I don't think there's any food better to feature on Valentine's Day besides a vividly colored red velvet cake. This one, by Bakerella, meets all the criteria of food porn too: rough edges, myopic focus and thickly spread frosting. Could someone please get me a slice and a fork? If you want to whip up one of these for your sweetie as an after dinner treat tonight, here's a link to Paula Deen's family recipe as well as the recipe for cream cheese frosting that Bakerella used on the cake you see above.

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Forget the two-layer birthday cakes and the double-chocolate cookies. We're talking wild, sumptuous, no-holds-barred desserts that throw caution - and your diet - to the wind. From deep-fried Mars bars to peanut butter fudge ripple cheesecake, we've gathered five of the most devilishly delicious sweets we could find. Paula Deen makes an appearance, as does The Cheesecake Factory.

Take a minute to gaze over these swoon-worthy desserts, and then let us know: what's the most decadently outrageous dessert you've ever eaten? What made it so incredible? If it's wild enough, it just might make it into a future Outrageous Desserts post.

We all know Paula Deen for her thick Southern accent, enthusiastic laugh and willingness to cook up recipes that incorporate 12 sticks of butter. Despite her occasional trips to the land of excess, she can often be depended on to offer up tasty recipes that can be cooked up quickly and without too much effort. Her Thanksgiving leftovers menu from this year is an example of her reliable cooking.

She's got you covered whether you want to make turkey pot pie (with butternut squash and cranberries cooked right in), potato croquettes (preferably cooked in peanut oil) or (because Paula never forgets dessert) pumpkin bars. If those recipes don't float your boat. If those recipes leave you cold, check out Michael Chiarello's Turkey Soup, George Duran's Turkey in a Cone or Ann Volkwein's upscale Thanksgiving in a Sandwich.

Is your family totally devoted to canned cranberry sauce, despite all your best efforts to sway them to the world of orange-scented homemade compote? If so, maybe you're looking for a way to spice up that cranberry sauce (because serving it in the shape of the can does leave something to be desired). Paula Deen, in her trademark over-the-top style, has come up with a new way of serving canned cranberry sauce. Here's how she described it in a USA Today column.

"I gave a twist to cranberry sauce one year. You take a can of the jellied sauce and slice it in quarter-inch pieces. Then you mix up cream cheese and hot sauce and a little mayo, and you make up sandwiches - no bread, just the cheese mix in between cranberries."

Sounds like an interesting approach to cranberry sauce to me, although the purists would have a heart attack if you suggested adulterating their precious canned sauce with mayo and cream cheese.

Since Mother's Day is right around the corner, I've been searching for some recipe ideas and started wondering how Paula Deen, probably the best-known mother in the cooking world, would celebrate Mom's Day? The answer, of course, is by inviting her sons over to cook with her. After a quick search, I found out that the Food Network would be airing her Mother's Day special today. Paula, Jamie and Bobby will apparently be preparing a brunch feast which includes Nutty Orange Coffee Cake, Benedictine Sandwiches (pictured, above) and Eggs in a Nest, which essentially equates to a ham and cheese omelet served in phyllo pasty - nice twist on the original.

If you watch her often, you'll know that Paula isn't afraid to mix things up a little in the morning with some wine - and in this case she is preparing Wine Spritzers which I'm fairly certain would be light and refreshing after a heavy brunch.

(image: Food Network)

The 2007 Food Network Awards were held in February during the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, but the results were just broadcast a few nights ago during a 90-minute TV special. I missed the actual show, but have a full listing of the winners which you can find after the jump.

The categories this year were strange to say the least - you won't find anything relating to any of the actual shows or people of the Food Network, however, the network personalities were out in full force. Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby and Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, and Bobby Flay (among others) presented alongside a rather odd choice of celebrities (really, this is food - not the oscars!) including Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. Though it may seem odd, I'm sure it was highly entertaining.

If you want to catch the entire awards show, the Food Network will apparently be running an encore tonight.

Paula Deen's newest book - a memoir - is set to come out this April. Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' takes the reader back to a time when things weren't quite as rosy as they are now for Deen, from when she dealt with depression and agoraphobia and struggled to make ends meet to when she sold her first cookbook and finally hit the road to the success she is now know for.

On the trunks of hazelnut trees in Tennessee, one of the most prized ingredients in the culinary world is growing: perigord truffles. And they're good ones, too. Despite the fact that they're not grown in France, chefs think that they're world class

Women tend to be underrepresented in kitchens to begin with, but molecular gastronomy sees even fewer women joining its movement. "It's not very nourishing emotionally," said Ann Cooper, author of " 'A Woman's Place Is in the Kitchen."

Is Whole Foods stretching itself too thin?

Frank Bruni gives Robert's Steakhouse, which happens to be inside the Penthouse Club (a strip club) one star.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, makes Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread

Chili is one of the most popular dishes that is served on Super Bowl Sunday. It's filling, warming and can easily be made in advance, then simply reheated when everyone is ready to eat. There is a lot of debate over whether chili should use ground beef or chunked and whether it should have beans or not. Some also argue over exactly how much heat a chili should have. The last point is entirely up to you when you're cooking, but you can avoid the beef chili arguments by making up a batch of White Bean Chili. This batch was cooked up at Hot Sauce Blog and uses a recipe from Paula Deen - a chef who would never steer you wrong when it comes to comfort food. White chili uses both white beans and chicken, but no tomatoes, which most traditional chilis use heavily. Despite its color, it still delivers plenty of heat, thanks to the inclusion of a generous amount of jalapeno peppers.

