Memorial Day Cakes
Mixed-Berry Spoon Cake
To vary the filling here, use 4 pounds of stone fruit (peaches, nectarines and apricots) cut into large wedges; or 4 pounds of plums, cut into 1-inch cubes; or 6 pints of blueberries plus 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.
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Cornmeal-Almond Cake with Strawberries and Mascarpone
This buttery cornmeal cake contains more than a half-pound of toasted almonds, giving it an excellent, nutty flavor.
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Banana Layer Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
Mascarpone is an Italian cheese that's superrich, delicate and creamy. Here, it's simply blended with confectioners' sugar to create a sublime, snow-white frosting. For the best results, try to buy mascarpone that's very fresh.
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Skillet Graham Cake with Peaches and Blueberries
This skillet cake, baked on the grill, gets amazing flavor from graham crackers mixed into the batter and in the crumbly streusel topping. It can also be baked in a 300° oven for the same amount of time.
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Crunchy Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layer Cake
The genius of this layer cake is its extraordinarily crunchy filling, made with almonds, salted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, chocolate and Rice Krispies. The silky milk-chocolate ganache frosting almost pushes the recipe over the top.
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Strawberry Shortcake with Star Anise Sauce
The classic strawberry shortcake recipe gets an upgrade with a (formerly) secret trio of ingredients—high-quality white chocolate in the batter, creme fraiche and heavy cream in the icing—which make this all-American dessert especially rich and moist.
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Maple-Bourbon Banana Pudding Cake
While this delicious, simple cake bakes, a sweet, rich sauce forms in the bottom of the dish.
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Plum Upside-Down Cake
This pretty cake is moist and buttery, with plenty of sweet and tangy caramelized plums on top.
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Party Cake with Whipped Cream and Raspberries
This simple, deliciously moist cake is the perfect all-purpose cake that can be adorned in almost any way.
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Grilled Lemon Pound Cake with Peaches and Cream
This supermoist lemon pound cake is so versatile: Use it to make everything from French toast to a stuffing for baked apples. At this time of year, you can grill it until crisp and toasty, then top it with warm, tender grilled peaches and whipped cream.
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Sweet Peach Olive Oil Cake
This simplified version of olive oil cake gets a summery touch from fresh peach slices.
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Cinnamon Cake with Chile-Chocolate Buttercream
This cinnamon-flavored sponge cake and subtly spicy buttercream frosting made with ancho chile powder and cayenne pepper.