Inspired by a style of cake from California’s Miette bakeries, we frost the top and middle layers of this stunner but leave the sides naked to showcase the almond cake. Don’t have a pastry bag or star tip to frost the layers? Fill a resealable plastic bag with the frosting, snip off a corner, and pipe away.
Homemade taro root cake is unsurpassed if the home cook doesn't skimp on the ingredients. Thick slices of taro cake, richly flavored with scallops, mushrooms, shrimp, Chinese bacon, and creamy taro are pan-fried until golden brown and fragrant. My Auntie Ivy's mother, Che Chung Ng, makes such a recipe and is famous in the family for both her Turnip Cake and Taro Root Cake. Every New Year, she cooks several cakes and gives them away as gifts to close family members. Nothing is measured exactly, and it is impressive to see her produce cake after cake, especially because she is over eighty years old. Spry and agile, she cooks with full energy and total intuition, never missing a beat. She kindly taught me this recipe and the one for Turnip Cake.
Wear rubber gloves when handling taro, as some people can have an allergic reaction to touching it. Also use rice flour, not glutinous flour!
See the introduction to Turnip Cake for how to serve and store this New Year's cake.
Editor's note: This recipe is from Michele Adams's and Gia Russo's book Wedding Showers: Ideas & Recipes for the Perfect Party.
Little squares of cake make perfect individual portions. We used our favorite combination of berries picked at their peak, but feel free to use any fruit in season. Bake two days in advance and assemble a few hours before the party.
Editor's note: This recipe is reprinted with permission from Cakes for Kids, by Matthew Mead.
Super fast and not at all scary—these whimsical ghosts gather ever so sweetly around a purchased angel food cake. Use any sort of Halloween candy or favor you like to complete your presentation.
Skill Level: Easy
This is an insanely easy cake to make. It goes together in just minutes and tastes awesome: a touch ducky—more so if you use wild duck fat—sweet, but not overly so, with a little hit of rosemary to even things out. I originally made this as a sort of stunt, but it's so good I've put it into the regular rotation.
If you like a sweeter cake, up the sugar to a full cup, and if you hate rosemary, skip it or sub in lemon verbena, sage, or winter savory.
Serve the cake with fruit and maybe a little whipped cream. A sweet dessert white wine, like a vin santo or a Sauternes, is a perfect choice.
Baking is a science. It's about ratios and chemical reactions and, over the years, I have learned where variations can be made and how best to modify a recipe to achieve my ideal. But I've also learned that sometimes a recipe is just too good to modify. There is a lot to be said for exercising restraint and knowing when a recipe wouldn't be improved with your fingerprints all over it. Rose Levy Beranbaum's Downy Butter Yellow Cake and White Velvet Cake are two such recipes. They are the foundations for the two most iconic works of art in this book, and I am happy to admit that I couldn't have invented a better recipe to use in these desserts.
Wayne Thiebaud's painted cakes are classic, nostalgic, and all-American. They're not challenging in flavor—they're just simple cakes, like the type your mother might've made for your birthday. Rose's Downy Yellow Butter cake is the perfect recipe with which to create cakes commemorating Wayne Thiebaud.
Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Icebox Desserts by Lauren Chattman.
This cake has all of the components of a classic trifle, but because it is contained by a ring of ladyfingers it has a tailored, formal look. Be aware that the cake is very soft, and pieces will be a little messy-looking on serving plates. So give your guests a chance to admire your handiwork before you serve it up.
Cookbook author Rosie Grant traveled the country tracing original dishes carved onto headstones. What she found is a life-affirming trove of community, legacy, and love.
Pastry chef Caroline Schiff joins Bon Appétit to make her perfect chocolate cake: an ultra-moist, four-layer showstopper with silky chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and a glossy chocolate sauce soak. From using oil and sour cream for a soft, tender crumb to balancing dark and milk chocolate with flaky sea salt, Caroline shares her best baking tricks for creating a rich yet surprisingly light chocolate cake from scratch.
For more recipes like this one, preorder Caroline’s cookbook Daily Dessert, out 10/13/26: https://www.pastryschiff.com/cookbook/
Sugar artist Ana Parzych joins Bon Appétit for this episode of Handcrafted to demonstrate every step of filling, stacking, and decorating a 5-tier wedding cake in her impeccable style. From building layers of buttercream and applying fondant, to crafting intricate decorative molding and realistic sugar flowers, take an up-close look at the craftsmanship behind the world’s most luxurious wedding cakes.
Join Food Editor Shilpa Uskokovic as she makes her raspberry cake with whipped cream filling, a recipe that proved so challenging to develop she almost couldn't finish it.
See the full recipe here: https://shape-flow.today/recipe/raspberry-cream-cake%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="AdWrapper-fGiLaV iGDxYx SummaryCollectionGridSummaryItem-ilztYA heRZco ad ad--read-more">
Join Chris Morocco in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as he makes easy chocolate cake. If you've got a bowl, a cheap hand mixer, and a couple of measuring cups, you can make this rich, chocolatey cake. You can pre-mix batches of the dry ingredients together, store them in airtight containers for up to three months, and be ready to celebrate at a moments notice with your own DIY cake mix.
Check out the recipe here: https://shape-flow.today/recipe/easiest-chocolate-birthday-cake%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="StackedRatingsCardWrapper-RIFgn jsPKbl SummaryCollectionGridSummaryItem-ilztYA cpHIzM search_result_item-62d6c3fca0dfd03be52101b8">
Join Zaynab Issa as she makes a simple preserved-lemon tea cake in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, a recipe that put her on the path to joining the BA staff.
See the full recipe here: https://shape-flow.today/recipe/preserved-lemon-tea-cake%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="StackedRatingsCardWrapper-RIFgn jsPKbl SummaryCollectionGridSummaryItem-ilztYA cpHIzM search_result_item-62b329033a1cb5ccf645bee7">
Join Brad Leone, Zaynab Issa, Melissa Miranda, and Chrissy Tracey in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as they each prepare a cool fruit-based dessert perfect for warm summer nights. From cantaloupe candy and fresh berry sorbet to grilled mangoes and cheesecake, there's sure to be something here for every person at the cookout.
See Zaynab's full recipe for her lemon ricotta cake here: https://shape-flow.today/recipe/any-berry-lemon-ricotta-cake%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="SummaryCollectionGridItem-jZgIDA eNtNee">
