Nashville-based cookbook author Anne Byrn has become famous as the Cake Mix Doctor, thanks to a popular series about simple ways to make regular cake mix cakes special. Byrn describes her latest book, What Can I Bring? Cookbook, as “the Cake Mix Doctor takes on potluck.”
 
At some point, nearly everyone is faced with the question of what dish to bring to a party, picnic or potluck dinner — and Byrn says lots of people get it wrong. “One of the most common things guests do is bring a dish and expect to just leave it, without instructions for the host,” she says. “Or they come in and have to do all these last-minute preparations, like they bring something that needs to be refrigerated first or needs to be baked for a half-hour before serving. They bring too complicated a dessert or recipe and don’t check with the host first.”
 
What Can I Bring? Cookbook aims to right those wrongs with 200 recipes for all kinds of meals and occasions. If you want to play it safe, Byrn says there’s one dish that always works. “There are a few recipes from my book that seem to always be gone at the end of any party: the deviled eggs, the cheddar-pineapple casserole, and the broccoli cornbread. They’re dishes that could go in any season or with any food,” says Byrn. “But I would say the one dish that would probably be right anytime is deviled eggs.”
 
If you’re bringing dessert, the Doctor prescribes the all-around simplest way to dress up a cake mix cake: “For white cake mix, just add orange juice, straight from the carton,” says Byrn. “That’s probably the easiest, quickest thing to add to make a basic cake mix special. For chocolate cake, the simplest thing to do is use buttermilk instead of water.  It makes the cake more moist and gives it more of a made-from-scratch taste and texture.”
 
Byrn says her Apple Cake is great for tailgating or a neighborhood potluck because it won’t slip and slide. Create a cake mix version by preparing a spice cake, using buttermilk, folding in chopped apples, baking in a Bundt pan and topping with the caramel glaze.

Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze
  Serves: 16
  Preparation time: 20 minutes
  Baking time: 75 to 80 minutes
 
CAKE:
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups chopped raw peeled apples, cut into 1-inch chunks, from 3 large apples
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
 
GLAZE:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray, and dust the pan with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pan aside.

2. Place the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on medium-low until the mixture lightens, 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, soda, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and stir to combine using a wooden spoon. Fold in the apples, walnuts if desired, and vanilla.

3. Transfer the batter to the pan and place the pan in the oven. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and it begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 75 to 80 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 25 minutes, then invert onto one wire rack (for the Bundt pan), or then again onto another wire rack (for the tube pan), so that it is right-side up. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze.

4. Place the butter, sugars, cream, and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Let the glaze boil for 1 minute, stirring, then remove the pan from the heat.

5. Poke a few holes in the top of the cake with a bamboo skewer or fork, and spoon the glaze over the warm cake. Let the cake cool completely before slicing.

You’ll Love Apple Cake Loaves:
Pour the batter into two 9- by 5-inch loaf pans and bake at 325 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes. After cooling, remove the loaves from the pan and glaze.

(Photo and recipe courtesy of Workman Publishing)

“People tend to eat with their eyes,” says chef Alisa Huntsman. That must be the theory behind her new book, Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes (Chronicle Books, $35), which is indeed a feast for the eyes. Huntsman, former bakery owner and current pastry chef at the famous Loveless Café in Nashville, co-authored the book with journalist and cookbook author Peter Wynne. They hit on the idea that there’s just something about a cake with three tiers that makes it … well, irresistible.
 
“Three layers make a really tall cake, and people love that,” says Huntsman. “It’s more of a showstopper than anything else. When people see these big cakes come in, they can¹t help but want to try them.”
 
These head-turners can be created in the most basic kitchens, say the authors. Even the simplest cakes look special in three elegant tiers. The book includes recipes and mouth-watering photos of 45 towering cakes, like Boston Cream Pie and Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake, as well as unusual confections such as Santa Fe Blue Cornmeal Cake with Caramel Cream and Dulce de Leche (a tall name for a tall cake).
 
“We came up with all of these cakes for the book,” says Huntsman. “Some I had done before, but not as a triple-layer‹the chocolate peanut butter cake, for example, I made at my bakery, but not as a triple-layer.”
 
Huntsman makes much more than cakes for dessert at the Loveless, a legendary meat-and-three in Music City famous for its breakfast, especially its fluffy biscuits and savory country ham. She takes pride in the fact that everything is homemade, without the usual shortcuts even grandma might have used.
 
“I would have to say the specialty at the Loveless is the pie. We make them all here,” she says. “But the signature dessert is banana pudding. I make a rich vanilla cream from scratch and the cookies from scratch.  I don’t use vanilla wafers. There are no vanilla wafers in this restaurant!”