Wendy Ra­hamut

Sun­day is moth­er's day, and moth­ers in­deed need more than one day to be cel­e­brat­ed. What bet­ter way to cel­e­brate her than with a tru­ly ter­rif­ic cake or dessert. Here are some of my favourite desserts that still get ap­plauds when served up,and they can be made up to one day ahead. So for all the un­con­di­tion­al love she gives, for the silent strength she pro­vides in times of need, for the words of wis­dom she speaks, and for her "spe­cial" love as a grand­par­ent, hap­py moth­er's day to all de­serv­ing and beau­ti­ful moms. May you be pam­pered to­mor­row by you and yours.

PINEAP­PLE ICE BOX CAKE

For the Sponge:

1 cup gran­u­lat­ed sug­ar

1 cup all pur­pose flour

5 eggs

1 tsp vanil­la

1 one inch strip of lime peel

3 tbs wa­ter

Make the sponge:

Beat the eggs with the sug­ar and lime peel un­til thick and rib­bons form from the beat­ers when lift­ed about five min­utes, add wa­ter.

Fold in the flour. Spread bat­ter in­to a pre­pared cook­ie sheet and bake for ten to 15 min­utes un­til cake springs back when touched. Re­move from oven, place a clean tea tow­el on a wire rack and sprin­kle with ic­ing sug­ar.

Turn out cake on­to tow­el and care­ful­ly re­move waxed pa­per.

Line a loaf tin with plas­tic wrap and cut the cake to fit the base of the loaf tin, you will need four pieces.

For the fill­ing:

1/2 cup un­salt­ed but­ter

1 cup sift­ed ic­ing sug­ar

2 cups heavy cream

1 egg

1 tsp vanil­la

11/2 cups crushed pineap­ple, drained

1/4 cup toast­ed, chopped al­monds

Cream the but­ter with the ic­ing sug­ar un­til light and fluffy.

Add the egg and beat un­til creamy, add the vanil­la. Place the cream in a small bowl and whip un­til light, add 1 1/2 cups to the but­ter mix­ture and com­bine. Fold in pineap­ple.

To as­sem­ble:

Place one lay­er of cake at the base of the loaf tin, spread the mix­ture over the cake, re­peat us­ing four lay­ers, top with the bal­ance of the cream and sprin­kle on al­monds.

• Serves ten

CHOCO­LATE CHEESE­CAKE

Crust:

1 cup choco­late cook­ie crumbs

1/2 cup fine­ly chopped toast­ed hazel­nuts

1/3 cup un­salt­ed but­ter

Fill­ing:

12 oz Bit­ter­sweet choco­late

11/2 b Cream cheese

1 cup gran­u­lat­ed sug­ar

1 tsp vanil­la

1 cup sour cream

3 tbs flour

3 eggs

Glaze

4 oz bit­ter­sweet choco­late

1/4 cup thick cream

Pre­heat oven to 350&or­dm;F

In a food proces­sor process cook­ie crumbs, nuts and but­ter. Press in­to the bot­tom of a ten-inch spring­form pan, and set aside. Melt choco­late in a dou­ble boil­er and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl beat cream cheese un­til smooth and light, add sug­ar. Add melt­ed choco­late and eggs one at a time. Spoon mix­ture in­to pre­pared pan and bake for 50 to 55 min­utes. Re­move from pan and cool. Chill un­til cold. Make the glaze by com­bin­ing melt­ed choco­late with cream. Spread over top of cake and al­low to set.

• Serves 10-12

CREME CARAMEL

1 cup gran­u­lat­ed sug­ar

3 egg yolks

2 eggs

13/4 cups full cream milk

1/3 cup gran­u­lat­ed sug­ar

1 tsp. vanil­la essence

Pre­heat oven to 325&or­dm;F

In a heavy bot­tomed saucepan, melt one-cup sug­ar to a caramel colour, do not burn; your caramel is ready when you be­gin to smell the caramel.

Pour caramel in­to the bot­tom of six one-half cup ramekin dish­es

In a bowl beat eggs and egg yolks with sug­ar and milk, add vanil­la.

Strain mix­ture in­to a jug, pour in­to caramel lined ramekins.

Place dish­es in­to a shal­low bak­ing pan, fill about 1/3 full with wa­ter.

Bake in a pre­heat­ed 350&or­dm;F oven for 45 to 50 min­utes un­til slight­ly puffed at the edges and slight­ly firm in the cen­tre. Re­move and cool.

Re­frig­er­ate for about four hours be­fore serv­ing. In­vert be­fore serv­ing.

• Serves six