Baking is a skill that takes a lot of practice. Once you have the basics down, how do you come up with ideas for different flavors? Do you follow a family recipe? Search the web?

Next time you’re looking for some tasty cake combinations, try checking out a cake cookbook from the library. Here are several titles available from JMRL:

Cake Magic! by Caroline Wright – A totally unique and super simple way to mix and match just a handful of batters, flavoring syrups, frosting and other elements to make 100 different delicious cake combinations.

Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman – Embraces nutritious whole food ingredients that are unprocessed, unrefined, natural, seasonal and local wherever possible to create over 80 recipes, from rich chocolate brownies, a show-stopping courgette, and raw desserts to spectacular fruit pies and enticing savory tarts.

Delicious Dump Cakes by Roxanne Wyss & Kathy Moore – Featuring classic recipes as well as new, innovative flavor combinations, a cookbook for baking rich, wonderful and comforting desserts quickly is perfect for home cooks on the go, families with children who always want to help and for anyone who just wants to keep their cooking simple.

Cake My Day! by Karen Tack – Provides a collection of cake recipes which can be made for a variety of special occasions and holidays, with detailed instructions for adding comical animal and accessory decorations designed to make each cake an original creation.

Bake It Like You Mean It by Gesine Bullock-Prado – Presents recipes for a variety of cakes, discussing ingredients and techniques for such dishes as pound cakes, meringues, cheesecakes, and sponge cakes which have patterns and designs inside.

Cake Balls by Dede Wilson – Provides nine cake and ten frosting recipes that can be combined to create over 60 cake balls, featuring such flavors as chocolate chip cookie dough, cranberry toffee walnut, milk chocolate bacon bourbon, and red velvet.

Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson – A collection of updated recipes for classic and forgotten cakes that features such options as jam cake with caramel chocolate ganache, lemon icebox cake with white chocolate cream, and eggnog bundt cake with brandy butter glaze.

Have Your Cake and Vegan Too by Kris Holechek – Presents recipes for cakes that do not include any animal products, along with tips about which ingredients to use and recipes for toppings and fillings.