Things You\’ll Need

• Cutting board

• Chef's knife

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

• Small bowl

• Strawberries

• Blueberries

• Raspberries

• Blackberries

• Toothpicks

• Short skewers

• Cherries

• Oranges

• Bananas

• Tray or container, with cover

• Pastry brush

• Apples

Prepare strawberries to dip in the chocolate for a delectable combination.

Guests thrill to see rippling pools of chocolate fondue spilling over the tiered edges of a fondue fountain. Featuring this display at your event brings to life a delicious childhood fantasy many adults continue to cherish. Fruit is the most-common accompaniment for chocolate fountains because the acidity offsets the richness of the chocolate. Since fruits vary in size, shape and moisture content, you should cut each fruit into an attractive portion that guests can consume in no more than two bites.

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Step 1

Lay a clean cutting board and chef's knife on your work surface. Pour 1/2-cup of lemon juice into a small bowl. Set the juice aside. The flesh on the inside of bananas and apples turns brown when you expose it to oxygen, causing it to look old or spoiled. However, the acid in lemon juice impedes discoloring temporarily. Brushing the bananas and apples with lemon juice, after you cut them, should preserve their appearance throughout the event. Place fruit on your cutting board to trim it for the presentation.

Step 2

Slice horizontally through the top of a strawberry to remove the leafy tops and a sliver of berry. Cut large strawberries in half vertically. Leave the green tops on the berries, if desired.

Step 3

Discard damaged blueberries, raspberries or blackberries instead of trimming them, since they are delicate and lose juice quickly. Run a toothpick or short skewer through the top of a berry, out through the bottom. Place two or three berries on each pick or skewer. This minimizes juice loss and makes it easy for guests to dip more than one berry at a time.

Step 4

Remove the stem from a cherry. Slice around the cherry in a vertical ring, down to the pit. Separate the halves gently with your fingers. Remove the pit with your finger or the tip of the knife. Slide two or three cherry halves onto a toothpick or short skewer.

Step 5

Peel an orange with your fingers. Remove as much of the bitter, white material from the flesh as you can. Pull the orange apart to separate each segment. Cut each segment in half horizontally.

Step 6

Peel a banana by hand. Lay the banana on the cutting board. Slice the fruit horizontally into 1/2- to 3/4-inch-thick slices. Place the banana slices on a tray or in a broad container. Dip a pastry brush in the bowl of lemon juice. Brush lemon juice onto each banana slice to prevent browning. Cover the tray or container immediately.

Step 7

Stand an apple right side up on the cutting board. Slice it in half vertically two times, in an X-pattern, to quarter the apple. Slice each cored segment horizontally into three, equal chunks. Slice 1/4 inch off of the narrow end of the chunk to remove remaining sections of core. Place the apple chunks, skin-side down, on a tray or in a broad container. Dip a pastry brush in the bowl of lemon juice. Brush each apple piece with the juice to prevent browning. Cover the tray or container immediately.

Tip

Prepare fruit as close to the service time as possible to reduce the likelihood of pieces browning or becoming dry. Cover cut fruit immediately in an airtight container or by covering a fruit tray with plastic wrap. Brushing fruit with lemon juice does alter the flavor slightly. However, chocolate covers the minimal taste of lemon, making it unnoticeable when guests eat lemon-treated fruit.

This Valentine's Day, ditch the boxed chocolates and treat your loved ones to chocolate whoopie pies with red wine buttercream. The recipe combines the best ingredients of the holiday; chocolate, wine and lots of love. Plus, since they're easy to make and share, you can gift them to all of the special people in your life. Just don't forget to treat yourself, too!

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Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Things You\’ll Need

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Step 1

Pre-heat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Line a metal baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.

Step 2

In a separate bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.

Step 3

Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Step 4

Adjust the beater to low speed. Slowly add half the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk.

Beat on medium until the ingredients are fully combined. The batter will be sticky and thick.

Step 5

Scoop the batter onto the sheet, 1 heaping tablespoon at a time. Place them about 2 inches apart.

Moisten your fingers with water and smooth out each scoop of batter, if necessary.

Step 6

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the pies spring back to the touch. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Transfer to a baking rack to finish cooling. Dust with confectioner's sugar, if you'd like.

