Dessert
3921 recipes found
Lemon-Honey Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)
Jessica Wang, who runs Gu’s Grocery, a Chinese Taiwanese online store, in Los Angeles, always sells a variation of her mother’s mochi cake at her pop-ups. Subtly sweet, this honey-lemon variation gets a double jolt of moisture from a blend of honey and macerated lemon that gets stirred into the batter and then drizzled on top after baking. Mochiko (sweet rice flour) multitasks here, bolstering the hints of the cake’s sweetness and imparting this gluten-free treat with a unique textural crumb that’s both bouncy and light. Though this dessert is well-suited for a crowd, it also makes for a lovely snacking cake as it keeps well too, since the soaking liquid softens the cake over the first day and into the second.
Baked Red Bean Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)
There’s a decadence to red bean nian gao that might lead you to assume there’s labor behind the richness. Instead, this butter mochi cake couldn’t be simpler. This recipe is as easy as it is riffable, and the snack invites different nuts and seeds as additions or substitutions for toppings. Mochiko (sweet rice flour) results in a lovely, paradoxical cake crumb that’s both chewy and springy. Jessica Wang, who runs Gu Grocery, a Chinese Taiwanese online store, in Los Angeles, has collaborated with her mother, Peggy Wang, teaching cooking classes and baking pastries at pop-ups where they sell lemon-honey nian gao and other variations of her mother’s baked nian gao (red bean butter mochi cake). For added caramelization and even more textural contrast, Ms. Wang recommends briefly broiling the top or lightly searing any leftover pieces in a cast-iron skillet.
Giant Strawberry Turnover
This showstopping strawberry turnover is like your favorite toaster pastry, writ large and ready to share. It’s also easy to achieve with flaky layers of store-bought puff pastry, and a jam-enhanced strawberry filling means that it will be delicious even if your berries aren’t top notch. The final flourish is a buttery vanilla glaze, which is just sweet and rich enough to make this giant turnover look beautiful and feel extra special. It’s the perfect centerpiece for a festive brunch and is sure to wow any guests.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250423-SEA-StrawberryRhubarbPopTarts-VictorProtasio-Beauty-38-f01007537205402c96b2f04541f30328.jpg)
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pop-Tarts
These copycat Pop-Tarts feature a cookie-like pastry dough filled with a thick strawberry-rhubarb jam and are topped with icing and crumbled freeze-dried strawberries.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250429-SEA-CarrotCreppesSuzette-RobbyLozano-01-3230e92001f84e50827cbf1225bce042.jpg)
Classic Crepes Suzette Get a Colorful Twist With This Everyday Ingredient
Oranges and carrots come together in this fun riff on crêpes Suzette, the classic French dessert.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250421-SEA-NoBakeFudgyChocolateSquares-MorganGlaze-Beauty1-2d3be09670754d099c965bc3888efcaf.jpg)
This No-Bake Chocolate Dessert Combines the Best of Brownies, Fudge, and Mousse
Topped with a shiny layer of chocolate ganache, these no-bake chocolate bars are luxuriously rich and fudgy—and the perfect excuse to not turn on the oven.
