Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cake Recipes 30 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 March 30, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Chris Simpson When you need a simple dessert for a party, a birthday, or just because, turn to this collection of easy-to-make and easy-to-love cakes. From coffee cakes to snacking cakes to single-layer cakes packed with fruit, our easy cake recipes are light lifts for the baker but always deliver on flavor. Some have a simple glazing or a cream cheese frosting; others, like bundts and our Apple-Cider Donut Cake, are so good looking straight out of the pan that no decoration is needed. We recommend giving each one a try. 01 of 30 Red-Velvet Sheet Cake Con Poulos We cut back on the food coloring, but not on the flavor for this sheet cake rendition of the popular dessert. The balance of cocoa powder, butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream gives it an almost fudge-like flavor. Swoops of tangy cream-cheese frosting finish this cake in style. View Recipe 02 of 30 Strawberry Shortcakes Christopher Testani These shortcakes are vanilla cupcakes—not the biscuits you might expect. They're made in one bowl, no mixer needed. Plus, you can skip frosting because you already have macerated strawberries and whipped cream to serve them with. View Recipe 03 of 30 Apple-Cider Donut Cake Jonathan Lovekin Essentially, this is a giant cakey donut made in a Bundt pan. It's a tad healthy, too, thanks to the combination of whole-wheat flour and applesauce. The latter keeps the cake moist. View Recipe 04 of 30 Spiced Snacking Cake Lennart Weibull Easy to make and easy to love, this casual cake is spiced with cinnamon and cardamom and is as good with a cup of coffee as it is after dinner. An easy lemon glaze is all the decoration it needs. View Recipe 05 of 30 Lemon Snack Cake with Raspberry-Cream Cheese Frosting Chris Simpson This single-layer confection skips the fuss and saves you the fun of frosting. The easy cream-cheese icing is colored by and flavored with ground freeze-dried raspberries—and you can apply it in generous swoops (then hide any flaws with fresh raspberries). View Recipe 06 of 30 Simple Layer Cake With Vanilla Frosting Johnny Miller Just the thing for birthdays or just because, this all-purpose yellow layer cake with vanilla frosting is a classic. View Recipe 07 of 30 Chocolate Bundt Cake Con Poulos This bundt cake's elegance belies its simple make-ahead preparation. View Recipe 08 of 30 Lemon-Olive Oil Cake Paola + Murray Extra-virgin olive oil adds moisture and a fruity flavor to this simple yellow cake. Use a mix of summer berries as a colorful topping, along with some whipped mascarpone cream. View Recipe 09 of 30 Plum Cake This moist, lemony plum cake needs little more than a dusting of confectioners' sugar on top. You might want to try a dollop of sour cream, too; it makes a delicious accompaniment. View Recipe 10 of 30 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 11 of 30 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 12 of 30 Gingerbread Snacking Cake If you love ginger, but worry that making gingerbread seems complicated, try this simpler alternative. View Recipe 13 of 30 Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake It's simple, yes, but this tropical cake is also exciting and delicious. Toasted coconut balances the sweetness of pineapple and provides a delectably crunchy topping. View Recipe 14 of 30 Chocolate Pudding Cake José Manuel Picayo Rivera Made with just six ingredients, this delicate flourless cake has a decadent, pudding-like center. View Recipe 15 of 30 Banana-Pecan Cake Here's another one-layer cake that's as easy to make as it is lovely to look at. View Recipe 16 of 30 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 the time of year. View Recipe 17 of 30 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, good looking, and doesn't need filling or frosting. View Recipe 18 of 30 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 19 of 30 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 20 of 30 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 21 of 30 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 22 of 30 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 23 of 30 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 24 of 30 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 25 of 30 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 26 of 30 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 27 of 30 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 28 of 30 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 29 of 30 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 30 of 30 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 recreate. 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