One Pot Cakes

``I've done the impossible,'' announces Schloss, former director of the Restaurant School in Philadelphia. He may be right. New to the culinary curriculum, this is Cakes 101, more a celebration of cooking from scratch than a course in elaborate, dazzle-the-guests desserts. The one-pot method streamlines the baking process to its least complicated, something possible with just a wooden spoon, a heavy-bottomed, three-quart saucepan and the baking pan. The method includes such steps as half-melting the butter and bypassing sifting (baking power and soda are added in pinches). Recipes begin with a selection of 10 chocolate cakes (among them Devil's Food); other chapters embrace coffee cakes (Traditional Sour Cream Coffee Cake), cupcakes, flourless cakes (the Chocolate Almond Torte is worth the price of admission); fruit and vegetable cakes and sheet cakes all follow. The finishing touch is icing. Prepared with food editor Bookman, this selection isn't for the baker looking for a challenge but for the time-short cook seeking to please with a fresh-baked cake cooling on the counter. (Sept.)