Easy Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
The whole point of carrot cake is that, in its most ideal form, it’s a vehicle for cream cheese frosting, a triple stack of fluffy spiced cake, finished with generous swoops of frosting. Baking the cake batter in a half-sheet pan, then cutting the flat cake into three rectangles delivers thin, even layers and skips the hassle of baking and slicing tall cake rounds. To highlight the tang of cream cheese, this frosting includes sour cream instead of butter. It gives the whole thing a fresh lightness, each forkful equal parts tender cake and silky frosting. The resulting cake looks modern with its sharp angles but can still be cut into classic triangular wedges.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250212-SEA-StrawberryCheesecakeBars-JenCausey-Beauty1-64-4f0a284237bc47578c6edd263a701999.jpg)
The Strawberry Cheesecake Bars I’m Bringing to All My Potlucks This Year
These silky smooth strawberry cheesecake bars are rich and creamy, and one worth bringing to all your picnics, potlucks, and barbecues.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20241203-SEA-AlabamaLaneCake-MorganHuntGlaze-Hero1-42-3a367f85889f4ce78fba5dbae6d5d5a0.jpg)
Alabama Lane Cake
With three layers of tender cake, a bourbon-spiked custard speckled with dried fruit and nuts, and a creamy buttercream frosting, Lane cake is a majestic dessert worth making for a special occasion.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250417-SEA-CarrotCakeBaklava-RobbyLozano-Beauty2-61-de80a745283e4b66a59b77b72f334f47.jpg)
Carrot Cake Meets Baklava in This Delightful Spring Dessert
With layers of buttery phyllo dough and a spiced carrot and nut filling drenched in simple syrup, this homemade carrot cake baklava is irresistibly flaky and delicious.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250415-SEA-BrazilianCarrotCake-HannahHufham-01-8998a0b6914d4680bca7bbe86817b217.jpg)
For Moist, Tender Carrot Cake, Make It the Brazilian Way
Bolo de cenoura is a Brazilian carrot cake that’s balanced, just sweet enough without being cloying, and equally wonderful as a snacking cake or as a dessert for a special occasion.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250319-SEA-Kolaches-DebbieWee-Beauty1-14-4b7f121265f94f6aa0abd55545969b7a.jpg)
Berry and Sweet Cheese Kolaches
For this sweet version of kolaches—a Czech pastry that's extremely popular in Texas—a soft, yeasted dough is heaped with your choice of a berry or cheese filling.
Lemon Cake With Strawberries and Cream
For dessert, a bowl of strawberries and cream is always a winner. But instead, consider this lemony spongecake topped with strawberries and cream, which may well generate applause. It’s worth seeking out smaller strawberries, which tend to be riper and sweeter than the large, white-shouldered type. The spongecake may be baked in advance, up to 2 days ahead. It’s fun to hide the strawberries under a thick layer of whipped cream, but you can serve the cream on the side if preferred.
Lemon Layer Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
This soft and moist lemon cake is doubly lemony, thanks to lemon juice and lemon zest, and is soaked in a tangy lemon syrup to further boost the flavor. These cake layers bake up nice and flat, so you don’t even need to worry about trimming them. The cream cheese frosting comes together easily with two simple tricks: Start by blending the powdered sugar with the butter until thoroughly smooth before adding the cream cheese, and be sure to use room-temperature cream cheese so it incorporates easily. (Firm cream cheese can lead to overbeating and liquidy frosting.) Practice your piping skills by using a little bit of the frosting and a star pastry tip to pipe a few rosettes around the border of the cake. If you’d prefer not to pipe, thinly sliced lemons make a lovely garnish all on their own, too.
Chocolate Easter Egg Nests
Loved by adults and children alike, Easter nest “cakes” are the perfect no-fuss baking activity for the whole family. These couldn’t be simpler: Just stir, portion, chill and fill with as many candy eggs as you can. If you can find golden syrup (a wondrous sweetener from Britain and a product you’ll never regret having in your pantry), you’ll get a more complex sweetness and chew, though corn syrup will work, too.
Princess Cake
Princess Cake, or Prinsesstårta, makes a spectacular centerpiece for any celebration, but despite its regal appearance, this simplified version is far easier to make than it looks. The original recipe from Sweden called for three layers of soft spongecake and custard, coated with stiffly whipped cream and covered with a thin layer of green-dyed mandelmassa (almond paste), finished with a single pink rose. While the essence and color scheme have endured, almond paste has been replaced with sweeter, smoother marzipan and the pleasing domed shape — thought to allude to a crown — is a modern addition. Purists may argue that jam, which did not appear in the original recipe but is a fixture of contemporary versions, does not belong, though the tart tang is most welcome among the sweet muddle of soft, creamy layers. Here, the usual three cake layers are reduced to two, and using good-quality shop-bought jam saves time. The entire cake is built in a bowl, allowing you to take your time with each layer. Once turned out, it reveals a beautifully smooth dome, fit for any princess.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250411-LemonPoundCake-DebbieWee-hero-3-1-342ba77a185b4c68aab926b62618a9ff.jpg)
Lemon Pound Cake
Buttery, moist pound cake gets a lemon lift in this bright and cheery citrus version.
