Ashlie D. Stevens is Salon's senior food editor. She is also an award-winning radio producer, editor and features writer — with a special emphasis on food, culture and subculture.

Heat 12 oz. milk chocolate, chopped, and 12 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (about 50% cacao), in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water (do not let bowl touch water ...

Chocolate Wafer Cookies & Ice Box Cake. From Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network. Makes about 75 1½-inch cookies, and one very large cake — you can halve for a smaller version.

I baked the cake in two heart-shaped pans, rather than the two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans the recipe calls for, and that's where I went "wrong." ...