Dessert Recipes

These tarts are irresistible when made with home-candied angelica, as dull as ditchwater when store-bought is used.

Grilled angel food cake with skewered nectarines basted in lemon-sugar glaze and topped with fresh blueberries. A light, summery grilled dessert.

Jeweled walnut cookie bars studded with spiced gumdrops and chopped walnuts. A chewy, colorful bar cookie with no butter or oil, baked in a square pan and cut into bars.

Cherry with almonds are always a good combination, and this cake is very delicious with cherry and almonds mixing.

Kahlua brownies with unsweetened chocolate, coffee liqueur, and instant coffee, topped with a boiled chocolate icing and scattered semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Frankfurter Kranz: a traditional German ring cake with three rum-soaked sponge layers, a rich egg-yolk buttercream filling, and a crunchy almond praline crown. The classic Frankfurt coffee-table cake.

Apricot walnut crescent cookies with a flaky sour cream pastry rolled around apricot preserves and ground walnuts, dusted with powdered sugar. An Eastern European holiday classic.

Thin, crispy oatmeal lace cookies with orange zest and shredded coconut. Made with lard for extra-crisp edges that spread paper-thin during baking.

A silky Belgian cream cheese tart with lemon juice and whipping cream, baked in an 8-inch tart shell and brushed with a glossy egg wash. Light, creamy, and elegant.

Cranberry wine gelatin mold with fresh cranberries simmered in red wine, set with raspberry gelatin, and studded with chopped walnuts. A jewel-toned holiday side or dessert.

Fluffy pink grapefruit frosting is a seven-minute frosting made with egg whites, sugar, and grapefruit juice beaten over a double boiler into billowy, citrus-scented peaks.

Savory cheddar cheesecake with cream cheese, sharp cheddar, cottage cheese, ham, jalapeños, and scallions baked in a breadcrumb crust. A bold, spicy appetizer that's anything but sweet.

No-bake ice cream cake with a graham cracker crust and pink lemonade-swirled vanilla ice cream. Five ingredients, 15 minutes of hands-on work, then just freeze and slice.

Rich devil's food layer cake: a deeply dark, old-fashioned two-layer chocolate cake made with melted unsweetened chocolate, brown sugar, and buttermilk-style milk. The birthday cake blueprint.

Traditional German drop donuts (Tropfkrapfen) made with a buttermilk batter, fried golden and dusted in powdered sugar. Crispy outside, tender and cakey within. Simple old-world charm.

Chocolate pound cake made with melted German chocolate, butter, and a hint of almond extract. Dense, rich, and baked in a Bundt pan with no frosting needed.