Ultimate Cake Recipes (2024)

Let our recipes inspire you with ideas for chocolate cakes, angel food cakes, Black Forest cakes, Bundt cakes, pumpkin cakes, coconut cakes, carrot cakes and other homemade treats.

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Black Forest Cake with Cloud Frosting

Ultimate Cake Recipes (1)

This simplified version of the German classic gets its fruit flavor from cherry jam and cherry juice. Beating heavy cream with cream cheese creates a beautifully light frosting that is lighter than cream cheese frosting but more stable than whipped cream.

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Brown Sugar Bundt Cake with Pecans

Ultimate Cake Recipes (2)

Channeling praline candy, this homey cake is all caramel sweetness and toasted, nutty crunch. The batter comes together fast, and there’s no icing or glaze to fuss over—just a quick sift of powdered sugar.

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Peach Upside-Down Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (3)

This moist cake from Rendleman Orchards in Alto Pass, Illinois, is ideal for a cookout or summer potluck.

Upside-Down Cake Recipes You'll Flip Over

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Peppermint Patty Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (4)

This dazzling cake boasts dark rich layers and silky Swiss meringue buttercream. That frosting is where you get the peppermint flavor, so baker Kristine Moberg of Queen City Bakery says to use a high-quality extract like Nielsen-Massey.

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Raspberry-Lemon Cakelets

Ultimate Cake Recipes (5)

Tender from cake flour and bright with citrus, this pretty butter cake will surprise you. Pair it with tea or a glass of bubbly.

Sparkling Spring Desserts

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Vanilla Crepe Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (6)

This cake by chef Gavin Kaysen of Bellecour Bakery in the Twin Cities will wow people with its many layers, luscious creaminess and subtle vanilla flavor.

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German Chocolate Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (7)

This celebration cake is a staple at Bake Chicago. It has a wonderfully fudgy, old-fashioned, homemade texture. The frosting has an unusual method that may feel initially like it's failing, but stick with it. Laced with sour cream, it's creamy and utterly delicious.

Meet Five Midwest Cake Creators (and Try Their Recipes)

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Cocoa Gingerbread with Heaven Frosting

Ultimate Cake Recipes (8)

A humble snack dresses up for company. With its nutty flavor and tiny flecks of toasted milk solids, browned butter elevates a simple cream cheese frosting to saintly levels.

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Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (9)

Angela Garbacz, owner of Goldenrod Pastries in Lincoln, Nebraska, features recipes that adapt to gluten- and dairy-free needs in her cookbook, Perfectly Golden. This simple, sweet cake reminds her of her time in Poland.

Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes to Satisfy Any Sweet Tooth

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Apple Sour Cream Kuchen

Ultimate Cake Recipes (10)

This German-style, not-too-sweet, yeast-raised cake begs for a cup of coffee. For an extra tang, you can serve it with a dollop of lightly sweetened sour cream.

Irresistible Apple Dessert Recipes

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Chocolate Chai Bundt with Candied Oranges and Rum Buttah

Ultimate Cake Recipes (11)

Reine Keis of SweetArt Cafe in St. Louis says that the secret to vegan baking is not assuming that one plant-based alternative fits all recipes. Coconut yogurt is her power play in this recipe.

Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes

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Gingerbread Latte Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (12)

Rebekah Stuber of Bay Laurel Baking Company in Des Moines says her flavor-packed spice cakes always earn the most raves. Her secret to airy cream cheese frosting on this gingerbread cake? Folding in whipped cream.

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Poppy Seed Torte

Ultimate Cake Recipes (13)

The recipe for this four-layer cake-with a puddinglike filling, unmistakable poppy seed flavor and soft whipped cream frosting-comes from Wisconsin's White Gull Inn.

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Seven-or-So Layer Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (14)

This striking (and gluten-free!) cake is inspired by the Jewish bakery classic, Seven-Layer Cake. Our simplified sheet-pan method sandwiches rich mocha glaze with almond cake.

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Doughnut Bundt

Ultimate Cake Recipes (15)

Nutmeg is the secret ingredient that makes this playful Bundt taste just like a cake doughnut. (Be sure to use freshly grated nutmeg—you'll really notice the difference in flavor.)

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Carrot-Spice Cake with Coconut-Pecan Filling

Ultimate Cake Recipes (16)

Tender layers of carrot-tinted spice cake are sandwiched with a luscious coconut-pecan filling—and it's all covered in swirls of classic cream cheese frosting.

