Classic Cake Recipes

Alan Benson

Serious home bakers will want to master these crowd-pleasing recipes for cheesecake, chocolate cake, carrot cake, and more.

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Red Velvet Cake

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Serious home bakers will want to master these crowd-pleasing recipes for cheesecake, chocolate cake, carrot cake, and more.First up: What could make traditional red velvet cake even better? Chocolate, of course!

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Moist Devil's Food Cake

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Great swoops of glossy frosting make this a wonderfully exuberant cake for chocoholics -- at birthdays and other times.Watch how to create a swoopy finish with the frosting.

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Sponge Cake

Marcus Nilsson

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The classic sponge cake is not just plain vanilla, it's an essential recipe in every baker's repetoire. It's a versatile cake that can be customized with a variety of fillings and icings.

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Angel Food Cake

It's tender, light as air, and tastes, well, divine. What's more, angel food cake is virtually fat-free and uses just six ingredients.

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1-2-3-4 Lemon Cake

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The name of this old-fashioned cake comes from its simple measuring formula: one cup butter, two cups sugar, three cups flour, and four eggs. Our take on this classic comes with sweetened whipped cream, custardy lemon curd, and fresh mixed berries.

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Carrot Cake

Kenji Toma

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Moist, mildly spiced cake flecked with carrots and pecans and enveloped by a generous coating of cream-cheese frosting -- it doesn't get better than this.

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Chocolate Bundt Cake

Con Poulos

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This American classic, not a pie at all, first made by a Boston chef in the 1850s, is a cake: two magnificent sponge layers with custard-cream filling and a shiny chocolate glaze.

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Coconut Layer Cake

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Six layers -- yes, six -- of moist, flavorful cake sandwiched with a decadent coconut cream and flaked coconut, then frosted with our classic Seven-Minute Frosting: This cake is totally the tops.

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Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

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The combination of yellow butter cake and rich chocolate frosting is classic for a reason and a favorite for many.

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Classic Pound Cake

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Light on effort (the mixer does the work) and heavy on flavor, a good pound cake is rich and buttery; dense but not heavy. This is our favorite, definitive vanilla pound cake recipe.

Learn more about pound cake.

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Cheesecake

Jonny Valiant

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A crumbly graham-cracker crust and silky cream-cheese filling make this New York-style cheesecake a winner.

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Chocolate-Vanilla Marble Cakes

Romulo Yanes

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Some cakes just don't need frosting. Why hide the marble glory of this simple loaf cake?

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Hummingbird Cake

Alan Benson

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Luscious layers that are a combination of banana, pineapple, and coconut give this cake its tropical sweet taste. Cream Cheese Frosting and Candied Pineapple Slices complete the glorious picture.

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