Now considered a classic Hawaiian dessert, guava cake was created at Dee Lite Bakery in Honolulu, where it became widely popular. This version is adapted from blogger Alana Kysar's "Aloha Kitchen: Recipes...
Author: Kiera Wright-Ruiz
The recipe for this cake, adapted from "Sweet" by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh, first appeared in an article written about Ms. Goh when she ran her cafe, the Mortar & Pestle, in Melbourne, Australia....
Author: Yotam Ottolenghi
Bundt cakes are classic showstoppers - big, lofty and usually dressed in elegant drizzles and drips of glaze. Here, a dense, moist cake full of warm fall spices and pumpkin purée is encased in a layer...
Author: Yossy Arefi
This simple, warmly spiced pumpkin cake is enough to feed a crowd, making it a perfect holiday treat. It's also relatively versatile: You can serve it in the pan for an easy presentation, or transfer it...
Author: Yossy Arefi
David Lebovitz's headily spiced cake, which Amanda Hesser wrote about in The Times in 1999, calls for a quarter-pound of fresh ginger. Mr. Lebovitz, who was a pastry chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.,...
Author: Amanda Hesser
This tender, golden cake, adapted from Lindsey Shere's "Chez Panisse Desserts," walks the line between dense and light, with a fine, moist crumb and deep marzipan flavor that comes from a combination of...
Author: Melissa Clark
Apricot halves, baked in a faux caramel of melted butter, brown sugar and spices, burst with punchy flavor in every bite of this cake. The sticky topping complements the almost-tart, fleshy stone fruit,...
Author: Vallery Lomas
This simple sheet cake is packed with three kinds of spicy ginger: fresh, ground and crystallized. The cake is delicious on its own, but cream cheese frosting and a sprinkle of crystallized ginger push...
Author: Yossy Arefi
One of my favorite pie alternatives is bundt cake. A hearty spice-filled bundt cake made from grated apples and toasted nuts, then soaked in whiskey syrup, defies the cliché of Thanksgiving dessert, yet...
Author: Melissa Clark
This is a rich, special-occasion cake that takes the traditional Southern coconut cake to another level, with ground toasted pecans in the batter and an easy-to-make Chantilly cream for frosting. It has...
Author: Kim Severson
Black forest cake, which originated in the Black Forest region of Germany, is typically made with a light chocolate sponge cake, soaked with cherry syrup and cherry brandy (Kirsch), then layered with whipped...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
This classic rum cake recipe, built around a yellow cake mix, is a favorite of mushers and snowmobilers passing through the village of Tanana, Alaska, in the wintertime. It's hard to mess up, comes together...
Author: Julia O'Malley
Tender and chewy, this big-batch dessert - as comforting as cake and as fun as bar cookies - is always a hit at parties. Mochiko, sweet rice flour, not only gives it its distinctive marshmallow-like softness,...
Author: Genevieve Ko
The key to making this exquisite, gravity-defying cake, which comes from Michelle Polzine of 20th Century Cafe in San Francisco, is patience. This cake takes a lot of time! Set some aside to do it right....
Author: Samin Nosrat
This traditional British layer cake is made up of two buttery, tender spongecake rounds that sandwich a thick layer of jam and, often, a dollop of sweetened whipped cream. It's a simple, homey confection...
Author: Melissa Clark
Alice's Tea Cup, which is owned by the sisters Haley Fox and Lauren Fox, is known for its scones, but the chainlet of teahouses in New York also makes pastries, cakes and other treats. This recipe is an...
Author: Alex Witchel
This recipe came to The Times from Marti Buckley Kilpatrick, who adapted it from Dol Miles, the pastry chef at Frank Stitt's Bottega restaurant in Birmingham, Ala. Ms. Kilpatrick describes the cake as...
Author: Melissa Clark
This pleasantly zesty lemon cake is baked in a standard 9-by-13-inch pan, no layering or trimming required, and is easy enough to bake on a weekday. Cover the cake with casual swoops of fluffy lemon buttercream...
Author: Yossy Arefi
The streamlined mixing technique for this versatile cake, which is leavened with only eggs, borrows from génoise, chiffon cake and a style of roll cakes popular in Asian bakeries. The result is an airy,...
Author: Claire Saffitz
This absurdly rich chocolate cake came to The Times in a 1991 article by Molly O'Neill about Ebinger's, the legendary chain of Brooklyn bakeries that closed its doors in 1972 after 74 years in business....
Author: The New York Times
Buttermilk makes this stir-together cake super tender, but you can use any milk you have in its place. Same goes for the fruit: Use your favorite frozen berries, or a combination, but frozen cherries,...
Author: Dawn Perry
This recipe proves that the perfect summer pound cake takes no special equipment or skill to pull off. Once you've prepared the peaches, this is essentially a dump-and-whisk cake. Puréed peaches (plus...
Author: Jerrelle Guy
This cake version of a peanut butter cup boasts moist devil's food cake wrapped around a soft, peanut buttery cake core. The peanut butter cake batter will stay nicely centered if you enlist the help of...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
This dark chocolate cake relies on stout beer to add malted notes. Coffee helps enhance the chocolate flavor, and sour cream keeps the cake moist for days. A spiked coffee glaze studded with cacao nibs...
