Do you have a go-to cake for birthdays, anniversaries and other special celebrations? I love-love-love the festive look of layers cakes and this one is extra-special! It's a moist chocolate layer cake, only slightly sweet but rich thanks to the oh-so-luscious chocolate whipped cream icing. The chocolate whipped cream frosting itself is so good, it makes even a cake-mix cake completely delicious. Birthday parties have changed over the years, yes? I’m not so old though admit to having celebrated only 29 birthdays. Even so, what I remember are outdoor parties on blue-skied summer days, the girls arriving in frilly dresses and patent leather shoes and the boys in dress slacks with shirts already partly untucked. Now limos deliver bands of kids to pizza places and basement sleepovers. And the girls wear jeans and the boys’ shirts are fashionably untucked! What hasn’t changed about birthdays is how cake and candles add to sense of festivity. This CHOCOLATE CINNAMON WHIPP...

How many ice cream recipe does a creative cook need? When it's a "chameleon"? Exactly one! This is my base recipe for a "skinny" ice cream that uses less sugar, fewer eggs, a lower-fat blend of milks. How to compensate? By bumping up the flavor essence, whatever the ice cream wants to be. There are nine suggested (and tested) ice cream recipes here, all start with the base recipe. It's a "chameleon" – it can turn into whatever ice cream you can dream up! Warm spring evenings call for light suppers and something cold to follow. If you haven’t yet splurged on a new-style ice cream maker, it’s worth the $50 investment. CHAMELEON ICE CREAM is my new "standard but never-the-same-twice" ice cream. It begs for creativity! Banana chocolate, anyone? Ginger? Have fun with this! I’ve lightened the typical ice cream recipe with a still-rich combination of milks, two eggs compared to eight or more, only 4 tablespoons of sugar. The secre...