In a climate like the one in the American South, you'd think people would want light, refreshing desserts -- sorbets, maybe. Actually, Southerners are crazy for cake. Crazy-kooky-nutsy, with frosting on it. They make fruit cakes, angel cakes, chocolate cakes, pound cakes, layer cakes of all kinds (they can't get enough of coconut cakes). They have varieties you may never have heard of, such as Laine cake (a white cake with fluffy white frosting and a custardy coconut, raisin and nut filling), and they keep inventing more. Some are homey treats based on molasses or dried fruit, but the majority are madly rich. Most of the 64 recipes in Nancie McDermott's just-published "Southern Cakes" call for reckless quantities of cream, butter, sugar and eggs. The resulting cakes tower grandly, they're plushly frosted, they ooze filling. Just try to resist them. It will be a lesson in humility. McDermott, who lived in Irvine and Carlsbad, Calif., from 1985 to 1999, learned about Thai food while serving in the Peace Corps and is best known for her half dozen books on Southeast Asian cooking. Then she surprised Southern California's foodies by moving back to her home state of North Carolina. The Asian cookbooks kept coming, but now here's "Southern Cakes," showing that the persimmon doesn't fall far from the tree . On returning to the South, she writes, she has enjoyed taking "a long, sweet look at Southern food in general and Southern baking in particular." For a generation, people have been amazingly impressed when anybody makes a cake from scratch. In fact, as I found when cooking my way through eight recipes in this book, it's absurdly easy. Your mixer creams the butter and sugar with no effort from you, then you mix in the eggs, liquid and flour, and bingo: batter. The baking part is no more difficult than with a mix. True, frostings can be more troublesome, and I tend to trust a candy thermometer when higher densities of sugar syrup are involved, rather than relying on the traditional method of evaluating thread or soft-ball stages. My main criticism of McDermott's book is that I wish she had put in temperatures more often for the frostings. Otherwise, these recipes are very well worked out , written clearly enough for a novice to handle. The thing Southern cake-makers are perhaps best known for is a goofy fondness for strange ingredients. They might put in mayonnaise (well, it's basically egg yolks, oil and lemon juice, so why not?) or even tomato soup. "Southern cooks don't keep the key ingredient a mystery," McDermott writes, "we find quirkiness attractive, and tomato soup cake is pretty, easy and simply delicious." In the quirk department, take orange slice cake, basically a cross between date-nut bread and an orange-glazed fruit cake, except for the presence of orange slice candies from a cellophane bag in the supermarket candy aisle. That might sound bizarre, but the chopped orange slice candies work perfectly well in cake. Think of them as a substitute for candied citron peel, with a more pleasant jelly-candy texture. Every recipe has a charming headnote, often showing a bit of historical research, and about a third are illustrated with color photos. McDermott's handy introductory chapter on cake baking includes the very Southern advice to buy butter on sale and keep it in the freezer "so you are baking-ready 24/7." The "everyday" cakes include Ocracoke Island fig cake (a spice cake from North Carolina's Outer Banks, made with figs and walnuts and topped with a buttermilk glaze) and a blueberry cake (pretty much blueberry muffins baked in a cake pan) from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Along with these homey items, McDermott presents a couple of wild ones. Japanese fruit cake is not Japanese in the slightest -- it's four alternating layers of fruited and plain cake with a filling of lemon coconut glaze. That's the thing about this book. I've always been a pie-oriented guy, insofar as I've bothered with dessert at all. McDermott has made a convert of me. She's shown me that if you want to impress people all to heck, nothing beats a great big cake loaded with frosting. Call me crazy. But first, have just one slice.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Caramel Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the pan • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1 cup milk • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract • 1 box (1 pound) dark brown sugar • 1/2 cup granulated sugar • 5 large eggs • Caramel Glaze (recipe follows) Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. In a mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, the baking powder and salt and stir with a fork; set aside. Into a small bowl, pour the milk and add the vanilla; set aside. Using a mixer, beat 1 1/2 cups butter at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar in three batches, then add all of the granulated sugar, beating after each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add half of the flour mixture and then half the milk, beating until the flour or milk has disappeared into the batter. Add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk in the same way. Quickly scrape the batter into the tube pan and bake until the cake is nicely browned at the edges, springs back when lightly touched at the center and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and leave it on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan with a table knife and turn it out onto a wire rack or plate, then leave it to cool completely. When cool, top with Caramel Glaze. Makes 10-12 servings. Caramel Glaze • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter • 1 cup light brown sugar • 1/2 cup evaporated milk • 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar • 1 teaspoon oure vanilla extract In a large saucepan, place the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir until the butter melts and blends with the brown sugar to a smooth sauce, for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk and let the icing come to a gentle boil. Stir well, remove from the heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well with a mixer, whisk or spoon until the glaze thickens and loses a little of its shine, for 1 or 2 minutes. Use at once. If the glaze hardens, stir in 1 or 2 spoonfuls of evaporated milk to soften it.