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Neapolitan Party Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (17)

This crowd-pleaser is easier than it looks. (You only make one batter.) Garnish the strawberry-frosted cake with double-dipped berries to hint at the festive stripes hiding inside.

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Angel Food Cake with Strawberries and Elderflower Cream

Ultimate Cake Recipes (18)

To "bring the smell of the field" into this dessert, chef James Bloomfield of Traverse City, Michigan, infuses whipping cream with fresh elderflowers. Get the same effect with a splash of St-Germain.

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Modern Fruit Cakes

Ultimate Cake Recipes (19)

These super-moist cakes eat like elegant patisserie and are worth every minute of the process. Whipping up a batch to gift? Learn how to make these pretty fruit cake gift boxes for extra sparkle.

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Cafe Latte's Turtle Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (20)

Sheer three-layered audacity put this creation from a Saint Paul bakery in our hall of fame: buttermilk-cocoa cake, candylike chocolate frosting and creamy caramel sauce.

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Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (21)

Like the chocolate-and-vanilla retro classic, this gingery icebox cake requires some make-ahead assembly—but no baking. And it's absolutely drool-worthy.

Pumpkin Recipes We Absolutely Love

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Whoopie Pie Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (22)

Karen Cope of Minneapolis won a blue ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair for this stunning chocolate-and-marshmallow cake, based on whoopie pie cookies.

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Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (23)

This utterly unforgettable cake layers moist chocolate-pumpkin cake, luscious milk chocolate ganache and fluffy pumpkin-spice whipped cream. The recipe comes from Minnesota blogger Amanda Rettke iambaker.net.

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Prettier by the Pound

Ultimate Cake Recipes (24)

St. Louis pastry chef Nathaniel Reid gives pound cake a chic, patisserie-style makeover. Your trusty loaf pan never had it so good. Try Double Chocolate Pound Cake, Candied Lemon Pound Cake, Yogurt Pound Cake with Apricots and Coconut, or Hazelnut and Milk Chocolate Pound Cake.

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Chocolate Gift Cakes

Ultimate Cake Recipes (25)

These 6-inch gifting cakes are topped with a swoop of silky frosting. The recipe (which makes three cakes) comes from Minneapolis blogger Sarah Kieffer's cookbook Baking for the Holidays.

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Tres Leches Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (26)

A Mexican-inspired standard and guaranteed backyard crowd-pleaser, our brown-sugar sheet cake is soaked in milky syrup, chilled, then topped with whipped cream and berries.

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Coconut Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (27)

This three-layer wonder stays extra moist thanks to butter and buttermilk. The blue-ribbon recipe is from Teresa Reese of Osceola, Nebraska.

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Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Drizzle

Ultimate Cake Recipes (28)

With its subtle mix of warm spices, vanilla, maple and citrus (and tangy white icing), this is no ordinary zucchini cake. The recipe comes from The Vegetable Butcher cookbook, by Cara Mangini.

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Lemonade Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (29)

Lemon Butter Frosting tops a summer-perfect cake flavored with thawed lemonade concentrate.

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Fabulous Red Velvet Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (30)

We gussied up chocolate cake mix with sour cream and red food coloring, then crowned this cake with a white chocolate-cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut.

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Toasted Fennel-Lemon Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (31)

This moist beauty begs for a mug of afternoon tea. Fennel seeds add the faintest hint of licorice flavor, just enough to make the cake stand out from the other Bundts in the room. We like the sweeter flavor of Meyer lemons in this cake. Look for them sold in bags at large supermarkets. If you substitute regular lemons, reduce the zest to 2 tablespoons.

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Raspberry Swirl Angel Food Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (32)

A subtle swirl of fresh raspberries infuses this homemade angel food cake with light fruit flavor. Like all angel food cakes, it has no fat or cholesterol.

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Pumpkin-Praline Layer Cake

Ultimate Cake Recipes (33)

This nutty layer cake is a favorite dessert with Midwest Living® readers. Whipped cream tops a moist filling of pumpkin, brown sugar, pecans, butter and more whipping cream.

Pumpkin Recipes We Absolutely Love

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Ultimate Cake Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is Michelle Obama's favorite cake? ›

Few things will top of a meal better than Michelle Obama's Favorite Red Velvet Cake from Delish.com.

