2,089 desert recipes

Party date cake is a big-batch chocolate date loaf topped with sugar, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips. Served warm in slices with whipped cream for a crowd-sized dessert.

Free-form apple tart made with store-bought pie crust, thinly sliced Golden Delicious apples, cinnamon sugar, and a warm apricot jam glaze. Rustic, simple, and gorgeous.

Peach caramel crisp: ripe peaches baked over a hardened caramel base and crowned with ground almond praline streusel, served warm with vanilla ice cream. Summer fruit dessert elevated with French patisserie technique.

Moist pumpkin cake layered with spiced whipped cream. Brown sugar, cinnamon, sour milk, and pumpkin puree make a tender, old-fashioned two-layer cake for autumn dessert tables.

Palatschinken are thin Austrian and German pancakes filled with melted chocolate and powdered sugar, then rolled and dusted. Classic European dessert ready in 30 minutes.

Rhubarb-apple crunch layers tart rhubarb and sliced apples under a brown sugar oat crumble, baked until bubbling. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream for a spring dessert.

Chocolate mocha mousse: a French-style chocolate mousse with strong coffee, butter, egg yolks, and clouds of whipped cream and stiff egg white. The classic dinner-party finale, made the proper way.

Cherry streusel coffeecake with almond-scented batter, cherry pie filling center, and a crunchy almond crumb top. Springform pan dessert, brunch-ready.

Pineapple lemon fruit filling for Japanese fruitcake, cooked custard-style in a double boiler with toasted pecans. The signature Southern holiday cake glue.

Sugar and spice apple nut cake, a one-bowl single-layer cake loaded with chopped fresh apples, warm cinnamon and nutmeg, and crunchy nuts, baked in a square pan.

Old-fashioned rice krispie date roll cookies made by cooking dates with eggs, sugar and butter into a ball, then mixing with crisp rice cereal and rolling in powdered sugar. A no-bake retro icebox candy.

Classic peach Melba: vanilla ice cream crowned with a poached peach half, glossy raspberry-currant sauce, crushed macaroons, and a piped collar of whipped cream. Auguste Escoffier's signature dessert from 1893.

Chocolate decadence cake, a near-flourless, truffle-dense round of melted chocolate and butter. Baked briefly so the center stays fudgy, cloaked in whipped cream and pooled with tart raspberry sauce.

Almond Cookies: tender Italian-style cookies built on real almond paste, butter, and almond extract. Pressed flat with a sugared glass for crackled, sparkling tops. Makes 5 dozen.

Chocolate and strawberry stuffed French toast: whole-wheat sandwiches filled with ricotta, fresh berries, and chocolate chips, griddled until golden. A lighter twist on weekend brunch indulgence.

Death by chocolate Bundt cake from Dom DeLuise's cookbook. Cake mix doctored with pudding, sour cream, and 12 ounces of chocolate chips for an intensely fudgy result.