Stand Mixer

Italian fruitcakes with Frangelico chocolate sauce If you don't have the mini Bundt molds called for, oversize muffin cups (about one-cup capacity) can be used instead. Begin preparing this at least a week ahead.

Rightfully this cake belongs in the chapter with the other cakes that contain dried fruit, but to me it is the quintessential coffee cake. It is a quick and easy version of a cake that I remember from my childhood, made by the mother of my school friend, the late Noel Giles. Noel and I consumed about a ton of this cake per year between the ages of twelve and eighteen — a taste of it still makes me feel like a teenager.

Canned salmon (with soft, edible bones) and potatoes are good sources of calcium.

Judith W. Harris of San Mateo, California, writes: "I recently made these chocolate almond bars for a tea. They were all consumed with requests for more." Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 hr

With the addition of a citrus custard as a filling and a sprinkling of coconut over the frosting, this would be known as a Robert E. Lee cake.

You'll need two dozen lemon leaves or camellia leaves to make the chocolate decoration. If you don't have unsprayed leaves from your own or a friend's garden, get them from a florist.

These cakes are actually better made ahead. They become richer and fudgier one to two days after baking.

When I eat Bread Pudding Soufflé I always think of the Commander's saying, "If it ain't broke, fix it anyway." Bread pudding was already near perfection, but we combined Creole bread pudding with the light texture of a meringue and ended up with the restaurant's signature dessert, the single most sought-after dish in our family's restaurant history. The whiskey sauce itself is divine but particularly so when generously poured over the piping hot soufflé. Take it from me, this is no light dessert. Make the bread pudding and the sauce in advance, the meringue just before assembling and baking.

Rose Ann Pescheff of Watertown, Connecticut, writes: "My husband and I went to a friend's birthday dinner at Carmen Anthony Steakhouse in nearby Waterbury. The entire meal was good, but the bread pudding was outstanding — the perfect finishing touch. Since bread pudding is one of my husband's favorite desserts, I'd like to make it for him at home." The liqueur-flavored sauce turns this rich dessert into something wonderfully decadent.

Dark rum moistens the cake layers and adds another festive flavor to this beautiful and delicious holiday dessert. The cake can be made and chilled two days ahead.

Pillsbury test kitchen home economists have heard it all. When they told me some people were adding melted ice cream to a cake mix, I couldn't believe it. Well, that's precisely what I did with this fun recipe. Choose your flavor and let the ice cream melt. The only trick is that you must have 2 cups of melted ice cream. For super-premium ice creams with little overrun, that's 1 pint frozen. But for less expensive brands with a lot of air piped in, you'll need to begin with more than a pint. I made this cake with several flavors of ice cream and our favorite was a super-premium from Ben & Jerry's — Cherry Garcia. With cherry and chocolate pieces and the cream and the eggs in the ice cream, you need little else. Your liquid, your fat, and your flavorings are all in the melted ice cream. This recipe works well, too, in a 13- by 9-inch pan.

Blackberries turn a familiar spice cake into a sophisticated finale.

This dessert combines two confections that are popular in Chile: caramel and the small cream puffs called profiteroles.

Sarabeth Levine makes her scones at Sarabeth's in New York, with only one tablespoon of sugar, so they aren't oversweet. The dough is very sticky, but resist the temptation to knead in more flour — the stickiness means the scones will be tender. Partner them with jam or whipped cream for a real treat.