Makes 11/2 cups, enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Soften the cream cheese at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Do not soften in the microwave or the texture of the frosting will be runny.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We developed our Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting recipe to go with our Carrot Cupcakes recipe. The heavy cream cheese frosting we love with our carrot cake overpowered the delicate texture of our new, lighter cupcakes. We found that first combining the butter and confectioners’ sugar and then adding the cream cheese one piece at a time gave us more control of the frosting’s texture, ultimately producing a pleasing fluffy version.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
These Sugared Lemon Slices produce a lovely candied lemon garnish for cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, and drinks. (They’re also delicious on their own.) It is important to cut them to the recommended thickness: thin enough to be translucent, but not so thin as to fall apart during simmering.

Makes one cake

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To translate our favorite summer sipper into a playful pink cake, we started with our basic chiffon cake recipe. Adding lemon juice, lemon zest, and a few drops of red food coloring to the batter replicates the flavor and color of pink lemonade, and a tangy cream cheese frosting—also bolstered with citrus—tops it off. For a final touch, a ring of sugared lemon slices—pink, of course—circles the cake.

SERVES 12 TO 14

To save time, let the eggs, buttermilk, and butter come up to temperature while the browned butter and spice mixture cools. To prevent unsightly air holes in the finished cake, be sure to follow the instructions for removing air bubbles in the batter (see illustrations below). Leftover cake can be stored, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The cake should be brought to room temperature before serving.

Makes 16 brownies

These brownies are moist and packed with chocolate flavor, but they won’t crumble when you cut them. In fact, they hold up well enough to pack in a child’s lunchbox or bring to a picnic or bake sale. They’re pretty good at home, too, with a tall glass of milk. Use either creamy or chunky peanut butter, but avoid old-fashioned brands with oil on top. To gild the lily, cover these brownies with chocolate frosting (see optional recipe below).

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
This peanut butter swirl brownie recipe is a novel—and delicious—new variation on the plain chocolate brownie. Adding baking powder to this peanut butter swirl brownie recipe lent them slightly cakey, very sturdy texture that didn’t crumble when sliced; unsweetened chocolate added the richest chocolate flavor. Swirl peanut butter into the batter just before sliding the pan into the oven. Finally, ensuring that a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan of brownies came out with some moist batter or crumbs attached indicated the brownies were baked perfectly; around the edges the toothpick should come out clean. We found that topping the peanut butter swirl brownies with chocolate frosting added an extra layer of decadence for special occasions.

SERVES 12 TO 16

While this recipe takes several hours from start to finish, the actual preparation is simple, and baking and cooling proceed practically unattended. The cheesecake can be made up to a day in advance; leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 days, although the crust will become soggy.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Pairing citrus with cream cheese for our best lemon cheesecake recipe required finding the perfect balance of juice, zest, and sugar so that the citrus flavor would be neither too fleeting nor too harsh. Lemon curd on top of the cake gave our lemon cheesecake recipe special pizzazz.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/cooking-science/2013/02/we-prove-it-the-best-way-to-store-lemons/

Serves 10 to 12

Baking the pastry on two stacked baking sheets prevents it from burning on the bottom. Be sure to cool the pastries completely before glazing. If the glaze is too thick to spread smoothly, whisk in an additional tablespoon of milk.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We found that we could streamline this two-dough pastry by making more pie dough than we needed and then turning half of it into the crust and cooking the other half and adding eggs to turn it into choux paste for the “puff” top. The pâte à choux needed lengthy baking to prevent collapse, but by the time it was finished cooking, the pie crust bottom was overbrowned. Stacking two sheet pans slowed browning on the bottom, buying time for the top to finish cooking without burning the bottom. To make this pastry live up to its name, we added an extra egg and some water to help it puff higher. Slitting the sides of the pastry to let the steam out after baking dried out the inside and prevented it from imploding.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/02/secrets-to-danish-puff-pastry/

MAKES 12 BROWNIES

Be sure to use semisweet chocolate and not semisweet chips—the additives in chips will result in a drier, squat brownie. To ensure moist, fudgy brownies it is important not to overbake them. Be sure to check the brownies for doneness several minutes before the specified baking time has elapsed.

This recipe was published in The Best Light Recipe.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We found several ways to lighten our brownie recipe without sacrificing moistness and chocolate flavor. We used a combination of semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder instead of unsweetened chocolate (which is higher in fat and must be used in combination with more sugar and butter). A little espresso powder accentuated the chocolate flavor in our lighter brownie recipe. And we used just 2 tablespoons butter, instead of the usual 8 to 12 tablespoons, along with 1 tablespoon warm water added to the batter to help bloom the cocoa flavor and keep our low-fat brownies moist.

Nutrition information per brownie: 130 cal., 5 g total fat (2.5 g saturated), 25 mg chol., 19 g carbo., 2 g pro., 1 g fiber, 55 mg sodium.

Makes 16 brownies

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in a microwave set to 50 percent power. For a truly fudgy consistency, don’t overbake the brownies; as soon as a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with sticky crumbs attached, the brownies are done. If the toothpick emerges with no crumbs, the brownies will be cakey.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Swapping full-fat sour cream for low-fat was an easy—and healthy—substitution that helped us trim a good deal of butter from our Fudgy Low-Fat Brownies recipe. Chocolate syrup added rich flavor with no fat, and cocoa powder blended with bittersweet chocolate boosted the chocolate flavor of our Fudgy Low-Fat Brownies recipe without boosting the fat. Slightly undercooking the brownies ensured they came our fudgy instead of cakey. Traditional brownies have 220 calories, 12 grams of fat, and 7 grams of saturated fat per brownie. Our Fudgy Low-Fat Brownies have 110 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, and 1.5 grams of saturated fat per brownie.

MAKES 64 TRUFFLES

In step 3, letting the chocolate to rest on the counter for 2 hours allows it to “cure”, and contributes to its creamy texture. In step 5, running your knife under hot water and wiping it dry makes cutting the chocolate easier. In addition to the related variations, the truffles can be flavored with 2 tablespoons of your favorite flavored liqueur. We recommend using one of the test kitchen’s favorite baking chocolates, Callebaut Intense Dark L-60-40NV or Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar for this recipe. If giving the truffles as a gift, place each one in a 1 1/2-inch candy cup liner and then place the truffles in a gift box. Keep refrigerated until giving.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The problem with many homemade truffles is that they have a dry, grainy texture. There are three keys to creating creamy, silky-smooth truffles. First, start with melted chocolate. Melting the chocolate before adding the cream allowed us to stir—rather than whisk—the two together, reducing the incorporation of air that can cause grittiness. Second, add corn syrup and butter. Corn syrup smoothes over the gritty texture of sugar, and butter introduces silkiness. Finally, cooling down the ganache gradually before chilling prevented the formation of grainy crystals.