Spice Cakes

• Penuche's distinctively caramelized flavor comes from the molasses content in its brown sugar. Molasses is valued by bakers for its knack of complementing warm spices, and brown sugar shares that characteristic. This makes rich spice cakes a traditional choice with penuche frosting. Any combination of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice, with or without the addition of extra molasses, results in a cake that benefits from penuche's flavor and sweetness. Dried fruit or nuts -- especially pecans -- are common additions.

Apple Cakes

• Apples are easy to enjoy in their own right, but they also have a special affinity for caramel and butterscotch flavors. The enduring popularity of fairground caramel apples is testimony to the combination's appeal, and sliced apples with caramel dip are a common snack for kids and adults alike. Matching an apple cake or applesauce cake with penuche frosting provides that same combination of complementary flavors and familiar, comforting childhood nostalgia.

Banana Cake

• Bananas are among the world's most popular fruit, and Southern desserts make good use of them. Flambeed Bananas Foster is a relatively recent invention, but banana pudding and soft, rich banana cake -- very different from dense, dark banana bread -- are traditional favorites. Penuche and its caramel overtones partner well with the insistent banana flavor of the cake.

Yellow Cake

• It isn't always necessary for the cake to complement the penuche icing with a strong flavor of its own. Sometimes simplest is best, and many bakers use penuche frosting on an uncomplicated yellow cake. A buttery, well-made yellow cake has no distinctive flavor of its own, but its mild, sweet richness emphasizes and amplifies the taste of the penuche frosting itself. The overall effect is still of penuche, but in a much richer and more mouth-pleasing form.