Red Wine Buttercream

Things You\’ll Need

• 3 cups confectioner's sugar

• 1 cup red wine

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 to 3 tablespoons milk of choice or wine (if necessary)

Step 1

In a pan over low-medium heat, combine the red wine and white sugar. Mix until dissolved.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Continue cooking until the wine is reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 15 to 20 minutes. It should be thick and syrupy.

Let cool.

Step 2

In a large bowl, beat the butter on low speed. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar until combined.

Step 3

Add the reduced wine and vanilla extract. Mix well with a spatula or spoon.

If you'd like, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk to thin out the buttercream. You can also sweeten things up with sprinkles or mini chocolate chips.

Beyond Valentine's Day, these adorable whoopie pies are perfect for other festivities. Make them for Easter, birthdays or just because!

Cakes require a few small adjustments if you\’re baking on a rainy day. Image Credit: Rayes/Photodisc/Getty Images

Baking cakes and other treats can be more complicated than it looks, because of the sheer number of factors that contribute to success. Your ingredients have to be fresh and properly measured, you have to handle them correctly and even outside factors such as the weather conditions can have an effect. Knowing how to adapt to these variables is one trait that distinguishes a skilled baker from a novice.

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Rainy Day Cakes

There isn't always a direct correlation between the weather outdoors and the success of your baking, but when it occurs it can be maddening. Your cake will rise vigorously in the oven, but will suddenly collapse either late in the baking time or shortly after you've taken it from the oven to cool. You'll be left with a cake that's perfectly baked around the edges, but fallen and dense in the middle. Some bakers try to compensate by ensuring that their ingredients are perfectly dry. Unfortunately that effort is wasted, because the problem is not caused by the rain's moisture but by the weather system itself.

Air Pressure and Baking

Most bakers are aware that cakes and baked goods behave differently when you bake at higher altitudes. That's partially because the air at high elevations is dry, but mostly because the air pressure is lower. The thin air offers less resistance to the cake's expansion as it bakes and, as a result, cakes tend to over-rise and then fall. At lower altitudes, the arrival of rainy weather is usually the result of a low-pressure zone. That means the barometric pressure in your area plunges sharply, creating a temporary effect similar to the effect of high altitude.

Adapting Your Ingredients

If you live at or near sea level it might seem strange to use high-altitude baking strategies, but it's the most effective way to counter variations in your cake baking caused by low-pressure storm systems. The simplest adjustment is to reduce the amount of leavening in your recipe. Try scaling back your baking soda by 1/4 teaspoon, or baking powder by a half-teaspoon. You can also strengthen the cake batter by adding two or three tablespoons of flour, or half a beaten egg white, to the mixture. The added protein helps the batter trap the gas from the leavening, rather than letting it escape, leaving behind a deflated cake.

Adapting Your Technique

Aside from tweaking the ingredients in your batter, you can adjust your cake-mixing technique. If you're making a sponge cake or angel food cake that relies on beaten-in air, beat the egg whites a bit less. This reduces the cake's rise, and limits the likelihood of it collapsing afterward. If you're making a cake that creams the fat and sugar, cut the creaming time by 1/2 to 1/3. That also reduces the amount of air in your batter, and limits the rise. Finally, try increasing your baking temperature by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. That will help the batter set firmly before the gases can escape, and keep it from collapsing.

If you need a simple party snack that looks like you went to a lot of trouble, this could be it. The recipe combines all the elements of pumpkin pie in an easy-to-make, easy-to-serve snack.

Things You\’ll Need

• Flour

• Parchment paper

• Refrigerated pie crust

• Decorative pie crust cutters

• Cinnamon sugar

• Cream cheese, 12 ounces

• Powdered sugar, 1 cup

• Pumpkin butter, 1 1/2 cups

• Whipped cream or whipped topping, 2 cups

Pie Crust Cookies

Set out refrigerated pie crust and allow to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roll out a large piece of parchment paper, and then dust it with flour. Dip each decorative pie crust cutter into flour.

Gently unroll the pie crust, then use the pie crust cutters to cut out individual pieces.

Lay the cut-out shapes on a wire cooling rack. Set the rack over the parchment paper, then generously sprinkle the cut-out shapes with cinnamon sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Butter Dip

Set 12 ounces of cream cheese out to soften slightly. Place the softened cream cheese and 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl, and beat until light and fluffy.

Add 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin butter and beat until thoroughly combined.

Gently fold in 2 cups of whipped cream or whipped topping.

Chill thoroughly before serving.