Sitting gracefully somewhere between an ice cream cake and a pavlova, the vacherin is an effortlessly chic French showstopper of a summery dessert. It is made with layers of ice cream and sorbet, sandwiched between crisp meringue disks. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, it can be made ahead and kept in the freezer for up to four weeks.
When you are ready to serve it, simply decorate it with whipped cream, plain or infused, and fresh fruit, herbs, or flowers. If you are feeling extra decadent, you can pour chocolate sauce, hot fudge, or caramel sauce over slices of the cake table-side.
My recipe uses homemade mango sorbet and mint and basil ice cream, but I have also made vacherins with store-bought ice cream, when I wanted to make something delicious but didn’t have access to an ice cream maker.
This giant crumbly cookie is a specialty of Mantua, in Lombardy. But I first tasted it at a cooking class at the home of a chef from Parma, in Emilia-Romagna, where it is also popular. This makes sense, as Parma is just about an hour south of Mantua, and popular cookies tend to travel beyond their place of origin.
Also known as torta sbrisolona, the name of this cookie roughly translates to “crumbly cake.” It comes from the verb sbricolare, which means “to crumble.” The cookie was once upon a time prepared by farmers using simple ingredients that they were likely to have on hand—flour, cornmeal, sugar, a little lard or butter, and almonds. It was eaten as a snack to revive them after a long morning of work.
When assembling your sbrisolona, resist patting the sandy dough into the pan too firmly. It needs to be loosely packed in order to yield that fall-apart texture that makes it so irresistible. Once baked, it is customary to break this cookie into irregular pieces for serving, though you can cut it with a knife for a neater presentation.
I’ve shared versions of this brownie recipe (they’re around, hidden like Easter eggs in corners of the internet) for the true dark choco-late lovers out there like me, those of us who feel a predictable long-ing for rich, bitter chocolate to close a satisfying dinner.
This Cottage Cheesecake recipe originated from my great-grandmother and was a cheesecake my dad and Springfield Creamery co-founder, Chuck Kesey, loved to make. Delicious crust, easy to put together and the cottage cheese gives it a richer texture. The crystalized ginger on top is a favorite, but we have often topped with fresh berries as well - perfect!
Everything I know about Indian cooking could fit on a strand of saffron. So I was thrilled when Niloufer Ichaporia King came to work with us at Chez Panisse, guiding us through the preparation of several traditional Parsi New Year’s feasts. It was the first time that I’d tasted such authentic and wonderfully aromatic Indian food. My favorite dish that Niloufer gave us a recipe for was a cake enrobed in a sheet of gold leaf, a stunning touch that lent the dessert a splendor worthy of a Bollywood musical. This is my version of that cake, but I left out the gold, since it’s not something you’re likely to have on hand. I did, however, brighten up the batter with vibrant green pistachios, which are more easily found in grocery stores than sheets of gold leaf and, honestly, more delicious to eat.
This cake is the epitome of summer: it’s sticky, jammy, fresh, and not too sweet. The browned butter and ground almonds give it a beautiful nuttiness, and it’s just dreamy with a dollop of crème fraîche on top, on a warm summer’s day.
I love coconut everything, but didn’t know I needed coconut cake in my life—that is, until I tried the perfection that the pastry team at Stissing House in Pine Plains, New York, has achieved. Since that first bite, I’ve been on a quest to eat all the coconut cake possible and in the process realized that it is the perfect “plain” cake. In my recipe, a moist plain cake is poked with holes which allows all the liquid coconut to soak inside. It’s light, rich, clean and spiced all at the same time. Serve it alone or with vanilla ice cream. Delicacy!
This is wildly simple to make and one of those desserts that my friends can’t stop eating. It’s a sweet dessert that’s just pulled back from the edge by the bitterness of the tahini, alcohol and walnuts, resulting in something altogether grown-up. The caramelized walnuts, which – I warn you – are completely addictive, are adapted from Alison Roman. Meanwhile, the brown sugar bananas, while optional, add further indulgence and make this dinner-party-worthy.
It is best to use a Middle Eastern brand of tahini for this recipe in order to get the right texture. This dessert requires freezing overnight.
A buckle was one of my signature cakes when I worked as pastry chef for the Gjelina Group. Every bite is tangy, tart, and deliciously rich. I love this cake with mixed berries, but using one single variety can also be nice. If you’re serving it after dinner, add some fresh berries and a little whipped cream on the side.
Gyulshah Mintash is our assistant manager at the Brent Cross branch of LEON, and this is their deliciously nutty tahini cake.