How Ina Garten Steps Up Simple Cake With Just One Addition

Ina Garten's recipes are the epitome of simple elegance. Her ability to create approachable dishes that are welcome anywhere from the bougie Hamptons to small town U.S.

is part of what makes her so beloved. Often, she'll take the most straightforward of recipes and make them fit for royalty just by adding one simple ingredient. For instance, her all-American coconut cake (similar in flavor to the ) is delicious just as it is.



There's nothing fancy about it, with its creamy white frosting, and appetizing coating of shredded coconut. But when she includes one extra element — fresh raspberry sauce — the dessert turns into a colorful, enticing sweet worthy of your most special occasions. As Garten said in an video, the saucy addition can turn "a delicious dessert into kind of a restaurant dessert.

" To serve the sweet treat, Garten simply spoons the raspberry sauce onto a plate and spreads it out before placing a slice of her cake right on top, giving a gorgeous contrast in color. To finish, she adds a handful of fresh raspberries to garnish. The sauce itself is simple, made with fresh raspberries, sugar, and raspberry jam.

But she fancies it up by incorporating a framboise (raspberry) liqueur, such as Chambord – a , as well. Garten's fruity sauce only takes a few minutes to make, and will last up to a week in the fridge. It's also delicious enough to level-up more than one dessert recipe.

You could drizzle it over homemade or , pound cake, or cheesecake for an easy yet impressive upgrade. Ina Garten is a fan of simple culinary upgrades Ina Garten's fans have come to expect the unexpected when it comes to her recipes. This isn't to say that she creates anything complicated, far from it.

But the Barefoot Contessa is renowned for often including an unusual or unanticipated ingredient to effortlessly enhance dishes. For instance, she's a big fan of adding coffee to chocolate — and indeed, many people believe that a bit of . Another of her chocolate cakes includes crème de cassis liqueur, which adds a sweet-yet-tart blackcurrant flavor.

This dessert is also topped with raspberries, but rather than making them into a sauce, Garten tosses them in sugar and more of the cassis. The French blackcurrant liqueur also pops up in her Italian plum tart. There are several other sweet recipes from Garten in which simplicity is the name of the game, too.

Scoops of vanilla ice cream are instantly upgraded when she drizzles them with limoncello, and serves them with a couple of store-bought biscotti; she also uses the sunny Southern Italian spirit to toss into fruit salad. And, instead of (which is basically a pourable, sweet custard), Garten simply melts good vanilla ice cream. She then uses it to accompany warm bread pudding, instantly elevating the comforting dessert with minimal effort.

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