Dessert Recipes

Heaven and hell cake stacks airy angel food and dark devil's food layers with peanut butter mousse between, all under a glossy chocolate ganache. A showstopping light-and-dark cake with a chocolate-peanut butter heart.

Buttery shortbread logs dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. A 4-ingredient cookie with crisp, sandy texture and a rich chocolate finish.

No-bake French mint cupcakes with melted semi-sweet chocolate, butter, powdered sugar, and peppermint extract frozen in paper cups. Rich, fudgy, and truffle-like with a nutty crunch.

Ice cream cone cupcakes: chocolate cake batter baked right inside flat-bottom ice cream cones, then swirled with sweet almond buttercream and showered in sprinkles. The kid party showstopper.

Three-layer old-fashioned chocolate cake with cocoa frosting and chocolate chips baked into every layer. No eggs, no butter in the cake, just deep cocoa flavor and a tender crumb.

Buttery spice cookies with crystallized ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and a dusting of powdered sugar. Pressed thin and baked until light golden, these make-ahead cookies keep for a week or freeze for a month.

Chocolate buttermilk sheet cake with rich cocoa icing poured on while still hot. A classic potluck crowd-pleaser that bakes in under 25 minutes and feeds a big group.

Three-layer chocolate cake with cocoa, buttermilk, and a rich cocoa icing made with melted unsweetened chocolate. A towering, old-fashioned celebration cake.

Better than sex cake is a four-layer chocolate-pecan icebox dessert: a buttery pecan shortbread crust, sweet cream cheese, chocolate pudding, and whipped topping. A make-ahead potluck legend.

Puppy Chow is the classic no-bake party snack: Chex cereal coated in melted peanut butter and chocolate, tossed in powdered sugar until every piece looks like a sweet snowdrift. Addictive by the handful.

Almond shortbread cookies with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb, thanks to cornstarch in the dough. Five ingredients, no chilling required, and three dozen cookies ready in 30 minutes.

Lavender angel food cake with 12 egg whites beaten to stiff peaks and dried lavender folded into the batter. Light, fragrant, and fat-free. Ready in about an hour.

Lemon blossom cookies are buttery thumbprint cookies made with lemon juice and powdered sugar, rolled in chopped nuts, and filled with fruit preserves or pecans. A classic holiday cookie tray staple.

Lily cookies: cream cheese pastry rounds folded around a jelly center and dusted with powdered sugar. Old-school holiday cookies shaped like opening lilies.

Chocolate shortbread cookies dipped in both white and dark chocolate ganache. Melted semi-sweet chocolate in the dough plus cocoa creates an intensely rich, buttery cookie with a stunning two-tone finish.

Kahlua pecan pie cookies with a buttery brown sugar cookie cup filled with a caramel pecan center spiked with coffee liqueur. A two-bite spin on pecan pie.