There's not a speck of flour in this one layer torte, so the result is richer, fudgier, and loads more sinful than any brownie. More

The recipe is dense with vibrant egg yolks, lightened with meringue, and saturated with bittersweet chocolate. The ginger-and-pepper spiced wine-poached pears that top this cake are fiery orange, tinted with beet, as an ode to the opening night regalia of the turning foliage. More

This recipe for 15-Minute Magic, a non-kosher/non-Parve chocolate-amaretti torte, is hardly traditional Passover fare, but it's delicious and doesn't use flour. My favorite amaretti to use for this cake are amaretti di Saronno from D. Lazzaroni & Co. You'll find them in their beautiful red tins at specialty shops, Italian markets and some supermarkets. That said, I've used just about every other brand available and have never eaten a torte I didn't love. More