Chocolate on Chocolate Trifle

If there were an award for over-the-top desserts, this triple-chocolate treat would take the cake. It's pure heaven on a spoon, with layers of white and dark chocolate custard, fudgy brownies and totally decadent chopped-up chocolate bars.

Chocolate Walnut Swirl Bread

This irresistible bread pays homage to a popular eastern European bread called povitica. The sweet dough is spread with a walnut-chocolate paste, rolled into a long rope and baked in a loaf pan to give its signature swirled appearance and loose, pull-apart feel.

Janet Reeves' Coffee Buttercream Cake

Marina Keeping didn't need to ponder over which of her mother's recipes was her favourite: it's the layered coffee buttercream-filled cake that Janet Reeves, author of One Potato, Two Potato (Ragweed Press, 1987) always made for birthdays. It's rich and buttery, in the style of Eastern European cakes, and even a small slice is enough to satisfy. Reeves, an inveterate recipe collector since the age of eight, got this recipe when she helped out as a teenager in the home of a Polish-born doctor in her home town of Kensington, P.E.I.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Choosing between pie and cheesecake is the eternal dessert dilemma; we've melded the two together for the ultimate fall treat. Use a fork to crimp the crust and skip the time-consuming process of fluting by hand.

Strawberry Mousse Yule Log with Cream Cheese Icing

Chocolate Swiss Roll with Chestnut Cream

Cheesecake

This recipe is approximately 40 years old. I like to serve it with either canned cherry pie filling or whipping cream (or both).

Cocoa Icing

Rhubarb Crisp