Cake

Though it can be made with other small plums, this cake is the tastiest with the Italian variety—but keep in mind that they are in their peak season only a few weeks a year, in late summer to early fall.

A whole vanilla bean takes this supremely creamy, wonderfully rich, classic New York–style cheesecake to pro-level.

This chocolate birthday cake recipe calls for dark chocolate in the ganache to balance out the sweetness of the Nutella. For a more kid-friendly cake, use milk chocolate. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Icing on top and in the middle, sides left bare: This modern-looking style shows off the cake’s decadent (and perfectly even) chocolate layers.

The genius part of this rich and moist sheet cake recipe is the “reverse creaming” method. Instead of creaming butter and sugar before adding the liquid ingredients and flour, you’ll gradually add the liquid ingredients into the flour. As a result, the cake bakes almost perfectly flat—no domed tops, no layers to trim.

For extra texture, trick out your cake with rainbow or chocolate sprinkles, chopped candies, or your favorite cereal.

Room temperature cream cheese and butter are key to a smooth frosting (cold ingredients will form hard beads). Take them both out of the refrigerator three hours ahead of time.

This reader requested recipe is from the April 2003 issue (pictured above).

When we're done with this pumpkin cake recipe, we like to serve it with a drizzle of maple syrup over the frosting.

Loaded with oats and bananas, this is a great treat to have on hand after soccer or baseball practice.

Try a combination of strawberries and rhubarb in this buckle-inspired breakfast cake.

For a moist cake, be sure to use finely ground polenta labeled “quick-cooking” or “instant”; cooking times listed on the package will be five minutes or less.

Tarte Tatin meets ginger-bread cake in this pretty upside-down dessert.