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All my favorite things are about chocolate, says Elizabeth Falkner. Thin layers of flourless chocolate cake and an intensely chocolaty mousse are paired with crunchy hazelnuts and hints of orange in this truly decadent dessert. Try it with a scoop of coffee-chocolate chip ice cream alongside.
For best results, use a premium bittersweet chocolate with a high cocoa bean content (variously labeled, cocoa solids, cocoa, or cacao), such as Scharffen Berger 70 percent or Callebaut.

These ultra-rich and chocolaty sandwich cookies have creamy, coffee-spiked centers.

Vanilla ice cream surrounds a soft lemon-cream and raspberry-sorbet center.

bite of this flan, fragrant with traditional pumpkin-pie spices, is very comforting despite the dessert s modern looks; a topping of pumpkin seeds, seasoned with cayenne, creates a play of sweet and heat.

Crema Pasticciera I
Campanians are wild for pastry cream. Thickened with flour, rich with eggs, flavored with vanilla, lemon, chocolate, or coffee, it fills cream puffs, sponge cakes, and ladyfingers in all the composed desserts called delizie (delights), and the grandest of all, Zuppa Inglese. It goes under fruits and fruit preserves in tarts, which are called either crostate or pizze. It forms a topknot in the hole of the famous fried Zeppole di Guiseppe, the bignè — or French crullers, you might call them — made in honor of St. Joseph on March 19. Pastry cream is also one of the bases for frozen desserts. It can be lightened with whipped cream, thinned with loquid cream. It also makes a fine sauce, the same as the French crè anglaise.