Any way you slice it, this is one decadent throwback. Though its origins are up for debate (New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel offered a version in the 1920s), most say it’s a Southern thang.

Here, to break with tradition, Francina Stewart of One Girl Cookies in Brooklyn, New York, created ombre layers of cake and then covered them with beads of cream cheese buttercream. The end result is charmingly retro, with a homemade quality that makes you want to sneak a swipe of frosting. It would fit right in at a backyard bash, and it’s cute for a Valentine’s Day soiree, too, says Stewart. After all, red is the color of love.

If your mouth waters at the thought of refreshing citrus mixed with silky cream, then this cake -- dreamed up by Emily Lael Aumiller of Lael Cakes in Brooklyn -- is for you.

To re-create the colors of the ice cream pop, which turns 75 this year, she attached marbled gum-paste appliques to blush-orange fondant with royal icing. The 3-D effect is striking on its own, so you can display it sans topper. And though this Art Deco showpiece screams for a gallery or loft setting, it would look at home by the sea, too. Inside? Aumiller recommends orange blossom cake layered with orange curd and vanilla buttercream. Yum!

As far as we’re concerned, mint and chocolate are a match made in, yep, heaven. A New Orleans bartender first paired the two in an after-dinner drink in the early 1900s, and "Mad Men"–era housewives later used them together in pies.

Here, pros at Magnolia Bakery in New York City worked the combo (also referred to as Grasshopper) into another classic, the icebox cake, by layering chocolate wafer cookies with a whipped cream mixture. “The simplicity of this cake is so charming,” says Tyra Abrams, owner of Magnolia Bakery. “Serve it as part of a dessert buffet with other treats, like mini chocolate cupcakes sprinkled with crumbled pistachios or whoopie pies filled with minty frosting.” Consider serving it alongside miniature mint-chocolate shakes.

Crowned with dried “flowers” made from the sweet Hawaiian fruit, these Bundts are a mini take on everybody’s favorite bake-and-flip dessert. The inverted pastries became popular in 1925, after a creative baker debuted them in a recipe contest -- and won.

These individual cakes, baked by our associate food editor Kristina Kurek, are filled with cherries and accompanied by a sour cherry-and-vanilla sauce. They’re apropos at a garden party or even a rehearsal dinner, if a big wedding cake is an idea you just can’t quit.

Crazy for the flaky stuff? This five-layer masterpiece, created by Mark Randazzo of Mark Joseph Cakes in New York City, is a sumptuous interpretation of the pie that started showing up around the turn of the 20th century (that’s when shredded coconut first hit the market). Randazzo iced it with vanilla-bean buttercream and then pressed medium and microfine pieces onto the tiers and sprinkled toasted bits on top. He suggests continuing the tropical theme inside with coconut cake and a mango buttercream filling.