Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cake Recipes 25 Easy Cake Recipes That Every Home Baker Should Master By Jennifer Anderson Jennifer Anderson Jennifer is a freelance writer for MarthaStewart.com. Editorial Guidelines Updated on September 21, 2021 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Con Poulos Classics for a reason, these easy cake recipes are just that good. We recommend you give them all a try. 01 of 25 Often the easiest desserts—simple, no-fuss recipes—are the biggest crowd-pleasers. With so many varieties of cake—pound cake, angel food cake, sheet cake, bundt cake, just to name a few—and so many different recipes, you could easily make a new cake every day of the year and still not exhaust the possibilities. To help navigate the wonderful world of cake baking, we've rounded up 25 classic cakes that you'll want to eat year-round. Start with an all-purpose Simple Layer Cake, seen here, which is perfect for birthdays, dinner parties, or just because. Once you feel confident with this recipe, it's time to try something new. Let your senses be invigorated by the the fresh flavors of a Lemon-Ginger Bundt Cake in spring; a Strawberry Cake, which utilizes several pints of the sweet fruit, or a Cherry Sheet Cake are just the thing for summer parties. As you head into fall, fresh apples and swirling scents of cinnamon and ginger will have you gravitating towards this Spiced Carrot Cake, which stays extra moist thanks to plain yogurt. You'll also like our impressive Apple-Cinnamon Upside-Down Cake and Spicy Pumpkin Bundt Cake. While these flavors combinations are creative twists on classic recipes, moist pound cake recipes like Cinnamon-Raisin Pound Cake with Basic Glaze, Vanilla Pound Cake, and Blueberry-Sour Cream Pound Cake with Lemon Cream, which gets a blue and yellow marble effect from the syrupy berry juices, are also essentials. We had to include a few cake recipes for all you chocolate lovers, too. Everyone will ask for seconds of our devilishly good Chocolate Bundt Cake or our Easy Chocolate Cake. For date night, you can't go wrong with our Chocolate Pudding Cake. No matter the time of year, these 25 easy cake recipes offer something new for every occasion. 02 of 25 Chocolate Bundt Cake Con Poulos This bundt cake's elegant appearance belies its simple make-ahead preparation. View Recipe 03 of 25 Lemon-Olive Oil Cake Paola + Murray Extra-virgin olive oil adds moistness and a fruity flavor to this basic yellow cake. Take advantage of an abundance of mixed summer berries as a colorful topping when paired with freshly made whipped mascarpone cream. View Recipe 04 of 25 Plum Cake This moist, lemony plum cake needs little more than a dusting of confectioners' sugar to top it. If you like, though, a dollop of sour cream is a delicious accompaniment. View Recipe 05 of 25 Vanilla Pound Cake Reed Davis Classic pound cake made from scratch with just six ingredients and three simple steps—is there anything better? The result is a cake that hits the sweet spot. View Recipe 06 of 25 Strawberry Cake The ultimate cake for strawberry lovers, this easy, buttery treat contains a whole pound of berries—and smells as good as it tastes. View Recipe 07 of 25 Gingerbread Snacking Cake If you love ginger but worry that making gingerbread seems complicated, try this simpler alternative. View Recipe 08 of 25 Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake Simple yes, but this tropical cake is also exciting and totally delicious. Toasted coconut balances the tart sweetness of pineapple and provides a delectably crunchy topping. View Recipe 09 of 25 Chocolate Pudding Cake José Manuel Picayo Rivera Made with just six ingredients, this delicate flourless cake has a decadent, pudding-like center. View Recipe 10 of 25 Banana-Pecan Cake Another one-layer cake that's as easy to make as it is lovely to look at. View Recipe 11 of 25 Warm Almond-Cherry Cake Frozen cherries are juicy and intense when baked into this tender cake, and they're easy enough to find at your local supermarket no matter what time of year. View Recipe 12 of 25 Applesauce Cake What makes this favorite cake so delightful? It's full of apple flavor and super moist, thanks to the applesauce and honey. Plus it's tall and good looking and doesn't need filling or frosting. View Recipe 13 of 25 Blueberry-Sour Cream Pound Cake with Lemon Cream Blueberries, sour cream, and a lemon-cream topping. These few extra ingredients and flavors make this cake all the more varied and exciting. Your guests will never guess you simply jazzed up a classic pound cake recipe. View Recipe 14 of 25 Cinnamon-Raisin Pound Cake with Basic Glaze Add cinnamon and raisins to our classic pound cake recipe and you've got yourself a treat worth bragging about. View Recipe 15 of 25 Spiced Carrot Cake If you can shred carrots (you can!), you can make a carrot cake. Trust us. The only thing missing from this light dessert is a guilty conscience. View Recipe 16 of 25 Cinnamon Coffee Cake Meaning "something strewn" in Old German, streusel is easy to put together—and then to throw on top of this sour-cream coffee cake. View Recipe 17 of 25 Walnut Honey Cake There's nothing fancy to prepare here—just one layer of cake—but the fragrant toasted walnuts and sweet honey make it extra sophisticated. View Recipe 18 of 25 Cherry Sheet Cake Feed a crowd with this easy sheet cake. We used frozen cherries to make a fruit-studded cake that you can throw together even when fresh cherries aren't in season. Spruce it up with a bit of simple whipped cream, and you're set. View Recipe 19 of 25 Upside-Down Pecan Cake If you like, once you zest the orange for the batter, you can cut the fruit into sections to serve alongside the moist and crunchy cake. How's that for an easy garnish? View Recipe 20 of 25 Orange Cornmeal Cake Easy to make but sophisticated too, this is just the type of cake you'd enjoy after lunch in Italy. View Recipe 21 of 25 Blueberry Crumb Cake Since the blueberries are distributed throughout the cake and the crumbs are simply scattered atop it, you don't have to worry about being a perfectionist with this recipe. View Recipe 22 of 25 Apple-Cinnamon Upside-Down Cake John Kernick Take a few minutes to arrange the apple slices in neat circles on the bottom of the pan—when the cake is baked and inverted, you'll find them decorating the top. It's as simple and pretty as that! View Recipe 23 of 25 Easy Chocolate Cake It's all in the title. You don't have to be a master baker to deliver a high-quality chocolate cake for your next celebration. View Recipe 24 of 25 Spicy Pumpkin Bundt Cake Show off this seasonally-appropriate and deliciously spicy pumpkin bundt cake at your next fall gathering. Once again, the bundt pan is a baker's friend, it will help you make things look perfect and symmetrical. View Recipe 25 of 25 Chocolate Marble Pound Cake When chocolate meets vanilla the result is a cake with twice the appeal. And the marble effect is so easy to make. All it takes is a simple swirl of the batters with a knife. View Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit