Best Autumn Desserts

Apple Cake

What’s easy peasy to make, lovely to look at, even lovelier to taste, and certain to impress? This cake.

1 hr 30 mins

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

An impressive dessert, created by David himself, gets an autumnal lilt from pumpkin purée in the batter and maple syrup in the frosting. One of our most popular cakes.

1 hr 15 mins

Poached Pears with Warm Coffee Sauce

Simply stunning. Stunningly simple. These fancy pants pears are perfect after being poached in a cinnamon-infused syrup and drizzled with a coffee-infused caramel sauce.

30 mins

Caramel Apple Pie

Classic apple pie just went next level with the addition of sweet caramel on top.

5 hrs

Our Favorite Pies

more pies, tarts, and crisps

Dessert FAQs

Dessert is often the highlight of a meal, particularly at a big holiday feast. It also often requires the most time and effort to prepare. Here are the answers to our most frequently asked questions on making and storing desserts, getting ahead of the game, and cooking for folks with dietary needs.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO STORE DESSERTS?

It depends on the type of dessert. If it’s made with dairy products, such as milk or cream, it should be stored in the refrigerator. Baked goods like cookies and bars can usually be stored in a sealed container at room temperature.

what types of dessert can BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME?

Frozen desserts such as ice cream, or ice cream pie, can be made several days in advance and stored in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Cakes and cupcakes can also be made and frozen, undecorated, for up to 3 months. Other desserts, such as brownies, cookies, and pies, can usually be made 1 to 2 days before serving.

What’s the best way to freeze desserts?

If you are making a frozen dessert, such as ice cream, we recommend storing it in a freezer-safe airtight container to prevent freezer burn. Cakes and cupcakes should be cooled completely before freezing. They can be stored, unfrosted, in resealable bags, or wrapped well in plastic.

can you suggest some desserts for guests who have allergies?

For guests who need to avoid gluten, we recommend this dark chocolate mousse. If you need a dessert for vegan, egg-free, or dairy-free folks, try this simple apple sorbet, or these crispy oatmeal cookies.

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake

A baked lemon cheesecake topped with raspberries in a metal skillet.
: David Leite

Celebration-Worthy Cakes

all cakes

Blueberry Lemon Layer Cake

Pretty much guaranteed to be one of those desserts that makes people do face-plants onto their dessert plates. A David Leite original recipe.

2 hrs 30 mins

Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake

A classic chocolate cake on caffeine, this impressive yet easy to assemble stack of chocolatey elegance takes its rounded chocolatey-ness from a cup of joe and its ample fudgy-ness fro ganache.

2 hrs 30 mins

Brown Betty Bakery Coconut Cake

Dubbed Company’s Comin’ Coconut Cake, this beauty of a pound cake will have you dreaming up excuses to bake dessert. Even if for no other reason than you want it.

1 hr 20 mins

Thankful Butterscotch Cake

What’s with the thankfulness, you ask? For starters, this sleek, sophisticated, tender-crumbed cake smothered in butterscotch and stacked to the heavens.

2 hrs

All Desserts

Cheese Danish with Fruit Filling

A startlingly spectacular made-from-scratch cheese Danish that is going to forever change your notion of what a cheese Danish ought to be.

1 hr

Coconut Cream Pie

A retro classic with a velvety coconut custard buried beneath billows of sweet, luscious, airy meringue and cushioned by a tender, flaky, buttery lard crust. You're welcome.

1 hr

Brownie Pie

Known in some parts as tar heel pie, this ridiculously rich chocolate brownie pie filling is impossibly fudgy, so much so it's simply too gooey to consume out of hand.

4 hrs

Food Processor Pie Crust

This flaky, tender, butter and shortening pie crust is a breeze to make, thanks to your food processor.

2 hrs 10 mins

Peppermint Brownies

They're rich, a little fudgy, and bursting with peppermint flavor. Say hello to your new favorite holiday brownie.

1 hr 20 mins

Scottish Shortbread

This tender, buttery, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth Scottish shortbread is as authentic as it gets.

1 hr 25 mins

Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

These easy-to-make icebox cookies are bejeweled with cranberries and pistachios to create a standout holiday cookie.

3 hrs 35 mins

Pecan Pie Cobbler

Want all the caramel-y crunch goodness of pecan pie without the effort? This easy cobbler delivers all that and more.

1 hr 45 mins

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

An impressive dessert, created by David himself, gets an autumnal lilt from pumpkin purée in the batter and maple syrup in the frosting. One of our most popular cakes.

1 hr 15 mins

Caramel Apple Pie

Classic apple pie just went next level with the addition of sweet caramel on top.

5 hrs

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

There are pie crusts, and there's this crust--nutty, crisp, buttery, and oh-so-perfect for your favorite pie--sweet or savory.

1 hr 5 mins

Sweet Noodle Kugel

If you haven't tried sweet kugel yet, you've been missing out. See why this creamy noodle casserole is a perennial holiday favorite.

1 hr

Old-Fashioned Coconut Cake

Layers of vanilla cake take turns with oodles of coconut filling and the whole shebang is slathered with fluffy white icing. Uh, yes please!

1 hr 15 mins

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake

Say goodbye to fussy cheesecake recipes. This easy skillet version comes together with only a handful of dishes and ingredients and less than 30 minutes of effort.

3 hrs

Hamantaschen

Our testers are singing the praises of these sweet cookies that are stuffed with poppy seed and apricot filling. We're quite certain you will be, too.

2 hrs 15 mins

Coconut Tres Leches Cake

Coconut lovers rejoice! This inventive riff on tres leches cake is infused with coconut flavor, thanks to a combination of extract, coconut milk, and toasted coconut on top.

1 hr 30 mins

Our 6 Best Snacking Cake Recipes

These snacking cakes are the perfect match for your afternoon cup of tea or coffee, though we have been known to sneak a slice (or two!) for breakfast.

Date Bars

These date bars are a classic for good reason. The combination of sweet, sticky date filling nestled between layers of buttery oat dough is completely irresistible.

2 hrs