Pancakes are so much fun because 1) there’s virtually no screwing them up 2) you can customize them to taste and look like just about anything your little heart desires.

One morning I woke up and felt like doing two things – eating some chocolate for breakfast (not something I recommend often, but a craving is a craving) and establishing culinary racial harmony. In fairness, I really just felt like the chocolate, but then thought it would be fun to do chocolate chip vanilla pancakes on one side, and some chocolatey pancakes on the other.

I heart brownies in a big way. Nigella Lawson, the cookbook author from whom this recipe has been adapted (begged, borrowed, and slightly stolen), touts as one of their highest virtues the fact that they can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. I would add to that sterling quality the fact that, unlike so many other “easy” desserts and confections, your sink will not look like a dirty dish graveyard – one bowl, one pan, one spoon, and one baking dish is all that this recipe requires.

Some much anticipated and celebration-worthy news flowed into the Besotted kitchen last week, to which, the only appropriate response was a confection that screamed “CELEBRATION!”

Now, normally, when eyeing the dessert section of my cookbooks and magazines, I tend towards the rustic sophisticate desserts – things like modern Apple Tarte Tatin, Honey Cream Peach Pie, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie – basically, anything that is part throw-back, part modern chic, baked into a buttery crust.

After two previous attempts – one solid, one mildly disastrous – I think I’ve finally got the hang of my ice cream maker. The main take-aways from the first two attempts were:

Follow directions
Re-read the directions and make sure you’re following them as they are actually stated on the directions, and not concocting new directions in your own head.

Once those two directives were firmly planted in my brain (along side the horrid memory of the ice cream maker bouncing and spurting all over my counter), I managed to turn out a really, REALLY good batch of ice cream.

I am very nearly done with recounting the cupcake recipes from PT’s Birthday Extravaganza. I probably should have saved the best for last, but I like to keep things interesting, so I’m featuring the popular favorite from that evening (and the mornings after) in this third installment.

This recipe was the amalgamation of inspirations found across the web and in my own dear How to be a Domestic Goddess. I loved the rich dark chocolate and cherry cake that Nigella featured, but I was looking for a more outstanding presentation than the simple, recommended cherry on top.

It was PT’s birthday a few weeks ago, and I admittedly went a bit nuts in the cupcake preparations. I had fully intended to back a sheet cake sized to feed the 25 party attendees, but after reading Smitten Kitchen’s quite frankly frightening list of do’s and don’ts regarding sheet cake preparation and transportation, I decided that cupcakes would be much more practical…. Three days later, I could be found in my apartment-turned-bakery grooving to Lady Gaga with 3 types of frosting in my hair, surrounded by cooling racks, and stepping across boxes of cupcakes.

Every once in awhile, you come upon a recipe so perfect, so simply and consistently outstanding, that it is virtually un-tweakable.

This recipe from Nigella Lawson’s acclaimed How to Be a Domestic Goddess is just such a recipe; I’ve made it countless times to stunning effect. The only reason I would have tweaked it would be for my own ego’s satisfaction and not because it would have improved it, which is why it comes to you in an essentially unaltered form.

These little cakes are simple to make and splendid to present. The dense cake cracks open to reveal a cascade of luscious, oozing melted chocolate. Don’t worry, they are fully baked – the recipe calls for a heavier egg and fat to flour ratio than your typical cake, which keeps the center pudding-like, despite adequate time in the oven.