I made Ina Garten's fresh apple spice cake, her most fall-friendly dessert. The cake features Granny Smith apples, rum-soaked raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pecans. I ate the cake with ice cream and ...

Apple cakes abound in the fall and I am usually the first one to jump on that bake, but this year I was inspired by two ingredients to make something a little different—pears and a new spiced rum.

Baking a flawless rum cake requires science, technique, and some know-how. Leave it to a trained chef to help demystify some ...