Chocolate: A Baker's Ingredient Guide
How to buy, store, melt and substitute chocolate in baking — plus which recipes put each type to work.
Serena Kim
Serena Kim
Recipe development · layer cakes · chocolate desserts
Serena started Serenity Sweets from her home kitchen, where she has baked and photographed every kind of dessert for over a decade. She develops most of the recipes on the site and tests each one at least twice before it's published.
Recipes & guides by Serena Kim
8 hrs 50 minNo-Bake Desserts
Classic Tiramisu
The real thing: espresso-dipped ladyfingers under a light mascarpone cream, no baking, better after a night in the fridge.
Serena KimIntermediate
4 hrs 25 minNo-Bake Desserts
No-Bake Cheesecake
A silky cream-cheese filling set in a buttery graham crust — no oven, no water bath, no cracks. Just four hours in the fridge.
Serena KimEasy
Chocolate Desserts
The Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Desserts
Everything on Serenity Sweets about baking with chocolate in one place: the recipes, the buying guide, and the techniques that make chocolate desserts taste deeper.
Serena Kim
Baking Tips
The Best Chocolate for Baking (What to Buy and Why)
Cocoa percentages, natural vs Dutch-process, chips vs bars — a practical guide to choosing chocolate that makes your baking taste better.
Serena Kim
55 minChocolate Desserts
Moist Chocolate Cake
A deeply chocolatey layer cake that stays moist for days, thanks to hot coffee bloomed into the cocoa. One bowl, no mixer needed.
Serena KimEasy
Baking Tips
Why Cakes Sink in the Middle (and How to Stop It)
A sunken center is almost always one of six causes — from expired leavening to an oven door opened too soon. Diagnose yours and fix the next bake.
Serena Kim
Baking Tips
How to Measure Flour Correctly
The single most common cause of dry cakes and tough cookies is too much flour. Here's the spoon-and-level method, why it works, and when to switch to a scale.
Serena Kim