Author: Laurie Ellen Pellicano
Loose Earl Grey tea stirred into buttery cake batter adds a sweet, floral essence that's subtle but lovely. A little dark chocolate and orange zest makes this cake extra special. While you could use chocolate...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
This traditional Southern caramel cake is perfect for when you want layer cake, and you'd like it fast. It's light and fluffy under the sweet caramel glaze, which hardens at room temperature and shatters...
Author: Millie Peartree
Maida Heatter, the legendary dessert-cookbook author, tested this recipe 20 times before deeming it good enough for publication in The Times in May 1972. Her toil was worth the trouble: Eight months later,...
Author: Margaux Laskey
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.
Layer cakes are pretty, but for many, they require far too much work to make on a regular basis. This cake, adapted from "Modern Baking: Cakes, Cookies and Everything in Between" by Donna Hay, may find...
Author: Margaux Laskey
With their pleasant tang and gorgeous color, cranberries take this brunch staple to the next level. Here, they're nestled in a sour cream cake batter that's topped with a butter crumb, and cook down to...
Author: Samantha Seneviratne
This dense and deeply figgy cake, adapted from Eli's Table in Manhattan, gets its complex flavor from a combination of fresh figs and fig jam, seasoned generously with cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. It's...
Author: Melissa Clark
Now, I love cheesecake and I love mangoes, the mangoes best eaten in their natural state, and preferably in the bath. But the two together make a dessert that manages to be both comforting and elegant....
Author: Nigella Lawson
This cake recipe was adapted from the chef Larry Forgione, who served his grandmother's cake recipe at his restaurant An American Place. The dessert proved so popular that every time he tried to take it...
Author: Melissa Clark
In this version of the classic Viennese Sacher torte, from Luisa Weiss's cookbook "Classic German Baking," two dense chocolate cake layers are filled and topped with rum-scented apricot jam, then coated...
Author: Melissa Clark
This tender cake is different from all the banana breads out there - possibly because Jim Lahey brings his celebrated skills as a bread baker to the recipe, which we adapted from "The Sullivan Street Bakery...
Author: Melissa Clark
This lightly spiced apple cake comes together in no time at all, and a few swoops of fluffy cinnamon cream cheese frosting dress it up for dessert. As written, this recipe yields a modest amount of frosting,...
Author: Yossy Arefi
This exquisite recipe came to The Times in a 2001 article by Amanda Hesser about the first meal her now mother-in-law, Elizabeth Friend, prepared for her. The meal ended with this simple almond cake. Ms....
Author: Amanda Hesser
Warmly spiced pumpkin cake and toasty caramel are a natural pair in this fall showstopper. The cake is light and fluffy with just enough spice to highlight the pumpkin flavor, while a generous pour of...
Author: Yossy Arefi
Expansive yet barely an inch tall, this chocolate-on-chocolate special of the Lone Star State starts with a cake that's even lighter than devil's food. A hot cocoa icing sheens its surface and soaks into...
Author: Genevieve Ko
This buttery cake is filled with soft, caramel-infused apples and topped with an easy caramel frosting. It's better to err on the side of underbaking the cake slightly, since it makes for a gooier end...
Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
Most lemon cakes rely on zest and juice for flavor. This one uses the whole fruit, pith and all, for an intense citrus flavor. There's also almond flour in the batter, which gives the cake a dense richness....
Author: Melissa Clark
This nutty sour cream coffee cake is rich enough to stand alone, but the bourbon caramel sauce elevates it to "special occasion dessert" status.
Author: Molly O'Neill
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
Strawberries from the farmers' market are tiny, packed with flavor, red all of the way through, and they put their supermarket counterparts to shame. This summery Bundt packs a double dose of strawberry...
Author: Yossy Arefi
This creamy mango cheesecake has the unmistakable scent and taste of fresh limes and cardamom - and, best of all, it doesn't require you to turn on the oven. Avoid using fresh mango pulp here: An enzyme...
Author: Nik Sharma
Dutch-process cocoa and a bit of espresso powder give this simple one-bowl cake deep chocolate flavor without much effort. The generous swoop of fluffy peppermint buttercream frosting makes it a festive...
Author: Yossy Arefi
Blotkake, layered spongecake covered with drifts of whipped cream and fruit, is a dessert that Norwegians are passionate and possessive about. It is a traditional sweet finish for any festive meal, whether...
Author: Julia Moskin
A lush combination of a Southern upside-down cake and a French tarte tatin, this cake is deeply caramelized on top and light and fluffy beneath. The chef Virginia Willis, who put the recipe together, uses...
Author: Julia Moskin
Crackly on top and fudgy yet tender in the center, this cake tastes like a complex restaurant dessert, but comes together effortlessly in one bowl. Chocolate chips save you the messy step of chopping chocolate...
Author: Genevieve Ko
Adding preserved lemon juice to lemon curd is the brilliant brainchild of Samantha Kincaid, the pastry chef of the restaurant High Street on Hudson. It adds a complex brininess to what can be an overly...
Author: Melissa Clark