Cake

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min

This dense, moist chocolate cake, made with dried pears, is stunning when decorated with gold leaf. Of course, you can always simply top it with chocolate curls.

Barm brack is a dark and fruity yeast-raised cake (barm means "yeast"; brack means "speckled"). Tea brack is the much more common baking powder version.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Upside-down cakes made with fruit became popular in America only at the end of the nineteenth century, although they had a long history in Europe. The addition of pineapple, a New World food, most likely came about after 1903, the year a Hawaiian businessman named James Dole began marketing cans of the tropical fruit on the mainland. The modified dessert found particularly wide acceptance in the Midwest.

This luscious homespun treat is great with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Bright red berries and a sour cream topping make this luscious cheesecake a Christmas favorite at the Old Manor Estate & Hotel on Nevis. Begin preparing the dessert a day before you plan to serve it.

I line the buttered pans with buttered wax paper, then flour them, to make unmolding the cakes easy after baking.

Terrific when served with vanilla or coffee ice cream, and a very appealing breakfast or snack cake on its own.

Whole eggs, angel food cake, light cream cheese and light sour cream bring the calorie count of this Italian dessert way down.

Cakes resembling Yule logs are very popular at Christmastime in Canada and the United States. Though you'll see them in bakery windows elaborately decorated with marzipan woodland animals and meringue mushrooms, we went with a simpler but more elegant look. Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr (includes making buttercream and brittle)

Seasonal fruits star in a lovely rustic dessert.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche, or with slices of aged kefalotyri cheese or white cheddar.

The tender nut crust and a vanilla bean syrup make these cheesecake-like tartlets extra special. Top with more nuts, if you like.