French Chocolate Mousse

This cake is soft, moist, and topped with pears that caramelize from the cinnamon sugar mixture. The perfect snacking cake for morning tea, dessert, or any time of day. You can swap the pears for apples, too. A great introduction to Fall.

A single layer cake topped with baked pears and dusted with powdered sugar on a white plate. 

Pear and Cinnamon Snacking Cake

This is my Italian American answer to the classic diner-style key lime pie. Nonna Romana loved the flavor, but always thought it was too sweet—so I made one she could get behind. The lime curd is tart and silky. The mascarpone keeps it grounded. The crust is no-bake and cookie-based. The whipped cream? Always homemade. It’s the kind of dessert that ends a summer dinner the right way.

Key Lime Mascarpone Tart

I partnered with Noah in the Test Kitchen to make these Tiramisu in Coupe Glasses! I love tiramisu and since Noah is great with cocktails, I thought it would be a fun collaboration! You get a coffee soaked vanilla cake, a light and creamy filling, and then that classic cocoa powder finish on top. The great thing about these is you can make them with a store bought cake, a box cake, or do a quick sheet cake. They come together fast and are great for parties!

, but get creative and choose your own cake flavor.

You get a coffee soaked vanilla cake, a light and creamy filling, and then that classic cocoa powder finish on top.

Tiramisu in Coupe Glasses

Growing up I loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And being a baker, I always get excited thinking about ways to deconstruct specific flavor profiles into different desserts. So with peanut butter and jelly, how can I make it into a cake, cookies, or pastry. Here, I wanted to create a crisp using some berries I got at the Union Square Farmer’s Market. You can get as versatile as you’d like and the entire recipe is super forgiving! You end up with a super peanut buttery and crunchy topping and a jammy fruit filling.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Crisp

I was inspired to make this Peaches and Cream cake because my farmer's market was on its last weekend of having peaches sold. The base layer is a simple vanilla cake with lemon zest and then it's topped with a vanilla whipped cream and peaches that are soaked in brown sugar and lemon juice.

single layer cake with whipped cream and peaches on top

Peaches and Cream Snacking Cake

As I’ve said before, snacking cakes are just cakes that you can enjoy throughout the week no matter the time of day. You should be able to incorporate seasonal items into it to help make the process both easy and enjoyable. I love stone fruit season because my farmers market always has a ton of peaches varying in sizes. I had some leftover peaches and wanted to make a cake that had a crunchy topping, but contrasted with the jammy peaches that are added to the cake batter. I do recommend searching for the freeze dried peaches because it gives it a nice visual once the cake is ready to be enjoyed, but don’t let that specialty item stop you from making this!

This easy peach crumble cake is the ultimate snacking cake—soft, jammy peaches baked into a moist sour cream batter with a buttery cinnamon crumble on top.

Peach Crumble Snacking Cake

I had some leftover lemon curd and wanted to pair it within one of my snacking cakes. Raspberry and lemons are one of my favorite combinations, so I knew immediately that this would go great with it. You can make your own lemon curd or opt for a store bought version to get the same great taste!

a slice of Raspberry Lemon Curd Snacking Cake on a pink plate. There's a raspberry on top of the cake.

The next snacking cake is still celebrating summer with bright lemon and raspberry flavors. You can easily opt for homemade lemon curd to add an extra layer of zing or go for homemade. The yellow and pink colors work together to give you such a strong flavor with this Raspberry Lemon Curd Snacking Cake.

Raspberry Lemon Curd Snacking Cake

This lemon-cherry snacking cake is all about peak summer fruit and everyday ease. With fresh cherries baked right into the batter and a fluffy whipped cream topping, it’s the kind of cake you eat straight from the pan—no celebration needed.

This lemon-cherry snacking cake is light, fluffy, and topped with fresh whipped cream and juicy cherries. Easy to make in one pan—perfect for summer gatherings or a cozy night in.

Cherry Tea Snacking Cake

, Tess Gigone takes on the traditional Norwegian kransekake—complete with crisp-edged almond rings, piped royal icing, and a sweet final touch.

Learn how to make a classic kransekake with crisp, chewy almond rings and royal icing. This traditional Norwegian dessert is perfect for weddings, holidays, and special celebrations.

Kransekake

Recreate the iconic chocolate chip cookies from The Pastry Box in NYC’s East Village. They’re thin with crispy edges, soft centers, and loaded with caramelized bits and just the right amount of chocolate. Of course, you have to finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Bonus: to make them gluten-free (and just as good), simply swap the all-purpose flour for oat flour.