How to hack a Betty Crocker cake mix? ›

How To Make Boxed Cake Denser
  1. Add 2 extra egg yolks. ...
  2. Swap out oil for melted butter. ...
  3. Add 2 mashed ripe bananas, fold in just before baking. ...
  4. Add 1 cup pumpkin purée, fold in just before baking. ...
  5. Swap out water for coconut milk. ...
  6. Swap out oil for ricotta cheese. ...
  7. Add 4 ounces of chocolate, melted. ...
  8. Swap out water for heavy cream.
May 16, 2023

What cake flavors go well with cream cheese frosting? ›

Desserts with cream cheese frosting are some of the most decadent out there. From carrot cake to pumpkin bars to red velvet cake, these treats are absolute classics.

What cake does Queen Elizabeth eat? ›

Queen Elizabeth's Favorite Cake: Chocolate Biscuit Cake - Chef Darren McGrady | The Royal Chef.

What kind of cake did Elvis eat? ›

Elvis favored classic southern sweets for dessert, and one favorite happened to be pound cake. Not just any pound cake but a particular one. The Sterns say pound cake for Elvis meant a cake baked by his childhood friend, Janelle McComb.

What is the most unique cake flavor? ›

Here are some creative cake flavor combination ideas to inspire your custom cake creations:
  • Pistachio Rose: ...
  • Orange Cardamom: ...
  • Matcha Red Bean: ...
  • Peanut Butter Banana: ...
  • Black Forest: ...
  • Cookies and Cream: ...
  • Lavender Honey: ...
  • Almond Raspberry:
Jun 29, 2023

What are the 3 most popular cake flavors? ›

Here are some of the most commonly flavours for custom cakes:
  • Vanilla: Classic and versatile, vanilla cake is a timeless favourite. ...
  • Chocolate: Chocolate cake is another classic option that many people adore. ...
  • Strawberry: Strawberry cake is perfect for those who love fruity flavours.
Feb 14, 2023

What does adding an egg to box cake mix do? ›

Use an extra egg: Most boxed mixes will call for three eggs. Use four for a cake that's richer-tasting and moister. This tip is one I use practically every time I make a boxed cake mix. Substitute dairy: Replace the water called for on the package with dairy.

What is the secret ingredient in cake mix? ›

The secret ingredient to making a moist cake is sour cream! That's right. Similar to milk, adding ½ cup of sour cream packs flavor into your box cake mix. It may sound a little crazy, but for the best results, use a full-fat sour cream...

Are Betty Crocker cakes better with milk or water? ›

Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.

What kind of frosting do most bakeries use? ›

Most commercial bakeries are using a buttercream made with shortening rather than butter, because it is more stable, especially if it gets warm.

Should I refrigerate cream cheese frosting before frosting cake? ›

So, does cream cheese frosting need to be refrigerated? Absolutely yes, and that goes for store-bought and homemade cream cheese frosting.

Which is sweeter buttercream or cream cheese frosting? ›

For instance, carrot cake, red velvet cake, and other moist cakes are commonly made with cream cheese frosting. Its tangy flavor is a perfect addition to spiced cakes, cupcakes, and breads, but it's less versatile than buttercream, which offers a sweeter flavor that pairs with just about any dessert you bake.

What was the queens favourite cake? ›

It might be because we've worked with Buckingham Palace recently on designing on Platinum Jubilee collection, but we've got the inside track on Her Majesty's favourite cake - the Chocolate Biscuit Cake.

What is the most expensive cake in the United States? ›

You've heard of $900 cupcakes and $34,000 puddings. But a birthday cake loaded with diamonds and hand-sculpted fondant just smashed the record for the most expensive dessert ever created. Price tag: $75 million.

What did Michelle Obama do for food? ›

Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and Michelle Obama were a step in transforming the food pyramid recommendation, which has been around since the early 1990s, into what is now known as "MyPlate". To reauthorize child nutrition programs, and for other purposes.

What is the richest birthday cake in the world? ›

  • Diamond Cake by Debbie Wingham – $75 million. ...
  • Prestige by Mervis Diamond Importers – $35 million. ...
  • Dimuthu Kumarasinghe Pirates Fantasy Cake – $ 35 million. ...
  • Imperial Blossom by Takashimaya – $25 million. ...
  • Nahid Parsa's Luxury Bridal Show Cake – $20 million. ...
  • Masami Miyamoto's Diamond Chocolate Cake – $ 8.5 million.
Oct 4, 2023

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