Baking

Chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, and chocolate mousse team up with fruit in this incredible dessert. Begin making the cake one day ahead. Enjoy the extra mousse later.

This is a Creole cake whose history is the history of the famous New Orleans carnivals celebrated in song and stories. The "King's Cake," or Gateau de Roi, is inseparably connected with the origin of our now world-famed carnival balls. In fact, they owe their origin to the old Creole custom of choosing a king and queen on King's Day, or Twelfth Night.

We adapted this from the recipe for Supper Onion Pie, in the "Savoury Pies" section of Nigella Lawson's _How to Be a Domestic Goddess._We played with the crust to make it lighter and substituted a yellow onion for the red ones (they turned an unappetizing mauve). We love the way Lawson's books are written—and agree she's got some great ideas—but we think you should know you may need to tinker with the recipes before they yield dishes that appeal to an American palate.

This dessert is as impressive as it is simple. And any number of variations would be equally tempting. Try using a mixture of apples and pears, substituting ground ginger for the cinnamon, or sprinkling the warm tart with finely chopped pecans.

Try jazzing up the shortbread with chopped toasted nuts. We particularly like pecans, hazelnuts, and almonds. Use your favorite fine-quality butter for the best-tasting cookies.

"Many of my friends are chocolate lovers, and this recipe seems to do the trick every time," writes Ann Bolger of East Lansing, Michigan.

The following corn bread is not to be eaten on its own; it's meant for stuffing, so we've deliberately made it dry.

Delicate cookies and purchased ice cream produce a grown-up version of a playground favorite.

Sweet Butter Pastries This recipe is based on the version of the Breton classic found in Anne Willan's L'Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne. The butter-rich dough gives a result akin to Danish pastry but more rustic.

Called panadas, these little pastries make wonderful hors d'oeuvres.

These pretty rolls are baked side by side in cake pans. To serve, turn the rolls out of the pans, and let your guests pull them apart.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.

Mocha custards are the "coffee" part of this whimsical "coffee and doughnuts" dessert.

Refrigerate the flans overnight before serving.

"My husband, Don, and I made dinners together when we were first getting to know each other," writes Lisa Pendelton of Pasadena, California. "I was surprised to discover that everything from food shopping to sharing in the kitchen came so naturally to him. We had a lot of great meals, and once he spent all day making me a bouillabaisse for my birthday. That's when I knew I could definitely marry him."

This beautiful tart features a pastry the Italians call pasta frolla — the texture of the dough is more like cookie dough than traditional French-style pastry. The lattice crust is surprisingly easy to make because it doesn't require weaving the strips. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 5 hr

The torte and compote are each great on their own, if you have time to make only one of them. A kosher-for-Passover sorbet would be nice with this dessert.