Serves 12
The best tool to remove an angel food cake from the pan is a thin, flexible, non-serrated knife that is at least 5 inches long. Present the cake sitting on its wide, crustier top, with the delicate and more easily sliced bottom crust facing up. To cut the cake, use a long, serrated knife, and pull it back and forth with a gentle sawing motion.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To get an angel food cake recipe for a tall, perfectly shaped cake with a snowy white, tender crumb encased in a thin, delicate, golden crust, we experimented with egg whites. We found the key was the speed at which we beat the egg whites, starting at low speed just to break them up into a froth and increasing the speed to medium to form soft, billowy mounds. When large bubbles stop appearing around the edges, this is the point the sugar should be added. Once all the sugar is added the whites become shiny and form soft peaks when the beater is lifted. This is just right for making the perfect tall, light yet firm angel food cake.

Makes two 9-inch cakes
To quickly bring the eggs and milk to room temperature (65 degrees), submerge them in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes after mixing them together. Adding the butter pieces to the mixing bowl one at a time prevents the dry ingredients from flying up and out of the bowl.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Traditional yellow layer cake should melt in the mouth and taste of butter and eggs. But many layer cake recipes that we tried came out crumbly, sugary, and hard. As for the flavor, they tasted merely sweet. We made a few refinements to the usual yellow layer cake recipe. For starters, we took down the sugar slightly, which allowed more buttery flavor to come through. Softened butter blended more easily into the dry ingredients and coated the flour particles with fat. If the butter was too cold or too warm, the cake became heavy or greasy. Rotating the pans once during baking ensured that both cakes cooked evenly and could stand up to a heavy slathering of frosting.

Serves 8 to 10

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Lane cake gets its name from Emma Rylander Lane of Clayton, Ala., who first published the recipe in 1898, after it won the blue ribbon at a county fair in Columbus, Ga. Her cake became famous when it was featured in Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. For a modern Lane Cake recipe, we made the filling by pulsing together pecans, coconut, cherry preserves, and bourbon in the food processor until coarsely ground. After spreading cherry preserves in a thin layer over the top of the cake, we decorated our Lane Cake with toasted and chopped pecans.

Serves 15
You can use 6 ounces of finely chopped semisweet chocolate in place of the chips.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
This no-bake dessert is typically made by layering a mixture of instant vanilla pudding and Cool Whip between graham crackers and topping it with chocolate frosting. We loved the convenience of these store-bought items, but our enthusiasm waned when confronted by their flavor. With a couple of easy techniques (a quick stovetop pudding, whipped cream, and a microwave-and-stir glaze) and very little active time, we produced a from-scratch version that easily trumped its inspiration.

Serves 8
Use your favorite pie dough or our recipe (related).

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The majority of Thoroughbred Pie recipes that we prepared were far too sweet. We reduced the amount of sugar to almost half of what was called for in some recipes. Brown sugar contributed a hint of spice and depth, while more neutral white sugar ensured that the nuts and chocolate weren’t eclipsed. To bring more balance to the pie, we replaced semisweet chocolate chips with chopped bittersweet chocolate.

To give the top of our pie its trademark crunch, we went with cornstarch instead of the flour that we’d been using as a thickener. Removing some egg white from the recipe also helped. We settled on blind baking our pie crust to ensure that it didn’t come out of the oven underbaked. Sprinkling the chocolate over the still-warm crust provided a hit of intense chocolate in every bite.

Makes 12 cupcakes

You can substitute 3/4 cup hot coffee for the boiling water and instant espresso powder. For an accurate measurement of boiling water, bring a full kettle of water to a boil, then measure out the desired amount.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: A cupcake piled high with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting is the perfect single-serving dessert, yet on average it packs in more than 25 grams of fat, leaving plenty of room for improvement. To start, we tried a number of low-fat cupcake recipes that included “alternative” ingredients like prunes or applesauce, but they were overwhelmingly disappointing, giving us dry, crumbly cakes. Instead, we worked with a more traditional recipe and trimmed the fat by reducing the amount of chocolate and switching from butter to canola oil, which is lower in saturated fat. Adding a hefty dose of cocoa along with a bit of instant espresso powder boosted the chocolate flavor immensely, and swapping in bread flour for the all-purpose flour provided plenty of lift and structure to our lean batter. Finally, topping the cakes with a simple yet ultra-creamy frosting made of confectioners’ sugar instead of an over-the-top buttercream frosting helped to make these cupcakes a reasonable, yet still indulgent, treat.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/comfort-food-makeovers/2013/04/recipe-makeover-challenge-chocolate-cupcakes/

Serves 8 to 10

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Cool, creamy icebox cheesecake meets a salty, pucker-inspiring margarita. We bring the best of both worlds to center stage in our Margarita Cake. As the top glaze has the boozy kick of its namesake, this cake is a lively contribution to a grownups-only party.

Serves 8 to 10

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Strange as it may seem, the vast majority of existing strawberry cake recipes turn to strawberry Jell-O for flavor. Hoping to avoid this artificial solution, we preformed test after test to figure out the best way to season our cake with actual strawberries. Any strawberry solids wreaked havoc on the tender cake, but strained and reduced strawberry juices kept our cake light and packed a strawberry punch. Not to be left behind, the reserved strawberry solids made for the perfect studded addition to the frosting.

Makes 1 quart
Super-chilling part of the sorbet base before transferring it to the ice cream machine will keep ice crystals to a minimum. If using a canister-style ice cream machine, be sure to freeze the empty canister for at least 24 hours and preferably 48 hours before churning. For self-refrigerating machines, prechill the canister by running the machine for five to 10 minutes before pouring in the sorbet mixture. Allow the sorbet to sit at room temperature for five minutes to soften before serving. Fresh or frozen berries may be used. If using frozen berries, thaw them before proceeding. Make certain that you use Sure-Jell engineered for low- or no-sugar recipes (packaged in a pink box) and not regular Sure-Jell (in a yellow box).

Serves 8 to 10
The microwaved apples should be pliable but not completely soft when cooked. To test for doneness, take one apple slice and try to bend it. If it snaps in half, it’s too firm; microwave it for an additional 30 seconds and test again. If Calvados is unavailable, 1 tablespoon of apple brandy or white rum can be substituted.