Cocoa

This chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting gets a generous (and fun!) garnish of chopped chocolate and peanuts.

Dark chocolate, walnuts, and crystallized ginger combine in these incomparably good biscotti. Chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa helps keep them rich but not too sweet.

When creaming butter for frostings, incorporating air and creating cells is not as important as simply creating a seamless texture. Many traditional buttercream frostings, such as the Swiss Meringue Buttercream on Page 455, incorporate softened butter into a meringue base, but this version is far simpler and quicker. You need only to beat the butter until creamy and then mix in confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder until smooth. This frosting will be grainier than a shiny, glossy meringue-based buttercream, but it is perfectly acceptable for a birthday cake or batch of cupcakes.

Just like a great drop-cookie recipe, every home cook needs a fuss-free cake that can be mixed in a flash and is adaptable enough for layer cakes and cupcakes. One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes are so effortless, they don’t even warrant their own technique lesson; you simply combine dry ingredients and whisk in a few liquid ones. There is no need for an electric mixer, and best of all, you have to use only one bowl in the process.

This deep, dark chocolate sorbetto is so rich and thick, it’s hard to believe there is no dairy in it. There is so much chocolate in it that, while it’s smooth and delicious straight out of the maker, if you let it sit in the freezer for more than an hour or so, it becomes so hard you’d have to use a chisel to get a bite. Cacao nibs are the dry, toasted pieces of cacao beans left after the husks have been removed. I like them for the crunch and the bitter cocoa flavor they add. Cacao nibs are available in the baking section of specialty markets and from online sources, but if you can’t find them, your sorbetto will still be good plain and smooth.

We cut the dough into assorted shapes using 2- to 4-inch cookie cutters.

Store brownies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Toast and peel the nuts for the cake and the garnish (recipe follows) at the same time. Bake the cake up to 3 days ahead; wrap well and keep at room temperature. The candied hazelnuts and chocolate curls can also be made 3 days ahead; store in airtight containers.

The cake layers can be wrapped well in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days; trim tops just before assembling. The frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Before using, bring to room temperature; beat with the paddle attachment on medium-low speed until smooth. The frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Before using, bring to room temperature; beat with the paddle attachment on medium-low speed until smooth.

Marcona almonds are grown in Spain and known for their buttery flavor. Fleur de sel is a French sea salt, but another good-quality coarse salt can be used in its place.