Baking

This classic chocolate cake gets its unlikely moniker from its color--the same as the deep, rich soil that lines Old Man River. It's usually made in a single-layer rectangular baking pan, but we dressed ours up and fashioned it into a layer cake.

Kevin Prothal of Albany, New York, writes: "While we in upstate New York don't usually get a lot of press about our restaurants, we are still very well fed. I think the best place for any meal is McCarthy's Restaurant in Canton. The service is friendly, and the chocolate chip pie is, by itself, worth a trip up from New York City." This dessert is amazingly easy to prepare.

The French dessert that's known as clafouti is a pancake crossed with a fruit-filled custard. It's best served warm, right from the skillet. If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, any ovenproof variety is fine. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Rare is the serious restaurant-goer who ventures into an unfamiliar city without a copy of the local Zagat Survey. Tim and Nina Zagat published their first guide back in 1979, and since then, their burgundy pocket-size compendiums of consumer opinion have led millions to the best dining rooms in the world. Over the years, the Zagats have had hundreds of stunning restaurant desserts, but for Nina, nothing is as well remembered as her grandmother's apple pie. "She only believed in the basics: good apples, sugar, a squeeze of lemon," says Nina. "Even cinnamon was suspect. I used to bake the pies with her, and I loved to make sweet little things from the leftover pastry scraps. She baked the pies in a wood stove and they always came out perfectly." In honor of such grandmotherly comforts, here is a beautiful and delicious pie to serve with vanilla ice cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Miniature Tourtières Every French-Canadian home serves a version of tourtière during the holidays. Various thickeners (such as flour, crushed crackers, or even oats) can be used to bind the filling. Our version is made with flour, and the filling is enclosed in a tender biscuit crust. We decorated our pies with a maple-leaf-shaped cutout.*

At the turn of the century, folks were feeling devilish, no longer satisfied with angel food cake, the evangelical treat of the late 1800s. They wanted chocolate and plenty of it, and devil's food cake filled the bill.

Tender shortcakes accented with fresh and candied ginger are delicious complements to the strawberry filling.

This moist orange-flavored soufflé is rich with white chocolate. Offer snifters of orange liqueur to sip alongside.