Frosted Carrot Cake With Ras el Hanout
In this twist on the classic carrot cake, ras el hanout, a vibrant Moroccan spice blend, replaces the recipe’s typical spices. Translating from “top of the shop” in Arabic, ras el hanout refers to a blend of the finest available spices in the shop. Its warm, complex flavor, rich with cinnamon, ginger and coriander, adds a delightful kick and fragrance that perfectly complement the tangy cream cheese frosting.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/20250319-SEA-BaklavaCake-NaderMehravari-Beauty3-25-6b4d80eb0def46209eeb31319e726717.jpg)
Persian Baklava Cake
This moist and aromatic sweet cake smells, looks, and tastes like Persian baklava.
Um Ali (Sweet Milk and Phyllo Pudding)
Um Ali (which translates to “Mother of Ali”) is a creamy, crunchy Egyptian dessert that could be considered a distant relative of bread pudding. Traditionally a wafer-thin bread is used to form the foundation, which is baked in sweet milk and topped with a handful of nuts and raisins. This version uses phyllo, buttered and baked until golden, which allows for softer, milk-soaked bits throughout the dessert and crispy pastry bits on top. Feel free to get creative with the toppings, using whatever nuts or dried fruits you have to hand. Often served during Ramadan, this dessert is pure comfort.
Rhubarb-Almond Crumble
This tangy, fruity dessert is gluten-free, vegan and suitable for Passover (those who choose to avoid cornstarch at Passover can use tapioca starch in the filling). The topping is a bit sandier and more caky than a classic crumble, with a subtle, nutty sweetness from a combination of almond flour, almond butter and shredded coconut. Paired with the jammy fruit, the almond butter gives this crumble distinct PB&J energy. Note that almond butter brands vary widely; some are loose and runny, others thick and pasty. If yours is on the thicker side, you may need to add a bit more to get the crumbs to hold together. Leftovers make a terrific breakfast, topped with yogurt if you like.
Chantilly Lili
This dessert, named for Meghan’s daughter, Princess Lilibet, is based on a banana pudding recipe of Meghan’s grandmother. In the Southern classic, vanilla pudding is layered with cookies and sliced banana; Meghan’s version adds the sweet-tart sting of strawberries macerated with lemon. She happens to have a passion fruit vine in her garden, and its yellow seeds make a nice, juicy garnish. This layered pudding can be made in individual glasses for a party, or a big bowl for a family night in.
Old-Fashioned Coconut Cake
The variations of coconut cake in the South are nearly endless and depend a lot on where you live. Pecans make an appearance on occasion. The frostings range from cream cheese to buttercream. Yellow cake layered tightly with custard and topped with meringue is not uncommon either. This version, though, is simple and traditional, and about as delicate and old-fashioned as they come. It is pared down to a soft white cake and a delightful Swiss buttercream that centers the coconut. It’s a perfectly elegant way to celebrate spring and all of the holidays that come with it.
Chocolate Pretzel Shortbread
In this sweet and salty shortbread, finely ground pretzels replace a portion of the flour to deliciously toasty effect. Use any style of salted pretzels you have on hand; just make sure to finely grind the pretzels until they are the texture of almond flour for the best results. (If the ground pretzels are too chunky, the shortbread will not hold together.) Bittersweet chocolate chips add richness to this simple cookie, but any type of chocolate chips will do the job. Slice the baked shortbread with a very sharp knife to reduce crumbling.