Layer Cake
Chocolate, Orange and Honey Cake
Two layers of tender orange sponge cake are embellished with a rich orange and honey chocolate glaze. Any leftover chocolate glaze can be chilled, rolled into small rounds and kept refrigerated to serve as truffles with coffee or tea.
Christmas Lane Cake
Dried cherries and apricots highlight this impressive version of a southern classic.
Fondant-Covered Wedding Cake with Raspberries and Chocolate
Cake-making equipment and ingredients can be found at cake and candy supply stores. Be sure to use cake flour, not all purpose flour, and begin preparing the cake two days ahead.
Buy one 1-ounce bottle of gel base color in the shade called Bakers Rose to tint both the frosting and the fondant a pale pink.
Plastic drinking straws are used to support the middle and top tiers. Buy the straight—not bendable—kind.
Cuban Opera Cake
Melissa Harden of Omaha, Nebraska, writes: "To celebrate our recent engagement, my fiancé and I spent a long weekend at the Mondrian in Los Angeles. Our stay was perfect, as was dinner at the hotel's Asia de Cuba restaurant, where I couldn't get enough of the rich Cuban Opera cake."
A traditional Opera cake is made from very thin layers of cake, coffee buttercream, and coffee mousse — all covered with chocolate glaze. This version, which is perfect for a special occasion, is taller than your average Opera cake, owing to its thicker layers.
Peanut Butter Cookie Mousse Cake
This recipe was developed by Houston pastry chef Pamela Manovich, with the help of Girl Scout Laura Watkins.
By Pamela Manovich
Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate-Orange Buttercream
A subtle hint of lavender accents this lovely dessert. It can also be left out if you prefer.
Orange-Almond Cream Cake
Similar to zuppa inglese (an Italian trifle), this impressive dessert layers an amaretti-and-cream filling and orange segments between syrup-soaked sponge cake. Many of the components can be made ahead; start with the filling so that it can chill overnight.
Fudgy Chocolate Birthday Cake
Sour cream and vegetable oil moisten the cake, and raspberry jam adds a nice touch to the frosting. Decorate this rich old-fashioned layer cake with a few edible flowers (roses would be pretty) and candles.
Spice Cake with Blackberry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting
Blackberries turn a familiar spice cake into a sophisticated finale.
Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cream Cake
Make this showstopping dessert even more stunning by garnishing it with fresh raspberries and mint sprigs.
Meringue Ice-Cream Cake with Strawberries Remington
"The strawberry cream cake recipe from "A Swedish Midsummer Party" in your June 1997 issue reminded me of a dessert my grandmother, who was of Swedish descent, used to make," says Jill M. Kuhn of Sherman Oaks, California.
An electric carving knife makes slicing this dessert a breeze.
By Jill M. Kuhn
Lemon-Blueberry Cake with White Chocolate Frosting
Buttermilk makes the cake tender, and cream cheese adds great texture to the frosting.
Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Raspberry Filling
Cornmeal gives this cake a coarse texture that is a delightful foil for the smooth filling and whipped cream frosting.
Orange Layer Cake with Orange-Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
A few tips: At several points in the recipe, components need to be chilled for a while before you can proceed, so plan accordingly. In our test kitchen, Philadelphia-brand cream cheese gave consistently good results. Note, too, that the cake can be completely assembled, then frozen for up to one week.
Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting
This cake was adapted by food editor Shelton Wiseman from a recipe published in our January 1945 issue.
Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Icing
A standard at health food restaurants across the country, carrot cake was ubiquitous in the seventies. Grated carrots made it a nutritious choice, or so the thinking went. This ultra-moist version is updated with a maple icing.
Chocolate Merlot Cake
In winter Kay Simon sandwiches this cake with wine jelly, in summer substituting a simple purée of fresh raspberries.
Wine for Cooking and to Drink Merlot is important in the Yakima Valley, and perfect for this cake.
By Anne Willan
Lemon-Berry Wedding Cake
Many of the cake's components can be made a head, and once the tiers are filled and decorated, they can be refrigerated up to two days or frozen up to two weeks before the wedding.
The rich, lemony cake has a dense texture like that of a pound cake.
To prevent discoloration of the filling, use a saucepan with a nonreactive interior, such as enamel or stainless steel. (The lemon juice acid will adversely affect the filling if it's made in an unlined iron or aluminum saucepan.)