Dessert Recipes

Spice cake made with amber ale, mixed dried fruit, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. The fruit simmers in beer before baking for a dense, malty, pub-inspired dessert.

Light angel food cake made with whipped egg whites and cake flour, frosted with a rich mocha buttercream of coffee, cocoa, and butter. A classic pairing of airy cake and intensely flavored frosting.

Triple-layer cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust, chocolate cream cheese base, brown sugar pecan middle, and almond-vanilla sour cream top. Showstopper dessert, worth the effort.

Whole Bartlett pears cored and filled with currant jelly, wrapped in golden puff pastry and baked, served pooled in Calvados caramel sauce. A bakery-window dessert that looks impossible but isn't.

Rosehip, Hibiscus & Currant Pie or Cake Filling recipe

Apple cream pie with sliced apples baked in a cinnamon-nutmeg custard made from half-and-half and melted butter. A simpler, creamier take on classic apple pie.

Sophisticated apple pie with sharp cheddar cheese baked right into the crust. The filling simmers apples in port wine, apple juice, and lemon zest. Lattice top for elegant presentation.

Chinese steamed pears in a cinnamon sugar syrup, gently cooked until tender then drizzled with reduced syrup. Four ingredients, elegant, and served warm or chilled.

Vintage ribbon cake: plain vanilla and spiced molasses batters layered in stripes with a tart lemon-raisin filling between. An old-fashioned American cake worth reviving.

The crisp, densely chocolaty cookies, with an unusually long baking time, were an annual favorite among the 20-plus recipes that Susan Couchman of Hartland remembers were made each year by her mother, Gloria Kuchler.

Jelly Christmas Eyes are sandwich cookies with a window cutout showing raspberry or strawberry jelly through the center, coated in sugar. A festive holiday cookie plate classic.

Elegant French-style bread pudding layered with dark sweet cherries, baked in a rich egg custard, and topped with silky homemade vanilla sauce. A show-stopping dessert from simple ingredients.

Tiny heart-shaped chocolate cakes for two, made without eggs or butter. Cut from a simple cocoa sheet cake using a cookie cutter, then stacked and frosted for Valentine's Day.

Crustless pumpkin pie sets with unflavored gelatin into a silky no-bake dessert with classic pumpkin pie spice. Gluten-free, low-calorie holiday alternative.

Old-fashioned sugar cookies made with butter and oil for a tender, melt-in-your-mouth crumb. Rolled in sugar and pressed flat, these bake up with soft centers and lightly crisp edges. Makes 3 dozen.

Savannah ice cream cake stacks coconut cake layers with strawberry, chocolate, and orange ice creams, finished with whipped cream and chocolate glaze. A Southern showpiece dessert for special occasions.