Delish Cooking School: Classic Dessert Recipes for Every Occasion

With triple-tested recipes, easy-to-follow instructions on how to handle ingredients, clearly explained cooking methods, and step-by-step images to guide you through the cooking process, Delish Cooking School helps home cooks at every level prepare delicious dishes with ease.

Scroll through the slideshow to get an exclusive sneak peek at some of the great content in the book.

There is a great sense of achievement once you've mastered crème caramel. Home cooks are usually concerned about the caramel, but it's not as tricky as you think. And when you're ready to serve this dessert, use your fingers to ease the custard away from the side of the pan, gently shake the pan and you'll "feel" the custard floating on the caramel. Put the serving plate on top of the cake pan and quickly invert.

All the sugar needs to be dissolved when you're making caramel. Some sugar will stick to the sides of the pan — brush these off using a dampened pastry brush.

When the caramel is a deep, rich brown, pour it into the base of a deep 8-inch cake pan.

Put the custard into a baking dish and pour enough boiling water around the cake pan to come halfway up its side.

There's no need to wonder why this dessert has become such a standby during the warm spring and summer months. The bright, tangy flavor of the lemon curd filling is the perfect balance to the super sweet, fluffy meringue on top.

Use a rolling pin to gently ease the pastry into the tart pan, being careful not to stretch it.

Spread the lemon filling evenly into the cooked and cooled pie shell. A spatula is the best implement to use for this.

Roughen the surface of the lemon filling before you spread the meringue on top. This will help prevent the meringue from shrinking away from the filling as it cooks.

Be prepared for a bit of work if you're going to make this sensational dessert. Golden delicious apples are the best apples to use, granny smith the second best.

Place the caramelized apples, rounded-side down, in the pie dish. Remember, this is an upside-down pie, so be careful to arrange the apples in a decorative pattern.

Cut the pastry round to fit snugly into the pie dish and place it over the hot apples.

Tuck the pastry carefully and evenly down the sides of the dish — this will form the pastry base when the pie is inverted.

Turn the pie out onto the serving plate, apple-side up and drizzle the tart with the reheated reserved caramel.

This filled and rolled sponge cake has long been a favorite here and in the U.K. Quick and easy to make, yet very impressive-looking, slices of the roll are good served warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.

Place the cake on a piece of sugared baking paper and gently peel away the lining paper, using a spatula to press down on the paper. The weight of the spatula will prevent the sponge from breaking.

Using a serrated knife, trim away the crisp edges from all sides of the cake.

With no filling, and using the sugared baking paper as a guide, gently roll the warm cake loosely. You do this so that once you've spread it with jam, it will roll up easily.

This marble cake has a surprise mix of colors inside. Pink, green, and white also make a pretty marble cake. If this is your preference, omit the cocoa powder and extra milk from this recipe, and add a few drops of green food coloring into the mixture instead.

Tint one third of the cake mixture pink using a few drops of pink food coloring. Stir in only a drop or two of coloring at a time — overcoloring produces an unattractive cake.