Electric Mixer

This sublime lemon dessert is the perfect antidote to all those chocolate bunnies and chocolate-stuffed eggs proliferating at Easter like, well…rabbits. It helps that our pudding is simple to make, too.
A seriously tart lemon curd—quickly cooked on top of the stove—is folded into sweetened whipped cream, which both tempers the tang and lightens the dessert with a suave silkiness. Crisp, airy wisps of meringue, lightly sprinkled with chopped pistachios and easily shaped and baked into cigars, are delightful on their own, but they're surprisingly efficient alternatives to spoons for delivering the pudding to your mouth. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Easter. Menu also includes Frisée, Radicchio, and Fennel Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette; and Arugula-Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Roasted Spring Vegetables; .

Bake this festive spice cake in your favorite Bundt pan or pudding bowl, or feel free to use an 8" springform pan. You can top the cake with Luscious Chocolate Icing or simply dust it with powdered sugar.

Chef Raymond Vandergaag dresses up this citrusy cake with whipped cream and truffled honey, an unnecessary but welcome gilding of the lily.

In the winter months, there's nothing like the bewitching, slightly exotic flavor of Key limes or the larger regular limes (a.k.a. Persian) to transport you mentally to some warm tropical spot, preferably an island with an endless beach. This cake, with its tart lime filling offset by billowy drifts of sweet, marshmallow-like frosting, should do the trick. Key limes are smaller than Persian limes and often come packed in a net bag, but don't despair if you can't find them. Persian limes make an excellent substitute (see Cooks' Notes, below, for more details on buying limes). Another helpful hint: Because there's grated zest in both the cake and the filling, grate all the zest you need first, before you start juicing.

Any salty hard cheese, such as an aged Manchego, Grana Padano, or Mimolette, would be a fine substitute for the Parmesan in these cookies.

Finely ground black sesame seeds create a deeply flavored and dramatically hued cake.

This waffle recipe is a ham and cheese sandwich disguised as the greatest brunch dish of all time.

Nadine Levy Redzepi created this incredibly rich, moist cake. "Fat with fat—what could be better?" asks her husband. Serve it for dessert or with coffee or tea for breakfast.

Sometimes we spread jam between the layers; other times we simply dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Crunchy edges and soft centers make Lahey's cookies a classic.

Bake in large decorative paper molds (found at kitchen supply stores), or simply line standard muffin tins with your favorite liners.

Dark chocolate, walnuts, and crystallized ginger combine in these incomparably good biscotti. Chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa helps keep them rich but not too sweet.

The flavor and texture of these miniature spiced soufflés are reminiscent of sweet potato pie, but with far fewer calories and much less fat.

When creaming butter for frostings, incorporating air and creating cells is not as important as simply creating a seamless texture. Many traditional buttercream frostings, such as the Swiss Meringue Buttercream on Page 455, incorporate softened butter into a meringue base, but this version is far simpler and quicker. You need only to beat the butter until creamy and then mix in confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder until smooth. This frosting will be grainier than a shiny, glossy meringue-based buttercream, but it is perfectly acceptable for a birthday cake or batch of cupcakes.

For this nostalgic dessert, a génoise cake is baked and spread with raspberry jam and a thick layer of whipped cream before being rolled into a log. If you’ve never made a rolled cake before, you are in for a surprise: the génoise sheet cake will readily roll up without the slightest resistance (and any slight rips or tears will be concealed with a generous dusting of confectioners’ sugar). It’s so simple to prepare and so utterly delicious to eat, it’s a wonder it ever went out of style. Make it once or twice and you might be inspired to bring it back into fashion.

Chocolate soufflé, with its chewy exterior and warm, puddinglike center, might be considered the more refined cousin of molten chocolate cake. With or without a sauce of Crème Anglaise (basically the ice-cream base on page 468 before it’s frozen), a soufflé is a showstopper. And although it has earned a reputation for difficulty, following a few key techniques will reward you with a masterpiece every time. Before whipping the egg whites, be sure your bowl and whisk are thoroughly clean and dry; just a drop of grease, yolk, or water will prevent the whites from expanding properly. Avoid overbeating the egg whites; you’ve taken them too far if they lose their glossiness and become clumpy. Above all else, don’t open the oven door until the end of the baking time, since any fluctuation in temperature, as well as an accidentally slammed oven door, can cause a soufflé to fall. This recipe will produce the best results when baked in five 10-ounce ramekins; you can divide the batter among six dishes, but the soufflés won’t reach the same height as those shown here (though they will be just as delicious).

Making Italian meringue is a bit tricky, as it involves bringing the sugar syrup up to the right temperature and then immediately pouring it into beaten egg whites in a slow, steady stream. The hot syrup helps make the meringue stable; the higher ratio of sugar to eggs also contributes to its stability (making it ideal for wedding or other display cakes). Lemon juice or vanilla is added here to complement the flavors of the cake, but they are not essential ingredients for Italian meringue.

Delightfully airy and light, this spongy dessert is a good example of the adaptability of a French-meringue base. The cake gets its lift from stiffly beaten egg whites rather than chemical leaveners, such as baking soda or baking powder. (Incidentally, there are no butter or egg yolks either, making the cake fat-free.) Whisking up the perfect meringue is crucial: Overbeating can deflate the whites, and underbeating won’t allow enough air to be incorporated. Similarly, don’t skimp on sifting; you will need to sift the flour and a portion of the sugar together no fewer than five times in order to achieve a featherlight texture. Mix on medium-high speed (never high) to strengthen the cake’s structure. When it comes time to fold in the flour, cut the spatula down through the center of the egg whites, make a sweeping motion up the side of the bowl, then turn spatula over (as if you were making the letter “J”). Repeat until just combined, rotating bowl as you go. Before serving, dust the cake lightly with confectioners’ sugar and scatter fresh berries around it; dollop freshly whipped cream alongside each slice.