Cake

In the forties and fifties, before the widespread popularity of fortune cookies, countless Chinese meals were brought to a close with traditional almond cakes like these. The customary all-lard base of this once very popular sweet is here lightened with vegetable shortening. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Cheesecake and Champagne are a great finale. Begin making the dessert a day ahead.

You can make this up to three days ahead; be sure to start at least one day in advance.

Many Moravians--a Germanic people from a region in what for most of the twentieth century has been known as Czechoslovakia-- settled in Ohio, southern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois in the last century. The mashed potatoes give this coffee cake, which is good for breakfast or an afternoon break, a distinctive, moist texture.

It's unusual to butter and flour the pan when making a chiffon cake, but we liked the delicate crust that resulted. Because we did it this way, the cake must be cooled, inverted, on a rack, not on a bottle (the usual procedure for chiffons), or it will fall right out of the pan! Don't be tempted to substitute lemon juice for orange juice in the recipe, as the cake will not be as tender.

(Le Gâteau de Maïs) This is an old-fashioned dish, a simple meal that Marie-Rose Sol makes often for herself and her husband, Gabriel. Farmers who have raised everything from foie gras geese to vegetables, they are semi-retired now and living by themselves, though not far from their children. For Marie-Rose that means cooking for two, something that she’s never quite gotten used to. "When I make this, I still make almost as much as I did when the family was here, and we eat it all, with salad!" she says. This dish, which is like a crisp corn pancake, is wonderful in late winter when the weather's still cold but no longer biting. Marie-Rose makes it when she wants something delicious that takes little effort. "Besides, this is one of Gabriel's favorite things," she says. It's simple and somewhat unusual, like a dessert but treated as a vegetable. There is very little batter to cover the apples, so the result is light and crisp. Don’t be afraid to bake the cake until it is just this side of burned on the edges and golden in the center, Serve it immediately upon removing it from the oven. You'll see that it goes perfectly with a garlicky salad! Try a simple Bergerac with this.

Cake making was quite a fad in the twenties. The new gas stoves were efficient, reliable and easy to operate; besides, with more women working outside the home, there wasn’t as much time to prepare multiple desserts, so fancy layer cakes were made to satisfy everyone. Marshmallows were popular in the decade, and they were used in desserts, salads and side dishes. Here they sweeten an old-fashioned frosting and decorate this easy-to-make chocolate cake.

This recipe, given to me by my aunt, was given to her by her mother. Everyone agrees that it is absolutely delicious. The contrast between a sweet cake and a slightly spicy apple filling is piquant and delightful. The cake layers resemble large sugar cookies.

Fresh fruit marinated in Scotch and sugar is a lovely topper for the purchased cake.

The frozen berry sabayon is smooth and creamy, like ice cream.

This torte has a crisp top that shatters when cut and a fudgy tart cherry center.

We like serving these chewy, moist almond cakes, which are based on the financier, a French pastry, in individual gratin dishes, but the batter can also be baked in a 9-inch glass pie plate for 30 to 35 minutes.

This batter is particularly well suited to the blender. Avoid overmixing, and you'll have a lovely soft cake. Please note when buying molasses that blackstrap has a much stronger taste than the regular kind.