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12 oz. cream cheese, softened

12 oz. butter, softened

1½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1½ cups chopped pecans

Makes one 8-inch cake

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift together cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Bake cakes, rotating pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 25–30 minutes. Let cakes cool 5 minutes, invert each onto a plate, then invert again onto a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely before frosting.

2. Make the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5–7 minutes.

3. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate; spread one-quarter of the frosting on top. Set another layer on top and repeat with frosting. Set remaining layer on top, and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting. Press pecans into the sides of the cake. Chill for 2 hours to set frosting, if you like.

Ice Cream with Butterscotch Sauce

Cooking butter with sugar causes its milk solids to caramelize and take on deep, toasty flavors as well as a gorgeous saffron color. What you end up with is butterscotch. The soda jerks at Franklin Fountain, in Philadelphia (pictured), serve it on cherry-topped sundaes and other old-fashioned confections, but butterscotch works equally well when simply drizzled over a couple of scoops of good vanilla ice cream.

8 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 tbsp. light corn syrup

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. dark rum

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. fine sea salt

½ tsp. fresh lemon juice Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Makes 2 cups

1. Heat the butter, corn syrup, and ¼ cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the butter has melted.

2. Stir in the granulated sugar and brown sugar, scraping down the sides of the pan with a rubber spatula. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, without stirring. Cook until the sauce is light brown and a candy thermometer inserted in the sauce reads 245°F, 6–8 minutes.

3. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Carefully add the cream, rum, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice and stir to combine. Let the sauce cool to room temperature. Serve drizzled over scoops of vanilla ice cream.

COOKING NOTE Note To make a butterscotch swirl ice cream, spread softened vanilla ice cream in a baking pan. Top it with 1/3 cup or more of butterscotch sauce (cooled, not hot), and swirl the sauce through the ice cream using a rubber spatula. Return the ice cream to the freezer until the ice cream sets, then serve.

The Lilly Lunch Bunch—retired employees of the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company—having vanilla ice cream sundaes with their choice of toppings at the Hollyhock Hill Restaurant in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Lindy’s Cheesecake

This cheesecake, a favorite at the Manhattan delicatessen Lindy’s, can be put together almost entirely in the food processor, which means it’s not only easy to make but also remarkably smooth and light in texture. The shortbread crust tastes of butter, lemon, and vanilla scraped straight from the bean; the airy filling is flecked with lemon and orange zest; and a blast in a very hot oven gives the top a golden color.

FOR THE CRUST:

2 cups flour

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. lemon zest

¼ tsp. salt

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into ¼ -inch cubes

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg yolk

FOR THE FILLING:

2½ lbs. cream cheese, softened

1¼ cups sugar

3 tbsp. flour

1½ tsp. lemon zest

1½ tsp. orange zest

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

5 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

¼ cup heavy cream

1. Make the crust: Heat the oven to 400°F. Combine