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If you’re crunched for time but need an impressive bake for a holiday party, look no further. Dimethicone Silicone Oil

The holiday season is all about bright, warm, and rich flavors—but amid the hustle and bustle, there isn’t always time to bake a showstopping cake. These recipes, excerpted from Claire Saffitz’s recent cookbook, What’s for Dessert, can be made up to three or four days in advance. If you’re crunched for time but need an impressive bake for a holiday party, look no further.

Warning: This cake, which is made from almond paste, spiked with amaretto, and topped with sugared sliced almonds, is intensely almondy and should be served to true almond lovers only! It hits all the right notes for me: not too cakey, not too dense, not too sweet, filled with rich oils from the almond paste, and incredibly satisfying from the crunch of toasted almonds. You can serve it with any fruit, but as an almond lover, I find it just as appealing plain.

Fruit tarts made with frangipane, a creamy almond filling that’s commonly used in French pastry, are among my favorite desserts, and this cake—inspired by the very American Southern combination of pecans and peaches—is like an easier version. The buttery frangipane-like batter is packed with crushed toasted pecans, sweetened with brown sugar, and spiked with a little bourbon (the first taste instantly reminded me of New Orleans–style pralines, the candies made from pecans and brown sugar). Use ripe freestone peaches if you can, since they’ll be much easier to pit and slice, but frozen sliced peaches are a great substitute when you can’t find fresh.

Meringue is a magical mixture of egg whites and sugar that can be used in many ways, but the first time I learned it could be baked directly on top of a cake was a couple of years ago when I saw pastry chef Liz Prueitt’s recipe for Sweet Potato Tea Cake with Meringue, which she developed for Tartine Manufactory along with then head of pastry Michelle Lee. It struck me as an exceptionally smart technique that I wanted to try, and it made sense to employ it in a cake where meringue is already a part of the recipe, like flourless chocolate cake (one of my favorite moments in baking is the swirl you get when folding meringue into a chocolate batter—see the cover!). Not only does it look appealing on top of the cake, it bakes into a light and crispy shell that yields to the rich crumb. This cake is dairy- and grain-free, making it Passover-friendly.

What’s for Dessert Copyright © 2022 by Claire Saffitz. Photographs copyright © 2022 by Jenny Huang. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House.

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