Electric Mixer

Many Mexican desserts are topped with cajeta, a thick caramel sauce. Two caramel elements make this cake especially delicious: a syrup that's drizzled over each layer and caramelized sugar stars on top. Use a variety of star-shaped cookie cutters to make the stars.

This is perhaps my favorite way to eat pound cake! The fresh light flavor of lemon blends beautifully with the buttery flavor of pound cake. The lemon syrup tenderizes, adds tartness, and helps to keep the cake fresh for a few days longer than usual. Poppy seeds add a delightful crunch. Lemon blossoms and lemon leaves make a lovely and appropriate garnish.

This light and airy mousse uses fat-free half and half with unexpectedly smooth results. You can spoon sliced, sugared strawberries over the top to add an extra-special touch of spring.

Enjoy this cake with berries and cream, or have it toasted for breakfast.

There's a hint of cinnamon in the chocolate filling and the whipped cream topping.

I have written about my favorite cake recipe — the Tre, Tre, Tre Cake — for Epicurious. Recently, with a rather empty larder and company coming for dinner, I played around with that recipe and came up with this delicious dessert, which I named Anarchy Cake, because with recipes, as with so many things, Italians are basically anarchists.

This sophisticated appetizer from Aqua in San Francisco is nice for a special occasion.

Use two 6-mold nonstick mini-Bundt-cake pans or giant-muffin tins for these.

This elegant no-bake cheesecake has a smooth, airy filling similar to a mousse. To make the graham cracker crumbs, blend graham cracker pieces in a food processor.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 3 hr

Adding Beaumes-de-Venise — a delicate, fruity dessert wine — keeps this cake moist and adds a whole new dimension to its flavor. Combining blackberries with blackberry preserves for the topping brings out the best in the berries, whether they’re tart or sweet. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This cake has a crunchy pecan-brown sugar topping and a layer of pears in the middle.

A simplified version of the classic Italian dessert, this looks lovely served in parfait glasses for a change. The recipe features pound cake and cream cheese instead of the traditional (but harder-to-find) ladyfingers and mascarpone cheese.

"When my daughter and son-in-law took me to Bridges in nearby Danville for my birthday, they told me the restaurant was in the movie Mrs. Doubtfire," says Merrybell Loesel of Walnut Creek, California. "I was even more impressed by dessert than I was by the restaurant's claim to fame—the chocolate pudding cake defies description." These individual cakes have a soft, pudding-like center. If you're short on time, substitute purchased vanilla or coffee ice cream: Soften it, and stir in some Frangelico—a hazelnut liqueur made in Italy—before serving.

Tandoori Murghi Of all the food cooked in a _tandoor,_the most popular and the best-tasting is chicken. The distinctive flavor, texture, and color of this dish are achieved by a particular yogurt marinade, by the use of tenderizers, a special tandoori coloring, and finally, by being cooked in the Indian clay oven. The recipe given here is designed for the conventional oven and charcoal grill. (Household-model tandoors are not yet commercially available in the United States.) The results are very much to my satisfaction.

Egg whites act as a stabilizer in this icing, allowing it to harden for decorating the cookies. Because the whites are not cooked, we prefer powdered egg whites, such as Just Whites, which are available in the baking section of most supermarkets. This recipe is an accompaniment for Gingerbread Sbowflakes.

Wendy Popp of Richmond, Virginia, writes: "My job as a physical therapist and my hobby, horseback riding, keep me pretty busy. But my sons — Sammy, two, and Weston, four — keep me moving the most, which has changed my cooking style. I used to be much more experimental, but now I need low-maintenance, tried-and-true recipes that will please the boys (including my husband, Jim) and impress dinner guests." This moist Bundt cake is a slight variation on a local award-winning recipe. After Wendy started making it, the dessert quickly became a family favorite.

"In our family we have a saying that the Greek kitchen is the original twenty-four-hour diner: It never closes," writes Georgia I. Chletcos of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. "The great thing about these home-style dishes is that they're generous to the cook and to everyone else: You don't have to be a pro to prepare them, there's always plenty to share, and you'll have a delicious meal on the table in no time." This light soup is based on a traditional Greek recipe called avgolemono.

Masa labeled "masa preparada para tamales" often contains baking powder and salt, so don't add either if it does. Soak the husks three hours ahead or overnight.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 10 hr