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I'm so over the heavy, in extremis cakes of my youth. You know, Death By Chocolate, or stuffed with everything you can get the batter to hold--like Hummingbird Cake.

For the past couple years, I've been making white and yellow cakes, with whipped cream or mousse filling and the splendid perfection of impeccably ripe fruit. light, light, light. Citrus curds are yummy, too, as fillings. I usually flavor the batter to complement the filling.

When only chocolate will do, Sachertorte. I've been making it since college, but apricot isn't very popular amongst my kith & kin, so I use raspberry or cherry. Once, as a special birthday request, I filled & iced the cake with Swiss meringue, then dripped a fudgy ganache down the sides. It was an imitation of Max's Cafe "Niagara Falls Cake". It was gone very quickly and well appreciated.

Currently, I'm trying to perfect crumb cake versions: vanilla ("plain"), spice and with fruit. First, mini muffins, then muffin tops.

If you're going to sell by the slice, I would buy pieces of fruit-filled quick breads like pumpkin, persimmon, apple-walnut.

I strongly suggest you develop a killer buttercream. A good cake becomes a repeat, must-have with a well balanced, rich but not overwhelming, frosting. And, of course, you can doctor the flavoring extracts to suit the final product.
My reason for this suggestion is that while I don't make buttecream except as a special request for a special occasion,--because I feel bad about its unhealthfulness--it doesn't stop me from buying a high-end cuppie for myself!

Good luck! a homey bakery is a great idea.

Anything with caramel frosting is amazing. It's good on jam cakes, but I think it would be yummy on a plain yellow cake too.

My friend Wendy's carrot cake with ginger cream cheese frosting. Lots of pecans, carrots and fresh pineapple. They are never pretty but always tasty.

The cookies can spread when the butter is cold, too. If you google Alton Brown's "the thin, the puffy, the chewy" episode over at food network you can get some idea of what makes a difference in texture. (All 3 are chocolate chip cookies) It was when Alton said the thin needed colder butter that I realized why my cookies didn't come out as thin and crisp as my mother's. She always made me cream the butter and sugar together when i considered the butter much too cold, so I let it get warmer when I was on my own. (The recipe itself doesn't mention this though.)

I'm very fond of thin, crisp cookies that become very butterscotchy when cooked enough so many would consider them overcooked. Even add a tsp of water to some doughs. Different tastes....

I agree, you need to be careful which shortening you use. Even using butter only can give inconsistent results, such as melted or too soft butter will yield a cookie that spreads. Also, cheaper butters have extra water whipped into the butter. I use only Land O Lakes butter and get consistent results without chilling my dough. If cookies are spreading more than you like, stir in extra flour. The cooking baking divas, Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker, both specify part butter and part vegetable shortening in cookies such as Snickerdoodles and Peanut Butter. I've tried using all butter in these recipes without much luck. If you want your peanut butter cookies to keep the fork criss cross shape, you have to use part vegetable shortening.