With its luscious berry frosting and moist, decadent chocolate interior, chocolate raspberry cake is a delightful dessert for any occasion. Yet, thanks to its rosy pink and red appearance, it is especially fitting for Valentine’s Day. Employ a little imagination and those fresh raspberries topping the cake begin to resemble tiny, beaded hearts. What could beat this colorful sweet? Along with its festive appearance, chocolate raspberry cake offers a delightful marriage of flavors. Bold, bittersweet ground cocoa comes together with sweet, tangy raspberries to create a balanced treat. Using oil for a velvety texture In addition to that pleasing partnership of flavors, chocolate raspberry cake possesses a velvet-like feel not only in its icing but also in its cake. This soft texture results from the use of oil in the batter. While butter will add flavor to baked goods, oil bumps up the moisture content and produces a more tender cake. Want more baking tips? If you’re looking for more baking tips or a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, join me on Sunday February …

Like Mississippi mud pie, chocolate mud cake reputedly gets its name from its moist, dark texture, which is said to resemble the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. Because I first tried chocolate mud cake roughly 10,000 miles from the Southern United States, on the South Coast of Australia, and because this cake is so heavenly, I’m not convinced of this story. How could something this delicious have its roots in something as unappetizing as wet dirt or sludge? Perhaps “mud” hints at the inclusion of strong, black coffee. Sometimes referred to as mud, dirt, java or joe, coffee adds a tangy complexity to this chocolatey cake. Along with its decadent flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture, chocolate mud cake has simplicity in its favor. To make the batter, you stir together butter, chocolate, sugar, instant espresso or instant coffee powder and boiling water. Add those ingredients to eggs, vanilla, flour and cocoa and stir until combined. With that you create a luscious cake batter that you pour into a baking pan. It’s that easy! Topping off …

Think of Black and White Cake as a giant black and white cookie but so much better. Before moving to New York City, I had thought that the B&W cookie would become my guilty indulgence, my go-to sweet. A cake-like cookie with both vanilla and chocolate topping. How could I not love this New York speciality? And, yet, I don’t. For 20 years I’ve tried countless bakeries’ takes on this cookie. Unimpressed, I’ve even baked my own. Each time I’ve had the same thought—it could be great as a cake but, as a cookie, it lacks the crispness, crunchiness or gooeyness that I enjoy. Rather than give up on this treat altogether, I tinkered around in the kitchen and came up with a luscious Black and White cake recipe. The Black and White Cake differs from its inspiration in several ways. The most obvious is that it’s a moist layer cake and not a cookie. The second is the icing. The cookie is decorated with fondant, a stiff, glossy topping made from sugar, gelatin, glycerine, …