Dessert, Cake Recipes

King cake for Mardi Gras, a sour cream yeast dough rolled with cinnamon-sugar butter, shaped into an oval ring, and decorated with purple, green, and gold sugars. New Orleans tradition at home.

Lower-fat banana cake with pureed prunes replacing most of the butter, nonfat vanilla yogurt, and egg whites. A moist sheet cake that cuts the fat without losing flavor.

An intensely dark chocolate sheet cake made with strong black coffee and buttermilk, topped with a rich "Hundred Dollar Frosting" of melted chocolate, butter, walnuts, and a surprising touch of lemon juice.

Reduced-sugar oatmeal cake with rolled oats, raisins, molasses, and warming cinnamon and nutmeg. Egg whites and a sugar substitute keep things lean. The lighter take on a Southern church-supper classic.

Raspberry-chocolate cheesecake: dense chocolate cream cheese filling with a raspberry candy flavoring, set on a graham dust crust. A bold, dark chocolate showstopper dessert.

This recipe is decorated like the American flag and delivers lots of servings to feed a crowd. Perfect for flag day or the 4th of July.

A moist chocolate sheet cake topped with vanilla buttercream becomes a patriotic centerpiece when decorated with fresh blueberries and strawberries to create an edible American flag.

Rich chocolate layer cake with cocoa, hot coffee, and a hint of almond extract. Colette's recipe bakes into two moist 9-inch layers that are begging for your favorite frosting.

Rich fudge cake made with melted unsweetened chocolate, brown sugar, and sour cream, split into four layers with whipped cream filling and chocolate mocha frosting.

Chocolate malt cake made with dark beer and unsweetened chocolate for a rich, bittersweet crumb with a glossy semi-sweet chocolate frosting. Porter, stout, or ale all work beautifully in this two-layer showstopper.

Fruity yogurt cheesecake strains vanilla yogurt into thick "cheese" for a no-bake filling. Graham cracker crust topped with peaches, apricot glaze, and fresh raspberries.

Baked Cheesecake made with Australian Illawarra Plum Sauce.

Chocolate-coconut layer cake with tender buttermilk chocolate layers, flaked coconut folded through, and a rich walnut-chocolate filling between whipped cream layers.

Polish nalesniki are delicate egg-white pancakes rolled around a lemon-vanilla sour cream pudding, baked until warm, then dusted with powdered sugar. An old-world dessert.

Citrus devil's food cake made with grapefruit juice instead of water or milk, creating a tangy, bittersweet chocolate cake with a cocoa-grapefruit syrup folded through the batter.

No-bake chocolate wafer icebox cake made with whipped topping and chocolate cookies. Just stack, chill, and slice for a creamy layered dessert kids and adults love.