These bakery-style salted chocolate cookies are gooey, golden, and easy to make gluten-free with oat flour.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies From The Pastry Box

I’m a firm believer that as long as you have a good base for a roll, you can add whatever filling you want that you’re currently craving. I always have a carton of blueberries in my fridge, so I was inspired to make these blueberry lemon sweet rolls. They’re super soft, packed with lemon flavor, and filled with an addicting blueberry filling that will make you go back for seconds and thirds.

plate of homemage blueberry lemon frosted sweet rolls

They’re super soft, packed with lemon flavor, and filled with an addicting blueberry filling that will make you go back for seconds and thirds.


Blueberry Lemon Sweet Rolls

There’s nothing wrong with strawberry shortcake, but in my opinion it's high time that tomatoes and stonefruits, summer produce royalty, get the whipped cream and biscuits treatment. This recipe pairs a light and flaky biscuit recipe, based off of Millie Peartree’s recipe, with sweet and juicy marinated fruit. Chives and olives in the unsweetened whipped cream push the whole affair into decidedly savory territory, don’t knock it until you try it.

savory summer shortcake with tomatoes on a plate

This savory summer shortcake swaps strawberries for juicy peaches and tomatoes, layered with chive-olive whipped cream and flaky biscuits for a fresh, seasonal twist on the classic dessert.

Savory Summer Shortcake

This cherry "ice cream" is Lydia’s go-to post-run treat—sweet, cold, and packed with good-for-you ingredients. Inspired by her time in Hawaii, this was her go-to while training for a marathon. It’s made with frozen cherries, almond butter, cacao, and a touch of cardamom for a soft-serve-like dessert that tastes as good as it makes you feel.



Cacao Cherry Ice Cream

After trying a wildflower honey cake at a bakery, Tess Gigone couldn’t get it out of her head—so she recreated it for an episode of It’s Fine. Turns out, it was a Russian honey cake (also called Medovik), an eight-layer dessert made with thin, toasty cake layers, burnt honey, and a light whipped cream icing. Despite how impressive it looks, it’s not hard to make—just a little tedious layering and chilling. The result? A light, summery cake with subtle floral sweetness, no heavy buttercream, and a beautiful crumb-coated finish. Decorate with fresh wildflowers for an easy, elegant party centerpiece.



Russian Honey Cake

Mixed Berry Tiramisu

Adapted from Erin Clarkson's Recipe on Cloudy Kitchen. Vanilla bean cream puffs (Choux au Craquelin) with a strawberry rhubarb filling. 




Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Puffs (Choux au Craquelin)

"Nothing screams summer like strawberries. Make any dessert instantly fresher and brighter with this strawberry sauce."—

Fresh Strawberry Sauce from Magnolia Bakery

"This strawberry pudding reminds me of my favorite summertime dessert, strawberry shortcake."—

Magnolia Bakery's Strawberry Shortcake Banana Pudding 

"Banana pudding has been around since the late 1800s, when faster steam ships meant bananas could make their way to US ports. It was first made with sponge cake, but by the 1920s, cake was replaced with vanilla wafers. For this recipe, I use Nabisco Nilla wafers and strongly recommend you don't make any substitutions to ensure you get the same crave-worthy texture of this iconic dessert."—

Magnolia Bakery's Famous Banana Pudding

Squarely in the “sticky bun” family of sweet breads, Monkey Bread is a thrill because the only reasonable way to eat it is to pry it apart with your fingers. This recipe incorporates a bit of whole wheat into the dough and opts for cardamom, rather than cinnamon, as the lead spice, taking inspiration from Swedish cardamom knots known as kardemummabullar.

Cardamom-Spiced Monkey Bread

This is actually my pre- or post-workout snack, packed full of ingredients that nourish my body. The beetroots, black beans and chocolate come together to make a super-rich brownie that also stores for up to a week, so you can grab and go!


Beetroot & Black Bean Brownie

This bourbon apple crisp is smoky, sweet, and buttery—with bacon in the filling and gingersnaps in the topping. Best served with bourbon whipped cream.
Method: hot smoking
You’ll also need: One 10-inch cast iron skillet; 1-1/2 cups hardwood chips, for smoking


Bacon Bourbon Apple Crisp

"Chocolate needs special treatment for soufflés because it is heavy. Although the formula in our first edition produced a dramatic puff, it was far too fragile. In this new version, you fold the chocolate mixture into a meringue—that is, rather than adding the sugar to the sauce base, you whip it into the egg whites, thereby firming them up. Just this simple change in method gives the soufflé staying power so that instead of collapsing rather rapidly into a pudding, it stays up and retains its primal soufflé character. Serving suggestions: 2 cups of sweetened whipped cream, crème anglaise, or vanilla ice cream"—

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