Good for You Cakes!

Whole grains, low-fat yogurt, fruits and nuts are the ``good'' ingredients that Dieckmann ( Good for You Cookies! ) unites in dozens of appealing recipes meant to ``dispel some of the bad thoughts surrounding our favorite dessert''--cake. Familiar sorts--coffee cakes, cheesecakes, loaf cakes--are updated in healthful choices like peach bran coffee cake, eggless cheesecake, and chunky apple-walnut loaf. Equally familiar cupcakes and fruitcakes also receive their due. (The varied fruitcake recipes help to squelch the notion that there is only one way to make fruitcake--dry and hard.) Appendixes with pan sizes and common substitutions round out the book. Cast not at all in the ``back-to-the-land'' 1960s style, the volume reintroduces an unassuming and much-celebrated standby. Dieckmann's aim is straightforward: to provide background information, insight and no-nonsense recipes. In the best sense of the word, hers is a ``homely'' book. (May)