Memorial Day Cakes

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.

This buttery cornmeal cake contains more than a half-pound of toasted almonds, giving it an excellent, nutty flavor.

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.

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.

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.

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.

While this delicious, simple cake bakes, a sweet, rich sauce forms in the bottom of the dish.

This pretty cake is moist and buttery, with plenty of sweet and tangy caramelized plums on top.

This simple, deliciously moist cake is the perfect all-purpose cake that can be adorned in almost any way.

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.

This simplified version of olive oil cake gets a summery touch from fresh peach slices.

This cinnamon-flavored sponge cake and subtly spicy buttercream frosting made with ancho chile powder and cayenne pepper.