No, I'm not the Bob in the name of this dessert, but I did see Paula Deen make it on the Food Network special All Star Holiday Gifts the other night, and I'm going to make it for Christmas this year. It looked so easy that for a second there I actually thought that she had forgotten a step in the process, but this is Paula Deen we're talking about, so let's get real.

If you don't usually do a lot of cooking at home, you might still cook for holidays and the occasional family gathering, since the kitchen is often the focal point of family activity as people gather for coffee or snacks. While an all-purpose cookbook might serve the everyday chefs better, sometimes the ones that are specifically geared towards celebrations work out better for the very occasional chef. Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life is the newest cookbook from the ever-popular Food Network Star and, if you have any interest in homestyle cooking, you probably don't have to be reminded that Paula is a great source for those types of recipes.

The book is divided up into sections based on the holidays and special occasions - covering everything from New Year's Eve to Elvis' Birthday to a Movie Watching Pizza Party in Bed - that she and her family like to celebrate. The dishes are always themed and fit together well. They are easy to follow and a pleasure to read, which should be no surprise to anyone who has used one of her previous books. And even though I started this off by saying that those sometimes-chefs could find this to be a good resource, it would also, of course, be a great addition to anyone who enjoys Paula's recipes. And butter.

I was watching Food Network on Saturday night (yes, I have a very thrilling social life) and I saw an ad for their All-Star Thanksgiving special that starts airing on November 18. Is that the special from last year or the year before and not a new special? I ask because Sara Moulton is featured on the show, and I'm not sure if this is a new special or a special from the last couple of years.

I used to love Cooking Live every night and think it was a bad move to cancel that show. Moulton went on to another show, Sara's Secrets.

Nicole reported last year that Moulton was leaving the network, so are these Sara Secrets episodes repeats? I can't tell from the schedule at the site. When I saw the ad for the Thanksgiving special, it made me cringe a bit, because I know that she's basically not doing much for the network anymore, unless the episodes of her show that are on every morning are new and not repeats? To be honest, I didn't even know the show was still on anymore, and I usually don't watch Food Network that early in the AM, so I'm not sure if they're new or repeats.

A big photo is the perfect way to share the big flavors of this amazing looking Caramel Apple Cake from Peabody at Culinary Concoctions. The recipe is an adaptation of one of Paula Deen's favorites, Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake. The cake itself is moist and tender. The original uses a lot of pecans and some shredded coconut along with the apples, but this version uses chopped walnuts and raisins to better complement the topping.

Peabody baked the cake in individual-sized cake pans, rather than one large pan, and put together what might just be the most sweetly decadent topping we've seen in a while. It has gooey caramel, caramelized apples and a drizzle of white chocolate, for contrast. As you might expect, this is one sweet dessert, but we suspect that you'll have a hard time putting the fork down once you've picked it up and taken the first bite.

The full post can be read here: http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2006/09/05/the-caramel-apple-does-not-fall-far-from-the-tree/

The Food Network loves Paula Deen and they are about to do what they always do with their favorite stars -Rachael Ray, Emeril, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown - and give her a new show. Paula's Cooking Party is an hour-long prime time show staring Paula, a kitchen and a live studio audience. The network describes it as a "non-stop rollercoaster of food, fun, stories, recipes and surprises" and it will have far less emphasis on straight cooking instruction, which her current show is based around. Well, that and butter, anyway.

Deen, 59, just recently became a grandmother, so it is something of a surprise that the network is opting to promote her when they have been trying to attract a younger audience. Granted, Paula's show and her specials have attracted the some of the largest tv audiences on the network, but is "Paula unplugged" going to attract viewers? And when one of the early episodes featured Paula "trying on a young audience member's stilettos, telling jokes and staging a live crab race," will it keep viewers accustomed to seeing her cook satisfied?

The show premiers September 29th, so we'll just have to wait until then to find out.

Most cookbooks on Amazon have just a handful of reviews, but The Lady & Sons Just Desserts has over 20, a testament to people's love of Paula Deen and of Southern desserts. It is a volume of classic Southern favorites, like Chess Pie, and desserts that are now well-known to many as Paula Deen's, regardless of whether they originated with her or not, like Gooey Butter Cake and butter. Oh, is butter not a dessert?

The recipes range from relatively complex to simple, with a fair few starting off with a box of cake mix, and all the instructions are very straightforward, so it is perfect for a beginner or for someone who simply doesn't bake too much and still loves the idea of something homemade when they do. If you like Paula's easy, charming style and want to impress (or fatten) your friends and relatives without trying too hard, this book will definitely get you there.

This is the Domestic Goddess's Watermelon and Feta Salad and if there is a more refreshing side dish on a hot summer day, I'm not sure what it would be. It is also very simple to make; the chilled salad has the crunchy sweetness of watermelon, its juiciness enhanced by mixing it with salty, creamy feta cheese. Jennifer has added chopped parsley to hers for a bit of color contrast, but I have seen recipes, like Nigella Lawson's, that call for adding chopped olives to the mix. Paula Deen's recipe asks for slivered onions to be included. The Traveler's Lunchbox tosses pinenuts and basil in with the watermelon. Whichever combination of flavors you end up using, this is a great use for watermelon and a beautiful, sweet-and-savory side to replace potato salad at your next bbq.