Classic Coconut Cakewith Mountain Coconut Icing

You can make this with packaged sliced coconut, but fresh really is better. Hold the coconut over a bowl or pan, with the three "eyes" toward you; strike it with a hammer at what would be its equator line. Continue to strike it in single blows around that "line" until it is cracked. Use a knife to pry the coconut meat from the shards of shell (stick the knife between the brown shell and the tan skin of the meat). Remove the skin with a vegetable peeler. • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened, plus extra for pans • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for pans • 2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 cup milk, or juice from a fresh coconut plus enough milk to make 1 cup • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract • 2 cups granulated sugar • 4 large eggs • White Mountain Coconut Icing (recipe follows) Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. In a mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, the baking powder and salt; set aside. Place the milk in a small bowl and stir in the vanilla; set aside. Using a mixer, beat 1 cup butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and continue beating, stopping to scrape down the sides, until the mixture is light and evenly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add about a third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat well at low speed. Add about half of the milk, beating well. Add another third of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the milk and then the remaining flour mixture, beating well each time until the mixture is thick and smooth. Quickly scrape the batter into the cake pans, dividing it evenly. Bake until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when lightly touched in the center and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans, for 25-30 minutes. Remove the cake pans from the oven and leave on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto wire racks or plates, then turn the layers top side up and allow to cool completely before icing. Makes 10-12 servings. White Mountain Coconut Icing • 1 cup granulated sugar • 1/2 cup water • 2 large egg whites (see Note) • 1/2 cup (approximately) blackberry jam, optional • 3 cups freshly grated coconut or sweetened shredded coconut Place the sugar and water in a small pan and stir to dissolve. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and cook without stirring for 3 minutes, then boil for 5-10 minutes more, stirring often, until the syrup has thickened and will form a thread about 2 inches long when poured from a spoon, or until a candy thermometer reads 238 degrees. Remove from the heat. While the syrup is boiling, beat the egg whites in a large mixer bowl at high speed until they are bright white and shiny and pillow up into voluminous clouds. Pour the thickened syrup into the egg whites and continue to beat at high speed until the icing becomes fluffy and holds a peak, for 4-5 minutes. Place one cake top-side down on a serving plate. Spread the jam over it, if using, then cover it generously with icing and sprinkle with coconut. Place the second layer on top of the first, top side up. Ice the sides of the cake to help keep it steady, then spread icing generously over the top, completely covering the cake. Place the serving plate on a cookie sheet to catch any loose coconut and sprinkle coconut all over the cake. Gently pat handfuls of coconut onto the sides and top to cover bare spots. Note: Consuming uncooked eggs and raw egg products can increase the chances of food poisoning, especially with infants, children, the elderly and those with weak immune systems. Substitute pasteurized whites for shell eggs, if desired.

Celestial Chocolate Cake

Because the filling of this is made of whipped cream, it might begin to break down if the cake is left in a warm location for too long. Be sure to serve soon after completion. • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, plus extra for greasing pans • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for pans • 1 cup cocoa • 2 cups boiling water • 2 teaspoons baking soda • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract • 4 large eggs • Whipped Cream Filling (recipe follows) • Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows) Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans. Place the cocoa in a small mixing bowl and pour 2 cups boiling water over it. Stir well with a fork until smooth, and set aside to cool. Put 2 3/4 cups flour, the baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium-size bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. Set aside. Using a mixer, beat 1 cup butter and the sugar at high speed until well combined. Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, until the mixture is smooth and light. Add the flour mixture in four batches, beating after each addition only until the flour disappears. Alternate with the cocoa mixture in three batches, beating after each addition just enough to combine everything into a smooth batter, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Divide the batter among the three cake pans. Bake until the cakes spring back when touched lightly in the center and are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans, for 25-30 minutes. Place the cake pans on wire racks and cool the cake layers for 10 minutes. Then gently turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely, top side up. Place the first cake layer top side down on a serving plate and spread half the Whipped Cream Filling almost to the edge. Cover with a second layer of cake, top side down, and spread the remaining Whipped Cream Filling over it. Place the third cake layer, top side up, over the filling. Spread the Chocolate Frosting over the sides and top of the cake. Makes 10-12 servings. Whipped Cream Filling • 1 cup heavy whipping cream, very cold • 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract In a mixer bowl, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla and beat until thick. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to complete the cake. Chocolate Frosting • 1 package (16 ounces) semisweet chocolate bits, about 2 3/4 cups • 1/2 cup heavy cream • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into chunks • 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted In a medium-size saucepan, combine the chocolate bits, cream and butter. Cook gently over medium heat, stirring often to help the butter and chocolate to melt, and to avoid letting the mixture come to a boil. When the chocolate and butter have melted, transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. Add the powdered sugar and beat well at medium speed until thick enough to spread, stopping often to scrape down the bowl.

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