The First Year

Most coconut cake recipes rely on shredded coconut alone for flavor, which barely does anything once it bakes into the crumb. I use coconut milk and coconut extract together, tested through three rounds, so every bite tastes like coconut. The crumb stays fluffy, the cream cheese frosting balances the sweetness, and the outside gets pressed with toasted coconut for crunch and ...

I remember being nervous the first time I tried gluten free baking, and I never wanted anyone else to feel that way. So I built this recipe to work identically with regular flour (for my non-gluten free family) and with King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour (for myself), and...

Most peanut butter cakes taste like vanilla cake that forgot the peanut butter was supposed to be the point. I started with my trusted vanilla cake base and worked out the ratio for peanut butter’s fat and moisture, and it came out fluffy and unmistakably peanut butter forward on the very first try.

Then I let my own audience settle the frosting question, chocolate ...

Dry patches of cake mix are the most common complaint with dump cakes, and after making six different flavors of this recipe, I finally cracked the fix. I melt the butter and gently mix it into the cake mix before baking, so every inch gets coated instead of just the spots directly underneath the butter.

I also loaded this one up with extra strawberry filling, becau...

Most mini chocolate chip muffins turn out flat because the recipe skips the one trick that actually gives you that tall bakery style dome. Readers call me the internet’s muffin expert, I’ve written a whole cookbook on the subject, and this is the first mini muffin recipe I’ve trusted enough to put my name on.

It’s soft, genuinely tall, and packed with chocolate in ...