Southern Cakes Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations

Sit yourself down on the porch swing and get ready to take a long, sweet look at the clssic cake specialties in Southern Cakes. From Brown Sugar Poundcake to Mississippi Mud Cake and the extravagant elegance of Lady Baltimore Cake, jam cakes, jelly rolls, humble pear bread, peanut cake and even Eudora Welty's bourbon-soaked white fruitcake--each moist and delicious forkful represents the hospitality of those who live below the Mason-Dixon line.Southern Cakes offers the basics of cake baking, including buying the proper equipment, mixing the perfect batter and how to store those lovely cakes. Interesting histories are included with many of the recipes.

Nancie McDermott, cooking teacher and author, lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Becky Luigart-Stayner is a photographer for numerous magazines and lives in Birmingham, Alabama.