Category: cake

Flourless Chocolate Almond-Hazelnut Cake

If you can’t find already ground almonds or hazelnuts, you can grind your own using a coffee grinder or high-powered blender. The cake can be served with whipped cream or coffee ice cream, but frankly, it’s perfect as is. Serves 8 7 ounces high-quality dark chocolate (at least 70 percent cacao), roughly chopped 6 large…


Rice Pudding Meets Caramel Custard in a Festive Tuscan Cake

I’ve never been to Massa and Carrara, two towns in the northwest of Tuscany, wedged between Liguria and Emilia Romagna. But a few years ago during a book launch in Volterra, I met Angela, a bookshop owner whose family had moved there from Massa and Carrara. She gave me the chance to get to know…


For the Easter Table, a Cake That’s Pure Nostalgia

Easter is perhaps my favorite food holiday. It’s the day that the food of my people comes out: Slovenian and Czech braided bread, fried krofi, and sausage with sauerkraut. But also? This cake. This cake is nothing short of pure American ingenuity, in my mind—a sweet and sticky confection of angel food cake, marshmallow icing,…


Have Your Mousse Cake and Eat It, Too

The name of this dessert is potentially misleading. It’s not exactly a cake, nor is it a bowl of fluffy mousse. But imagine the two concepts combined in a sublime chocolate confection that literally melts in your mouth. It’s flourless, too, which is wonderful for gluten-free diets, Passover, and frankly, for those chocolate fanatics who…


Repurpose a Favorite Savory Ingredient for Cake That’s Simple yet Sophisticated

One of the most attractive aspects of making a cake with oil rather than butter is the way it expedites the mixing process: There’s no waiting for butter to come to room temperature and then beating it with sugar before you even start to add the rest of the ingredients. The batter is ready to…


Polenta Pound Cake With Spiced Mandarins

If you wanted to, you could plate this in individual servings elegant enough for the nicest restaurant in town, but you absolutely do not have to. Makes 8 to 10 Servings For the Polenta Pound Cake Pan Goo, for greasing the pan (recipe follows) 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2…


Molten Chocolate Cakes for Your Sweetheart

Life has been less than sweet this past year. So what could be better than a chocolate caramel dessert to cheer us up on this holiday of love? And remember, Valentine’s Day can be a time to let others know how much you appreciate them. This dessert makes six individual servings, but you can easily…


Galette des Rois: A French Cake Fit for Royalty

Before wrapping up the holidays, there is one final occasion the French take to eat and rejoice: the Fête des Rois, or “Feast of the Kings.” Held on Jan. 6, the 12th day of Christmas, this celebration involves eating a galette des rois, or king cake—two circles of buttery puff pastry filled with sweet, creamy…