Cake

Substitute whole almonds for the hazelnuts in these brown-buttery cakes, or use a combination of both.

It's airy, light, and sweet, but this delicate cake gets pucker and punch from vinegar in both the icing and the filling.

This recipe was given to me by Jean Dix from Howth, Co. Dublin. She devised it for her daughter Sophie's birthday, who was the critical taster. It's a brilliant one to do with children, as there is no cooking involved. Unlike many other chocolate biscuit cake recipes, it cuts beautifully even straight out of the fridge and keeps well wrapped in clingfilm for at least 2 weeks.

Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Francine Segan's Torta Mimosa . Pan di spagna, "bread of Spain," is a key ingredient in hundreds of classic Italian desserts like zuccoto and Sicilian cassata. Pan di spagna's light and airy texture absorbs fillings amazingly well, so it stacks wonderfully, allowing you to create tall, moist layer cakes.

Region: Emilia-Romagna and popular throughout nothern Italy This cake, which looks like a bouquet of mimosa flowers, is eaten on March 8th in celebration of International Women's Day—Festa della Donna—a sort of BFF day celebrating womanhood and female friendships. The cake is made from two basic recipes: sponge cake and pastry cream. Each is worth learning, as with them you can make myriad classic Italian desserts. This lovely cake is better if eaten a day or two after its made. It keeps nicely for up to a week and freezes perfectly.

Craig Strong, Executive Chef of Studio at Montage Laguna Beach, shared this recipe exclusively with Epicurious. When making his cinnamon- and nutmeg-scented coffee cake, Strong recommends having a whisk as well as a rubber spatula at the ready. The whisk is great for thoroughly blending the ingredients, but at certain points the batter is quite thick and you'll need to use a spatula.

Crunchy, toasty coconut chips transform a simple loaf cake.

This recipe traces a familiar path: Slice fruit and nestle it in some caramel, pour cake batter over the top, bake, and unmold. When you flip over the cake, you'll find it's topped with delicious candied orange slices and citrusy caramel. Stressed about that caramel? No need to be. Keep a distant eye on the sugar once you put it on the stove, but don't hover. Chop some vegetables. Check Twitter. Pet the dog. Every so often, swirl the pan to make sure the caramel is cooking evenly. Don't bother stirring (the sugar will only clump up on your spoon). Once the mixture starts to color, swirl it slightly more frequently. When it turns an attractive chestnut brown, take it off the heat, add your premeasured butter and salt (and a splash of booze, if you want), and stir.

To create this Girl Scout cookie–inspired dessert, the chocolate and peanut butter cookies known as Tagalongs or Peanut Butter Patties are paired with a rich peanut butter mousse. While our version looks a little different and certainly tastes different, we got the idea to make a cookie-studded cake from Lauren Chattman's Pop-Art Raspberry Icebox Cake.

To create this Girl Scout cookie–inspired dessert, grind Thin Mints and use them to make the cookie crust for a luscious mint chocolate cheesecake.

To create this Girl Scout cookie–inspired dessert, combine vanilla ice cream with the coconut, caramel, and chocolate cookies known as Samoas or Caramel deLites. The final touch is a drizzle of chocolate and caramel sauces.

EFFORT: A LOT
PREP TIME: 25 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 1 HOUR 20 MINUTES TO 2 HOURS
KEEPS ON WARM: NO The ingredient list is designed for use in a medium (4- to 5 1/2-quart) slow cooker. See the cook's notes for ingredient lists for small (2- to 3 1/2-quart) and large (6- to 8-quart) models.

Just as American children anxiously await their Christmas gifts months in advance, I anxiously awaited this scrumptious cake. Nian-Gao, New Year's cake, is one of the most important holiday dishes in many Asian countries. Eating Nian-Gao during the New Year's celebration is said to bring safety and fortune to the entire family for the coming year, though I now make it for family gatherings throughout the year.

The plummy-berry notes of red wine are highlighted when mixed with chocolate and butter into a glaze that drips over the edges of this decadent dark chocolate cake.

The idea here is to concentrate a few strong complementary flavors to create a cake that is pleasantly bitter and not too sweet. Tartine chiffon cake is made with whole-grain dark buckwheat flour, and then layered with blood orange marmalade and bergamot-infused blackout chocolate ganache. The ganache sets quickly, so cut your cake layers and have your filling and syrup on hand when ready to assemble.

For a moist cake, be sure to use finely ground polenta labeled "quick-cooking" or "instant"; cooking times listed on the package will be five minutes or less.

This salty-sweet phenomenon is well established, and salted caramels are now everywhere. Fleur de sel is a fancy sea salt, hand harvested from evaporating pools along the coast of Brittany in France. Similar "gourmet" salts can be found from just about everywhere on the planet, and they are definitely worth a few taste tests. You may discover something wonderful! If you don't have sea salt caramel candies on hand, it's fine to use generic caramel candies.