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  1. marthastewart.com
  2. Entertaining
  3. Graduation Party Ideas
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  5. 20 Celebratory Cake Recipes to Make for Your Graduate

20 Celebratory Cake Recipes to Make for Your Graduate

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By Kelly Vaughan April 27, 2020
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strawberry biscuit sheet cake
Credit: Alpha Smoot

From impressive multi-tiered creations to single layer sweets, these cakes are the perfect way to honor your new graduate's hard work.

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strawberry biscuit sheet cake
Credit: Alpha Smoot

Celebrate the very special graduate in your life with these delicious graduation cake recipes. From classic chocolate and vanilla combinations to seasonal flavors such as lemon and blueberries, there's a decadent dessert here for everyone. And the best part is, you don't need a culinary degree to make them—just a careful eye, patient hand, and a big-time sweet tooth.

Sheet cakes are always easy to prepare and guaranteed to please your guests. If you're celebrating your graduate during the beginning of the summer, make the simply delightful Strawberry Biscuit Sheet Cake that's pictured here. It's a delicious twist on the classic strawberry shortcake, and the entire family is sure to love it. For one of life's simplest and sweetest pleasures, make our Vanilla Sheet Cake with Chocolate-Ganache Buttercream, which is sure to earn you high marks. The harmony of moist vanilla cake and rich chocolate frosting is worthy of a standing ovation.

If you'll be celebrating in the middle of summer, when the heat is in full swing, we recommend cooling off with a decadent ice cream cake, like our chocolate-mint Grasshopper Dome Ice Cream Cake. A rich chocolate cake is filled with six cups of mint chocolate-chip ice cream and topped with a silky chocolate ganache for a tasty way to chill out. Another sweet showstopper is our Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake, which swaps in pistachio gelato for the usual chocolate in this lighter and brighter trio. After it freezes, top the cake with sliced strawberries and crumbled pistachios so that guests can get a hint as to what's waiting for them inside.

If you're looking for a way to send your graduate off to their next big adventure on a sweet note, make any one of these spectacular graduation cakes.  They're sure to make this special occasion even more memorable.

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Vanilla Sheet Cake with Chocolate-Ganache Buttercream

vanilla cake ganache frosting in pan
Credit: Alpha Smoot
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This moist, classic combination of vanilla and chocolate is both simple and spectacular. The cake is made with a mixture of vanilla bean and vanilla extract for extra flavor. Meanwhile, the swirled chocolate buttercream on top is in a league of its own, making it a delightful dessert for a graduation party.

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Lemon-Glazed Sheet Cake

lemon glazed sheet cake
Credit: Alpha Smoot
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Have you ever seen a graduation cake as bright and cheerful as this one? It's the perfect celebratory treat to serve in the summer thanks to three layers of lemon goodness in the cake, frosting, and garnish.

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Flourless Chocolate-Almond Cake

flourless chocolate-almond cake against blue wall
Credit: Paola + Murray
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Whether your grad is gluten-free or a chocoholic, this flourless chocolate cake recipe is sure to please. A tangy crème fraîche topping contrasts the sweet and rich slice on your plate.

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Raspberry and Chocolate-Hazelnut Crepe Cake

raspberry and chocolate hazelnut crepe cake
Credit: Ryan Liebe
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If your graduate studied any foreign languages, make a sweet reminder of their coursework. For French speakers, this super-impressive stacked cake is the way to go. Paper-thin crepes are layered with an airy raspberry filling and chocolate-hazelnut mousse.

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Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake

neapolitan ice cream cake
Credit: Anson Smart
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This stunning make-ahead ice cream cake is a great way to honor your graduate's hard work. Generous layers of pistachio gelato, vanilla ice cream, and strawberry ice cream are sandwiched between homemade cornmeal cake for a dessert filled with a symphony of flavors.

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Light and Fluffy Yellow Cake

light and fluffy yellow cake
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Simple doesn't mean boring; in fact, this perfect yellow layer cake is worthy of an accomplishment as big as commencement. Buttermilk and whipped egg whites are the secrets to the moist, airy graduation cake.

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Citrus Mousse Cake with Buttercream Frosting

citrus mousse cake with buttercream frosting
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
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Celebrate your graduate with this pretty-in-pink floral cake. The juice and zest of limes and lemons brighten the mousse filling and an arrangement of edible flowers, meringue, confetti candies, and candy pearls are decorated on top.

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Confetti Cake with Vanilla Frosting

confetti cake with vanilla frosting
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
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You'll be the talk of the schoolyard when everyone finds out the sprinkles on top are completely homemade. The rest of this basic vanilla cake is light, tender, and a total crowd-pleaser.

