Raspberry

Any colorful combination of seasonal fruit can be used to decorate this pretty dessert.

If you're short on time, you can skip the white chocolate decoration.

This recipe originally accompanied Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake with Cranberry Raspberry Compote Also good over ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Perfect for the Jewish holiday, this flourless torte has an airy soufflé-like texture. The sauce adds a special-occasion touch.

The graham craker crust provides a crunchy base for the rich, creamy filling.

You can substitute pears for the apples.

The "black bottom" is a layer of superb chocolate pudding — plus a chocolate cookie crust. The pie must be chilled overnight before the topping is added.

Inspired by a trip to Scotland, where some cooks make their Christmas pudding and hard sauce with their favorite Scotch.

Add a splash of Angostura bitters, a flavoring found in the supermarket's liquor section, for an intriguing spicy note.

This is a cross between two English classics. The Bakewell tart, named after the town in Derbyshire where it was supposedly invented by accident in the nineteenth century, is a layered jam, custard and almond treat. Burnt cream is the English cousin and forerunner of the French crème brûée. It's also known as Trinity cream, since it is thought to have originated at Cambridge's Trinity College in the eighteenth century.

Purchased Mexican wedding cookies or any buttery nut cookie would be good with this dessert.

When ripe, fresh apricots have a velvety-soft deep golden skin with a faint blush and the most delicate flavor. When picked before maturity, the flavor is less than exciting but baking surprisingly intensifies the flavor even of the pallid ones, bringing them more toward the piquancy of dried apricots. Since baked aprictos are so vivid, I always bake them entirely open-faced in a pie. Glazing them with strained apricot preserves adds extra flavor and makes them glisten.

An easy substitute for the mascarpone, a soft Italian cream cheese, is 12 ounces cream cheese blended with six tablespoons whipping cream and 1/4 cup sour cream.

In this show-stopping dessert, moist chocolate cake is layered with a luxurious combination of rich chocolate glaze and raspberry whipped cream.

One of our food editors has made wedding cakes for family and friends and, in fact, made her own, based on the following recipe. The techniques involved are straightforward, although the endeavor takes a bit of planning, the proper equipment, and sufficient freezer and/or refrigerator space. Once you have all the components ready to go, allow 3 to 4 hours for assembling the cake, depending on your level of experience.