Baking

A chocolaty version of a rich French gâteau called, aptly, a financier, this cake shows how ground nuts, melted chocolate, butter, and beaten egg whites can result in a deceptively light texture. An elegant dessert, it needs nothing more than a dusting of confectioners' sugar to finish it off.

Sophisticated and simple—even more so with the help of a purchased pie crust.

A delectable new take on the old-fashioned summer shortcake.

"Instead of staring at the ceiling one night when I was having trouble sleeping, I passed the time by baking," says Angelo Monaco of Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The result of my insomnia was this chocolate cake. It's light, moist and really delicious."

A show-stopper centerpiece cake for February fourteenth. White chocolate provides a rich, buttery texture. To serve, remove the chocolate lid and break it into pieces to nibble along with the cake.

Begin making this treat a day ahead.

The tartness of the cranberries is accented by the sweet, crunch meringue filling served at Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia.

Here's a luscious fall dessert.

Espresso, chocolate and orange star in a very rich, very elegant cheesecake.

Some classic Scandinavian flavors show up in this simple-to-make, cross-cultural pizza, made even easier by the use of frozen bread dough.

For years, pumpkins were planted in central-state cornfields to help the corn's roots cool in the summer. This pretty roll cake is an impressive alternative to classic pumpkin pie.