Dessert/3 recipes

Cranberry and Granny Smith apple pie with nutmeg in a double crust. Tart cranberries burst against sweet apples for a festive holiday pie with gorgeous ruby-red filling.

Chocolate cola cake with real cola in both the batter and the warm cocoa icing, plus buttermilk, mini marshmallows, and optional pecans. A Southern sheet cake classic.

Cumulonimbus chocolate cake hides a secret ingredient: sauerkraut. Drained, snipped, and folded into a cocoa-and-coffee batter, it disappears completely and leaves behind a moist, fluffy chocolate cake. Frosted with a two-ingredient chocolate sour cream icing.

Traditional Welsh plate cake cooked on a bakestone with dried fruit, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Teisin Lap is a rustic griddle cake with a golden crust and tender, fruited crumb, no oven required.

Carrot cake cupcakes with walnuts, chocolate chips, and warm spices, topped with cream cheese frosting. Orange juice in the batter adds a bright, unexpected twist.

Mango mousse cake with a sponge cake base, fresh mango puree mousse set with gelatin, toasted almonds, raspberry jam, and whipped cream. An impressive layered French-style dessert.

Crispy vanilla rosettes fried on a decorative iron, then dipped in vanilla icing. Scandinavian holiday cookies that look like edible snowflakes. Yields 12 cookies.

Tangy goat cheese replaces cream cheese in this elegant cheesecake with a honey-kissed graham cracker crust and silky sour cream topping. Bright with lemon zest and vanilla, it chills overnight for a make-ahead dessert that wows.

Pouding renversé des bluets is a Québécois upside-down blueberry cake: fresh blueberries and lemon zest under a tender vanilla sponge, inverted to serve.

Rhubarb cream cheese pie with a tart cooked rhubarb base and a sweet cheesecake-like top layer. Two pies in one slice: tangy fruit filling under a smooth, creamy custard cap.

Annie's butter cookies: one buttery, rich dough that shapes into candy canes, pinwheels, spritzes, cutouts, or drop cookies. The Christmas-cookie foundation worth memorizing.

Chocolate mug cake for one, mixed and microwaved right in the mug in about 5 minutes. No oven, one dish, and a warm, fudgy chocolate cake whenever a craving hits.

For years I only ate carrot cake with a butter and cream cheese frosting, but I was surprised by this glazed carrot cake. It was actually delicious. I will not mind enjoying a glazed carrot cake any more.

Cherry-stuffed cookies wrapped in almond-vanilla dough and dipped in dark or white chocolate. A surprise maraschino cherry hidden inside each one.

Friendship starter applesauce cake spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. A sourdough-style cake with deep apple flavor and optional nuts or raisins.

The laziest, most crowd-pleasing dessert you'll ever make. Cherry pie filling, crushed pineapple, yellow cake mix, melted butter, coconut, and pecans. Just layer, dump, and bake.