• jonathan_uc7ti1 on April 26, 2026

  Every recipe in this book is a winner! Well tested, well written recipes make for the perfect outcome. Not easy to find as this is one of the few Maida Heatter cookbooks that went out of print. Search for it - well worth the effort.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Williams-Sonoma chocolate cake

  • Alowishs on April 02, 2016

    (on page 113) This is AMAZING! So, freaking good. Used an 8" spring form pan, but it was too small for all the batter (she recommends 9"). So I had enough to make three smaller spring form pans. UNIQUE INGREDIENTS: Port Wine. Yum.

• Oreo cookie cake

  • mharriman on June 21, 2020

    Family favorite. I don’t routinely keep store-bought cookies in the house except when I bake this cake. I’ve been making it for family birthdays and other celebrations for 35 years. My adult children and their spouses now make it for their children. I follow Ms. Heatter’s suggestion and use a Bundt cake pan with a design. The outside cake is historically a bit dry and sometimes crusty, so we’ve worked to erase that one less than perfect feature. Yesterday I followed my daughter-in-law’s advice and put an internal thermometer in the batter and set it to 210 degrees (came to 55 minutes). I also made sure my butter and eggs were at room temperature for longer than usual (longer than just barely at room temp). Those two adjustments produced a moist cake inside and out. I use the accompanying chocolate glaze for the topping and substitute half and half for the heavy cream with no discernible difference in consistency or flavor. We like the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

• Banana carrot loaf

  • jenburkholder on August 02, 2020

    Very tasty, exactly what you'd expect (banana-y and carrot-y) but with a little more oomph.

• Blueberry and peach buckle

  • chawkins on July 19, 2013

    Excellent warm, with the crunchy topping. However, the topping got soft the next day because of the amount of fruit in there, but it was still good.

  • rittingerv on May 01, 2024

    Not a fan, I thought the cake texture was too dense.

• Blueberry crumble

  • chawkins on June 20, 2013

    Excellent! The toasted pecans are a worthy addition to the crumble. I was short on brown sugar, so I used granulated sugar with the berry mixture and I did not have quite enough to make the 1/3 cup called for for the topping, but it was sweet enough. The topping was still crisp the second day and somewhat crisp the third day.

• Peach crisp

  • chawkins on August 10, 2015

    Very good, I made 1/2 a recipe and baked it for about 25 minutes in a 7" souffle dish. The almond extract in the topping compliments the peaches well. MH described the topping as a crumbly mixture that was sprinkled on top of the peaches, but my mixture was more batter-like that I spooned on top. It was none the less very crisp, would have been perfect with ice cream, but unfortunately, there is none in the house. 9/20/15 Made 2/3 of the recipe in an 8x8" pan, this time the topping turned out to be a crumbly mixture.

• Down home apple casserole

  • chawkins on June 09, 2015

    This is a good, quick and relatively light dessert. It took a little less than an hour and a half from start to serve and I was not a fast worker. The topping was just a light dusting of crushed almond macaroons and slice almonds. I used amaretti cookies for the almond macaroon. For the apple mixture, I subbed evaporated milk for the cream and skipped the lemon juice because I have limes but no lemons and because I used all Granny Smith apples that were tart enough by themselves.

• Emilio's cheesecake

  • WendyKinney on July 11, 2011

    Creamy.

• Blackberry with Scotch cheesecake

  • jenburkholder on August 02, 2020

    Very nice cheesecake. Embedding the frozen blackberries in works very nicely and adds interest. Used any Scotch, Drambuie not required!

• Apple cream cheese pie

  • Christinalego on January 14, 2023

    Great, but a lot of work.

• "Brownie" Schrumpf's brownies

  • jenburkholder on August 02, 2020

    Made this recipe MANY times, although never with the walnuts in it (ewwwwww). Either sub in chocolate chips or just leave out and maybe put in a slightly smaller pan. Solid brownie recipe.

• Pennsylvania squares

  • AllieTaylor on May 10, 2020

    These are FANTASTIC! I’ve used different chocolate bars from time to time. It doesn’t seem to matter, so long as the bars are thin enough to melt/soften when placed on the just-out-of-the-oven hot cookie base. I usually make batches to give away at Christmas. They just sufficiently different to stand out. Maida, you and your imagination and creativity are so much missed!

• My mother's gingersnaps

  • AllieTaylor on May 10, 2020

    Wonderful! Gingery, peppery, really crisp!

• California fruit bars

  • Lindacakes on June 11, 2011

    This is one of my favorite Maida Heatter recipes. You can easily change the fruit and nut combinations.

• Sycamore cookies

  • AllieTaylor on May 10, 2020

    Well worth trying! These disappeared so fast that I wondered what had happened. Maida Heatter, that’s what happened.