Baking

This buttermilk cake begins with a fluffy, vanilla-infused batter that’s topped with tart, sweet berries and covered in sugar, and then baked until golden brown.

Forget the boring “welcome to the neighborhood” pound cake of yesteryear! This dessert gets an aromatic lift from lavender syrup and fresh blueberries. The syrup can be made with either dried or fresh lavender flowers: dried will tint the syrup a pale purple, and fresh will infuse it with a more powerful floral taste.

Just before serving this light and simple buttermilk cake, drizzle the warm, syrupy berries on top. Serve for casual get-togethers or a birthday party, paired with a dessert wine.

With a recipe as simple as this, there’s no reason not to make dessert. The fruit comes out soft and tender, while the crumble is crisp and light golden brown. Experiment with other seasonal fruit combinations: raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are other summer options, while apples, pears, and quince are perfect for fall. All are delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Take full advantage of summer’s bounty with this luscious pie that needs only 40 minutes of active prep time. Choose the ripest seasonal berries from the farmers’ market to create the gooey filling—the tartness of blackberries will perfectly mix with the sweetness of sugar and tapioca.

This soul-satisfying, butter-crusted, fruit-filled dessert is a straight-up American classic. The flaky, beautifully woven topping offers a tempting peek of whole cherries in all their fresh, tart glory, with none of the gelatinous, sticky-sweet filling you find in most cherry pies. It’s so easy and popular you might want to double the recipe and make two.

Down-home cornbread gets a beautiful, fragrant makeover with the addition of warming honey and flowery sage. But don’t worry, it’s still the same cornbread from the block. The ingredient list is short, the prep is straightforward, and the whole dish takes so little time to prepare that you could bake it while your roasted turkey rests or chili simmers.

This double-batch recipe for focaccia gives you the flexibility to make two different breads at once. Feel free to mix things up with other cheeses and your favorite herb and spice combinations. We love this bread as the base for sandwiches, served alongside soup or salad, or when it starts to go stale, toasted and turned into fabulous, flavor-packed croutons.

Traditional pâte à choux—cream-puff pastry—gives these addictive cheese puffs their light and airy consistency. The recipe calls for Gruyère and crushed dill seeds, but experiment with different cheeses and seasonings to create your own signature appetizer. The gougères can be made ahead and frozen for up to a week. Simply reheat and serve warm, paired with a flute—or two—of Champagne.

These yeast rolls are the creation of legendary chef and cookbook author Edna Lewis. The mashed potato is traditional in yeast dough and tenderizes both the rolls and contributes to their airy rise. Serve piping hot from the oven, or bake them in advance and warm before serving.

This variation on the classic biscotti from home cook Andrea Daly in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which first appeared in Bon Appétit, integrates almond extract and dried cranberries, packing both sweet and tart flavors into each biscuit. The inclusion of fruit gives them a characteristic chewy-crisp texture. These visually appealing treats make great holiday gifts, excellent accompaniments to tea and coffee, and lovely endings for a holiday feast.

A chocoholic’s dream, these cookies from renowned Seattle chef Tom Douglas incorporate melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. The soft and chewy, decadently fudgy texture makes them brownie-like, and their generous size will satisfy the strongest of chocolate cravings. For a smaller cookie, use a tablespoon to portion the dough and reduce the baking time by a few minutes. Wrap either size cookie in parchment or wax paper and tie with a pretty ribbon to create a sweet edible gift, but be warned: if you take even one bite, you’ll want to keep them all for yourself.

A much-loved brainchild of the legendary cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, this recipe features a dense, peanut-studded cake topped with a creamy layer of peanut butter, which is in turn topped with a thick, rich ganache. The recipe yields 30 pieces, but you can cut the brownies into even smaller squares for larger parties.

The most reviewed recipe on Epicurious, this is classic birthday cake material. Using premium chocolate gives this cake subtle sweetness and a refined taste. But, if you’re on a budget, a more affordable option still gets the job done.

The perfect slice of pecan pie delivers a dollop of nutty sweetness with every bite. Our version calls for orange zest, which adds a sprightliness to this holiday staple. The pecan halves will rise to the top of the rich custard filling for an attractive display. It’s fine to use frozen crust when you need to save time, but make your own pastry for a truly delightful dessert.

These versatile small tartlets can take top billing for a light lunch or play appetizer to a lazy weekend brunch. A creamy custard forms the backdrop for three fillings: goat cheese and tomato; crab and tarragon; and pea, onion, and pancetta. The empty pastry shells can be baked up to a day in advance, then filled and finished when you’re ready to eat. Pack them for a picnic—they’ll easily travel!

These slightly sweet and perfectly tart scones are quick and easy for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack. Meyer lemons, a cross between a lemon and an orange, are sweeter and less acidic than regular lemons. They’re gaining in popularity and more widely available, but if you can’t find any, just use a standard lemon. Likewise, dried blueberries can often be found at specialty food stores and good supermarkets, but dried cranberries are easier to find and make an excellent substitute.

This recipe is a great way to use the extra zucchini from the garden or farmers’ market and is chockfull of healthy ingredients. For an even more nutritious version, substitute the same amount of applesauce for the butter, and brown sugar instead of white.

This carrot cake from Becky Guyton, a home cook in Ohio, is one of our most beloved recipes, perhaps because it achieves the perfect balance of tangy and sweet, spongy and creamy, dense and light. Originally appearing in a 1994 Bon Appétit column, it’s almost as moist as bread pudding. To cut back on the sweetness, just reduce the amount of sugar in the icing to three cups.

This cheesecake from California’s Wente Vineyards is ethereal and easy. An Italian grandmother might scold you for not using ricotta, but good-quality mascarpone will yield a smoother, richer, and denser cheesecake. Feel free to experiment with different kinds of biscotti such as chocolate, but really, what makes this cheesecake are the balsamic strawberries, which are sweet and tart—the perfect counterpart to the cheesecake’s richness.