Cake

Coconut milk, which gives a velvety texture to this pound cake, can be found in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

This cake is good sprinkled with powdered sugar or topped with vanilla frosting.

Make a cake the easy way: Spruce up a mix with sour cream, chocolate, brown sugar frosting and a crunchy pecan brittle.

Similar to zuppa inglese (an Italian trifle), this impressive dessert layers an amaretti-and-cream filling and orange segments between syrup-soaked sponge cake. Many of the components can be made ahead; start with the filling so that it can chill overnight.

A subtle hint of lavender accents this lovely dessert. It can also be left out if you prefer.

This is a simple recipe for a wonderful bûche de Noël. The cake is a bit heartier than the typical genoise, which suits my taste, and the hint of cinnamon gives it an aromatic layer of flavor. You may change and adjust flavorings, drizzle the cake with a rum or a sugar syrup flavored with vanilla after it's cooled, or do any number of things to make it your own.

A fitting finale to a Mexican-style meal. Leftover cake is great for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

Holidays in our home were strategic missions. We had a plan, everyone had a job, and in a perfect world, we would somehow deploy the food from a cleaned kitchen to a set table, complete with ice in glasses, by 5:30 p.m. Time was scarce. To compensate, my mom had a collection of simple coffee cakes that were quick, had enough chocolate to qualify as desserts in my family, and didn't contain walnuts (as they bother her mouth). This was the first from-scratch cake she taught me. It's good, easy, and practical, with chunks of chocolate and a sprinkling of spice.

(Zuccotto) During the Renaissance, Italian cardinals wore small skullcaps, called zucchetti, presumably from the word zucca, meaning "squash" (the caps resembled little pumpkins). This dessert looks very much like those caps from long ago, and so the name refers to them. Many fillings can be used, but the nuts and chocolate here come closest to the original recipe, which is a Florentine classic.

This is the most often requested recipe in my repertoire, and I've passed it on to many, many people. It appears so often on Bay Area menus (sometimes called Dave's ginger cake, which, I admit, amuses and flatters me) that I sometimes think I'm responsible for too much of a good thing. Then I order it, taste it, and decide not to worry: This simple cake is wonderful.

Here's a great idea for a summer dessert. To make preparation even easier, use your favorite cherry or pecan ice cream.

Almond "Pound Cake" Panque is apparently a phonetic spelling of "pound cake," though it really isn't very similar. The texture is somewhat more like a sponge cake. My recipe is an adaption of one by Mària Concepción Portillo de Carballido.

An impressive-looking layer cake with great flavor—and lots of room for candles.

Velvety frosting and tender cake make this dessert rich and indulgent enough for any special occasion, any time of year.