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Vanilla Sponge Cake with Strawberry-Meringue Buttercream

vanilla sponge cake with strawberry-meringue buttercream
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo
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They did it: They graduated! Now celebrate with this seasonal cake that's as tall as your list of accomplishments. Each layer is filled with sliced fresh strawberries and a sweet-as-can-be strawberry meringue buttercream.

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Grasshopper Dome Ice Cream Cake

grasshopper dome ice cream cake
Credit: NGOC MINH NGO
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Chocolate and mint are one of the ultimate flavor combinations, and they really shine together in this double-chocolate dome cake filled with mint chocolate ice cream.

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Coconut-Sugar Hummingbird Cake

coconut sugar hummingbird cake
Credit: Jonathan Lovekin
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This Southern-inspired cake is as good as gold. The traditional pineapple-banana cake gets a triple dose of coconut for natural sweetness from coconut sugar, unsweetened shredded coconut, and large unsweetened coconut flakes.

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Vanilla Sheet Cake with Lemon Cream-Cheese Frosting

Vanilla Sheet Cake with Lemon Cream-Cheese Frosting
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Hosting a casual backyard graduation party? Make this seasonal cake with lemon and blueberries—it could not be easier or more delicious.

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Chocolate-Raspberry Cake

Chocolate-Raspberry Cake
Credit: Con Poulos
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Everyone deserves a slice of this luxe commencement cake after supporting your graduate through thick and thin. In between two layers of rich cocoa cake is a macerated raspberry jam that soaks into every layer, making it extra moist.

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Pistachio Layer Cake

spirograph-pistachio-cake-162-d112641.jpg
Credit: Lennart Weibull
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All of the pistachio flavor is hiding in the pastry cream filling, which is made with sugar, cornstarch, pistachio paste, an egg yolk, and whole milk. The topping is the most luscious vanilla buttercream, tinted pale green for a peek as to what's waiting on the inside.

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Texas Sheet Cake

chocolate-texas-sheet-cake-022-d112571.jpg
Credit: Con Poulos
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Whether your graduate is about to head to the state where bigger is better—or if they've just departed their southern campus—make our best-ever chocolate sheet cake for your graduation party. A dense, gooey chocolate cake is topped with rich chocolate icing and finely chopped toasted pecans.

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The Ultimate Devil's Food Cake

devils-food-cake-beauty-359-d112204-r.jpg
Credit: Yuki Sugiura
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Chocolate lovers will cheer for this double-chocolate layer cake made with Dutch-processed cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate. If that's not enough for you, top it all off with our Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting.

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Brownie Sundae Ice Cream Cake

brownie-sundae-114-d111934.jpg
Credit: Johnny Miller
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Kids and adults alike will cheer for this graduation dessert. There's a little bit of everything in this fudgy ice cream cake—crunchy peanut butter, crushed raspberries, two flavors of ice cream, whipped cream, and of course, a cherry on top.

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Triple-Citrus Bundt Cake

citrus bundt cake on cake stand
Credit: Christopher Testani
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Your graduate may not have much of a sweet tooth, but we're positive that they'll be excited to dig into a slice of this zesty cake. It has segments of citrus in it, a citrus simple syrup, a citrus glaze, and candied citrus zest on top.

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Cloud Cake

meringue-cake-0099-d111547.jpg
Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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The graduating class will be on cloud nine when they throw their caps in the air. Make that moment last a little bit longer with this cloud-like creamy caramel meringue graduation cake.

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By Kelly Vaughan

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    1 of 20
    2 of 20 Vanilla Sheet Cake with Chocolate-Ganache Buttercream
    3 of 20 Lemon-Glazed Sheet Cake
    4 of 20 Flourless Chocolate-Almond Cake
    5 of 20 Raspberry and Chocolate-Hazelnut Crepe Cake
    6 of 20 Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake
    7 of 20 Light and Fluffy Yellow Cake
    8 of 20 Citrus Mousse Cake with Buttercream Frosting
    9 of 20 Confetti Cake with Vanilla Frosting
    10 of 20 Vanilla Sponge Cake with Strawberry-Meringue Buttercream
    11 of 20 Grasshopper Dome Ice Cream Cake
    12 of 20 Coconut-Sugar Hummingbird Cake
    13 of 20 Vanilla Sheet Cake with Lemon Cream-Cheese Frosting
    14 of 20 Chocolate-Raspberry Cake
    15 of 20 Pistachio Layer Cake
    16 of 20 Texas Sheet Cake
    17 of 20 The Ultimate Devil's Food Cake
    18 of 20 Brownie Sundae Ice Cream Cake
    19 of 20 Triple-Citrus Bundt Cake
    20 of 20 Cloud Cake

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    20 Celebratory Cake Recipes to Make for Your Graduate
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