Dessert requests in my house arrive in one of two forms: something for a table, or something for a Tuesday. This page splits the collection accordingly, so a slab pie for twelve is not sitting next to a mug of pudding.

Cheesecakes and cookies come first because they are the two I bake most. Then the fruit pies and cobblers, the citrus pies, the brownie and bar family, cakes and cupcakes, and the frostings that finish them. Anything apple or cranberry has its own home on the apple and cranberry page, and anything with scones or quick bread in the name lives with the breakfast bakes.

The sections, in order

Cheesecakes and Cheesecake Bars

A cheesecake cracks when it cools too fast or bakes too hot. Low heat, a long cool-down and room-temperature cream cheese solve almost every cheesecake problem people write to me about.

The bar versions are the easier entry point: raspberry cheesecake bars and strawberry cheesecake bars slice cleanly and travel. For a whole cake, white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and Biscoff cookie butter cheesecake are the two I get asked to bring. Jamie Oliver's no-bake lemon cheesecake skips the oven entirely.

Run a thin knife around the edge as soon as it comes out of the oven, so the cake can pull away as it cools instead of tearing itself. And cut it with a hot, dry blade, wiping between slices, if you care what the pieces look like.

The others on the list:

Cookies, Truffles and Small Treats

Cookie dough that has rested in the fridge spreads less and tastes deeper, because the flour hydrates and the sugars start to break down. An hour makes a visible difference.

Cheesecake-stuffed chocolate chip cookies are the cookie I make when I want a reaction, and soft levain bakery-style cookies are the ones for people who want them thick. Pecan pie cookies turn a pie into something handheld, and the chocolate cherry coconut truffles need no baking at all.

Weigh the flour if you have a scale. Cookies are the recipe where a heavy cup of flour shows up immediately as a dry, cakey result. Bake one test cookie before committing the tray; it tells you whether to chill the dough longer.

Everything else in this section:

Fruit Pies, Cobblers and Crumbles

A fruit pie sets as it cools, not in the oven. Cutting it warm is the single most common reason a filling runs across the plate.

Peach season drives most of this group: best peach pie, homemade peach cobbler and the crock pot peach cobbler for a day the oven is busy. Sour cherry slab pie uses a reduction so the slices hold, rhubarb crumble is the tart one, and triple berry pie works with whatever is in the freezer.

Taste the fruit before you sweeten it. Peaches and berries swing wildly from one week to the next, and a recipe written for underripe fruit will be cloying with fruit at its peak. Thicken more for very juicy fruit, less for firm.

Also in this section:

Key Lime and Citrus Pies

Key lime filling thickens by chemistry rather than heat: the acid in the juice sets the condensed milk, so it firms up in the fridge even after a short bake.

Best key lime pie with a graham crust is where I would start, and the crust is the part worth reading twice. Heavenly mini key lime pies are the party format, key lime pie trifle skips the crust, and no-bake mini banana cream pies belong in the same easy camp.

Bottled lime juice is the one shortcut I will defend here, since key limes are tiny and the yield is miserable. Chill these longer than you think necessary; the set happens in the fridge, not the oven.

The others I would point you to:

Brownies, Blondies and Dessert Bars

Bars are the format to choose when you are feeding a crowd, because one pan cuts into a known number of pieces and nothing has to be shaped.

Chocolate chip cookie dough brownie bombs is the showpiece, pecan chocolate fudge brownies and pecan chocolate turtle bars are the rich ones, and carrot cake bars are the version of carrot cake that fits in a lunchbox. Trisha Yearwood's butterscotch bars are the old-fashioned outlier.

Line the pan with parchment with an overhang, lift the whole slab out when it is cool, and cut on a board. You will get clean edges and you will not scrape up the pan looking for the first piece.

Everything else here:

Cakes, Cupcakes and Carrot Cake

A cake is only as level as the pan it cooled in. Line the base, cool on a rack, and frost it cold if you want clean edges.

Carrot cake roll is the one I am proudest of in this group, and the gluten-free cake collection exists because I needed it myself. The cupcakes, from chocolate to vanilla custard, are there for birthdays, and the stovetop pots de creme needs no oven at all.

Room-temperature butter and eggs are not fussiness, they are the reason a batter holds air. If you forgot, warm the eggs in a bowl of water for a few minutes rather than pressing on with them cold.

And the rest:

Frostings and Icings

Frosting goes wrong in one of two directions: too warm and it slides, too cold and it tears the crumb. Beat it until it holds a soft peak and use it at cool room temperature.

My go-to icing is the one I use on nearly everything, and strawberry buttercream is the one that makes a plain cake look deliberate. The cool whip pudding frosting is the fast, old-school shortcut.

Sift the sugar. It is tedious and it is the only way to avoid grit. If a buttercream splits or looks curdled, it is almost always temperature, and a few more minutes of beating usually brings it back together.

No-Bake and Frozen Desserts

No-bake desserts rely on chilling for structure, so the only real rule is to give them the full time in the fridge before you try to cut them.

A no-melt soft serve sundae bar is my answer to a birthday party in July, Ninja Creami Shirley Temple ice cream is the machine version, and banana PBJ tiramisu jars are the no-bake project worth the overnight wait.

These are the summer recipes, and the ones to hand to a child who wants to help. Give them the full chill time, because a no-bake dessert that has not set properly is just a bowl of good ingredients.

The rest of this group:

Dessert questions, answered

What is the easiest dessert to make for a crowd?

A bar recipe. One pan, no shaping, and it cuts into even pieces so you know exactly how many you have. The brownie and bar section is built for exactly that problem.

Why did my cheesecake crack?

It cooled too quickly, or the oven was too hot. Cheesecake wants gentle heat and a slow cool-down, and cold cream cheese beaten into the batter leaves lumps that behave the same way. Bars are more forgiving than a whole cake if cracks bother you.

Can I make dessert a day ahead?

Most of these are better for it. Cheesecakes, bars and fruit pies all want a night in the fridge to set and settle. Frosted cakes are the exception, since the crumb dries faster once it is cut.

How do I keep a fruit pie from being runny?

Let it cool completely before slicing, and thicken a very juicy fruit with a little extra flour or cornstarch. The filling only finishes setting as the temperature drops.

What about apple desserts?

They have their own page, because there are so many. The apple and cranberry collection has the pies, crisps, cakes and breads in one place.