Keeping an eye out for new cookbooks is one of the best parts of my jobs. Sometimes they are good for reading and not much else, or maybe they only have one or two good recipes. But sometimes they prove to be a great buy, filled with useful information and good recipes.

A book I recently found &uot;The Cake Mix Doctor&uot; is one of those. Written by Anne Byrn of Nashville, Tenn., it is filled with more than 150 desserts from layer cakes to pound cakes, bars, cookies, angel food cakes and many others. Byrn takes cakes mixes and with the addition of a few extra ingredients you can have a dessert that no one will believe began with a cake mix.

Once baking a cake from scratch meant sifting flour, creaming butter and adding eggs one at a time and using cake mixes were frowned upon. Then as families found themselves shorter on time cake mixes became more popular, but they just weren’t that great, actually they were rather boring.

The reason I was impressed with the book will become evident quickly. The first eight pages of the book contain color photos of each recipe. Then Byrn takes you from chocolate cakes, special occasion cakes, coffee cakes, right on to cakes with spirit, cookies and more. With plenty of baking tips sprinkled throughout the book you are guaranteed to learn more than just new recipes.

Byrn shows you how quickly you can jazz up a cake mix by keeping easily purchased items in your pantry.

Begin stocking your pantry with the following items: cake mixes – keep on hand two devil’s food mixes, two yellow mixes, two white mixes, one spice mix, one lemon mix and one orange mix; butter; milk, (some of the recipes call for milk but a few specify whole milk); eggs, like most baked goods these recipes call for large eggs; nuts, keep almonds, pecans, walnuts and others in the freezer to prolong their shelf life; coconut, keep grated coconut in your freezer also; vegetable oil, chocolate, semisweet, bittersweet, German chocolate, chocolate chips, syrup and cocoa powder can prove invaluable in dressing up your mixes; extracts, keep pure extracts such as vanilla, almond, orange and lemon on hand; and spices, keep your favorite spices such as cinnamon, cardamon, ginger and nutmeg on hand, buy them in small quantities because they don’t have long shelf life. Other items she suggests you keep on hand in your refrigerator are sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese and citrus fruits.

These are just two of the recipes that I have fallen in love with, give them a try and you will too.

Chocolate Chip Cake

serves 16

Vegetable oil spray

Flour

1 bar (4 ounces) German chocolate

1 package plain yellow cake mix

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

1 cup whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 6-ounce package of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray a 10-inch tube pan or three 8-inch loaf pans with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess and set the pan aside.

Break the chocolate bar into four pieces.

Grate the bar using a food processor or a hand grater until the bar is finely grated.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for one minute.

Stop and fold in the grated chocolate and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat two minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed.

Fold in the chocolate chips. The batter should look well blended, and the chocolate chips should be evenly distributed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 55 to 60 minutes for the tube pan or 50 to 55 minutes for the loaf pans. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes for the tube pan and 5 minutes for the loaf pan or 5 minutes for the loaf pans. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that it is right side up. Allow the cake to cool completely, 30 minutes or more, than serve. Cool the loaves out of the pan on their sides.

Chocolate Kahlua Cake

serves 16

Vegetable oil spray

Flour

1 package plain devil’s food cake mix

1 package chocolate instant pudding mix

3/4 cup Kahlua

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

Glaze ingredients

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/4 cup Kahlua

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 12-cup bundt pan with vegetable spray and dust with flour. Shake out excess flour and set pan aside.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, Kahlua, water, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for one minute. Stop mixing and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for two to three minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with you finger and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. To remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it on a serving platter.

To prepare the glaze, place the confectioners’ sugar and Kahlua in a small mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Spoon the glaze over the top of the warm cake, allowing it to drizzle down the sides and into the center of the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing.

Store either of these cakes covered with foil or plastic wrap at room temperature for up to four days or in the refrigerator for up to one week. Or freeze them, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to six months.