of this cake is somewhat deceiving, since most apple cakes are easier than pie (which is actually never that easy if you're making it from scratch). In any case, it's a simple, excellent cake...

Author: Melissa Clark

Raspberry and Cream Roulade

The exquisite combination of raspberries and cream is made even more so by the addition of this light, finely textured sponge cake. The cake should be chilled before serving to ensure it holds its shape....

Author: Claire Saffitz

Buttermilk Biscuit Shortcakes With Strawberries

Making biscuits is a combination of technique, faith and magic. You pull the dough together with your hands, pass through a stage where only a belief in the baking gods keeps you from ditching the mess...

Author: Dorie Greenspan

Citrus Layer Cake With Orange and Chocolate Frosting

This cake appeared in The Times in 1954 as Halloween Cake, the centerpiece for a children's party. When you strip away the original instructions for decoration (dyed yellow frosting and a black cat of...

Author: Sara Bonisteel

Summer Berry Buckle

Softer and more fruit-filled than a coffeecake, but with a higher percentage of buttery batter than a cobbler, buckles are harder to classify than they are to make. This one is tender, moist and filled...

Author: Melissa Clark

Berry Coconut No Bake Cheesecake

In the height of summer, turning on the oven should be considered off limits, but we still need dessert. For that, there's the no-bake cheesecake, which has all the richness of the baked version without...

Author: Yossy Arefi

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In this country, ingestion of the pineapple upside-down cake has often been used as proof of citizenship - unless you had some as a child, you simply weren't an American. I've had plenty of bad ones --...

Author: Jonathan Reynolds

Pistachio Poundcake With Strawberries

Ground pistachios give this loaf cake a lovely nutty flavor, green hue and tender crumb. It's adapted from the cookbook "Sweeter Off the Vine," by Yossy Arefi, which often incorporates Middle Eastern ingredients...

Author: Emily Weinstein