Cake

These luxurious little desserts are like gooey flourless chocolate pudding cakes.

Most of the alcohol in this cake cooks off, but a distinct whiskey flavor remains.

This can also be made with white nectarines, or about six large plums or pluots. It's great with ice cream or whipped cream.

This cake bakes for a long time at a moderate temperature, which helps keep the ripe fruit from bursting and releasing its juices. The easy-to-make pastry bakes up moist and crumbly, with a texture that's like a cross between a biscuit and a cake. A note from our cooks: We've received some letters from readers complaining about a burned crust when making the peach blueberry cake (August 2005 cover), so we ran through the recipe two more times. Baked in a standard light-colored metal pan, the cake was perfect; baked in a dark metal pan, however, it burned — be aware that the cake's high sugar content makes it more susceptible to burning at high heat. As you'll see in "Tips: A Guide to Using Gourmet's Recipes" (located on the recipe index page) we recommend always using light-colored metal pans for baking. Dark metal pans, including nonstick, will cause your baked goods to brown more quickly. Manufacturers suggest reducing the oven temperature by 25 degrees when using dark pans.

Testers refused to believe that chef Terry Conlan's ultra-creamy cheesecake was low in fat — but we triple-checked the numbers, and they're gloriously correct. Calories are still a bit high, but light butter and fat-free cream cheese drop the fat count to only 20 percent of the recipe's calories (less than half that of a regular slice), and goodies like caramel sauce and chocolate chips maximize the taste.

You can find the Neufchâtel cheese called for here next to the cream cheese at your supermarket. Don't be alarmed by the holes in your coeur à la crème molds — they allow liquid to drain out of the bottom so the hearts will be firm enough to hold their shape.

"All my favorite things are about chocolate," says Elizabeth Falkner. Thin layers of flourless chocolate cake and an intensely chocolaty mousse are paired with crunchy hazelnuts and hints of orange in this truly decadent dessert. Try it with a scoop of coffee-chocolate chip ice cream alongside. For best results, use a premium bittersweet chocolate with a high cocoa bean content (variously labeled "cocoa solids," "cocoa," or "cacao"), such as Scharffen Berger 70 percent or Callebaut.

Freezing the berries before adding them to the batter prevents them from sinking to the bottom and from discoloring the cupcakes. Maple sugar can be found at some supermarkets and natural foods stores.

Although this cake, used in the grilled coconut pound-cake sundaes with tropical fruit, calls for flaked coconut, don't be tempted to omit the coconut extract — it really adds depth to the coconut flavor.

Polenta stands in for flour with delicious results in this Venetian dessert.

Butter Mochi This chewy snack cake gets its distinctive gelatinous texture from mochiko, a sweet rice flour that's commonly used in Hawaii. Coconut milk and butter add rich, creamy flavor.

To make the shortbread cookie crumbs for the crust, seal the cookies in a heavy plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into fine crumbs.

Cynthia Knauer of Allentown, Pennsylvania, writes: "I remember this moist, flavorful cake from my childhood. When I bake it for my family now, it doesn't even last a day — we nibble on it every time we pass through the kitchen. Because it's quick to make and requires no icing, it's a great dessert to take on picnics and other outings." Cynthia Knauer is the mother of our recipe cross-tester, Ian Knauer. She sometimes serves her cake with whipped cream and strawberries, but it's also delicious on its own.

Cardamom loses flavor and aroma quickly, so be sure to store it in an airtight container in a cool dry place — never near your stove. Because the cornstarch in confectioners sugar isn't kosher for Passover, we powdered granulated sugar in an electric coffee/spice grinder and mixed it with potato starch for a similar effect.

California dried apricots are essential for this recipe — they have the tartness needed to balance the sweet filling and macaroon layers. Don't assemble this cake ahead or the crisp macaroon layers will get soggy.