Dessert/5 recipes

Cherry cream frosting made with maraschino cherries and juice for natural pink color and sweet cherry flavor. A 5-minute powdered sugar icing for cakes, cupcakes, or cookies.

Fried bread crumbs: dry crumbs sauteed in melted butter until deeply golden and crisp. A two-ingredient finishing topping for pasta, vegetables, casseroles and gratins.

Raspberry Alaskas tuck fresh raspberries and vanilla ice cream inside crisp puff pastry shells, then cloak the whole thing in glossy meringue and flash it under high heat for a hot-and-cold dessert that hits the table the second it browns.

Summer rhubarb crisp with a cinnamon-sugar streusel baked over tart fresh rhubarb until bubbly and golden. Six-ingredient old-fashioned dessert served warm with cream or ice cream.

Gingerbread baked right in canning jars with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Charming homemade holiday gift with fabric-topped lids, eat within a few days for safety.

Pineapple orange mousse whips evaporated milk into a light frozen dessert with tropical orange and crushed pineapple. Old-fashioned two-step chill method, no gelatin or ice cream maker needed.

Italian tiramisu made with Pan di Spagna sponge cake, mascarpone zabaglione, espresso-brandy soak and whipped cream. Classic restaurant-style layered dessert.

Zesty apricot cream filling combines apricot jam with sherry, lemon zest, and orange juice for a bright pastry cream. Egg yolks thicken it into a silken filling for tarts, eclairs, or layer cakes.

Muscat ice is an English frozen dessert of pureed gooseberries infused with elderflower blossoms, sweetened and folded with yogurt. Aromatic, tart, and uncommonly refreshing.

Flowerpot desserts layer yellow cake, ice cream, and golden meringue in clay pots with real flower stems poking through the top. A showstopping party trick that looks wild and tastes like baked Alaska.

Super-rich creme brulee made with nine egg yolks, heavy cream, and a whole vanilla bean, baked low in a water bath until just set, then crowned with a crackly caramelized sugar crust. Silkier than any restaurant version.

Bananas in Phyllo Nests serves warm banana slices in an orange-Grand Marnier syrup spooned into crispy phyllo shells. An elegant 20-minute dessert for entertaining that looks far harder than it is.

Irish coffee pudding, a light, chilled coffee mousse spiked with Irish whiskey and lightened with whipped cream and egg whites. Set tall like a cold souffle and crowned with cream and walnuts.

golden suryp steam pudding-gluten free

Mounds candy bar cake with chocolate cake layers filled with gooey marshmallow-coconut filling and covered in chocolate frosting. A semi-homemade showstopper.

Chocolate Kahlua cheesecake layers a chocolate-wafer crust, a triple-chocolate filling spiked with coffee liqueur, and a glossy Kahlua ganache top. Made in a springform pan and chilled until knife-sharp.