21 Essential Baking Recipes Every 20-Something Should Learn

Early iterations of pound cake were made with exactly what the name suggests—one pound each of sugar, flour, butter, and eggs. Nowadays, recipes like this one are a bit more sophisticated, but just as simple and pleasing as ever.

If you're a fan of soft, chewy, and completely decadent chocolate chip cookies, you need to commit this recipe to memory. These buttery cookies, which use a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar for moistness, have a sweet surprise hiding on the inside—each cookie is stuffed with an individual caramel.

The secret to perfect banana bread? Freezing chopped bananas, then thawing and mashing before mixing them into the batter. This technique adds extra moistness and sweet banana flavor to an all-time favorite quick bread.

This is one of the easiest and most crowd-pleasing desserts that you can bake. The yellow cake batter gets a double dose of vanilla from both the bean and extract. Plus, spreading the easy chocolate frosting on a sheet cake is much easier than frosting a layer cake.

Learn how to master rich and silky cheesecake with this all-time favorite recipe. From the simple graham cracker crust to the luscious cream cheese-and-sour-cream filling, it's a dessert that's sure to impress.

Keep this apple pie recipe in your back pocket for days spent at the orchard or fall holidays. This recipe calls for using exclusively tart Granny Smith apples, but feel free to mix it up with whatever kind you've picked.

We've said it before and we'll say it again—dairy-free is so delicious. In this vegan version of classic chocolate layer cake, neutral vegetable oil helps to keep the cake super moist and instant espresso powder enhances the chocolate flavor.

Make sweet and tangy lemon bars every time with our readers' go-to recipe. The crust is made with a combination of all-purpose flour, wheat germ, confectioners' sugar, and butter, which work together to create a crispy, textured crisp.

This chocolate pie is a particularly easy recipe for beginners because the press-in crust is made with just three ingredients—vanilla wafer cookies, granulated sugar, and butter. That's right: No rolling required!

Our favorite brownie recipe is easy and tastes so much better than the boxed mix. A few tablespoons of coconut oil in the batter gives these treats a shiny, crackled top and super fudgy interior.

This light and airy cake gets its heavenly texture from 12 egg whites and cake flour. Serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream, powdered sugar, and macerated berries.

Use our all-star recipe to make these classic cookies. They're the perfect combination of crispy, chewy, soft, and sweet. Best of all, they're made with just a handful of basic ingredients, so you can whip up a few dozen whenever a craving strikes.

Can't decide between baking blueberry or chocolate chip muffins? With this all-purpose muffin recipe, you don't have to. Divide the batter into separate bowls and mix in chocolate chips, cherry and pecans, raisins, blueberries, or whatever your heart desires.

The ultimate springtime dessert, this moist, spiced cake is made with an entire pound of shredded carrots, which add subtle orange color, plenty of moistness, and a bit of texture. And what would carrot cake be without cream cheese frosting? We have a recipe for that, too.

Start your morning off on a sweet note with this beloved breakfast treat. Sour cream gives the cake its signature rich, moist flavor and a double dose of streusel—swirled into the cake and sprinkled on top—guarantee a good morning.

Soft and chewy with the perfect coating of cinnamon sugar, these cookies are an absolute classic. A combination of vegetable shortening and butter creates the signature texture without compromising on flavor.

Everyone should have a light, bright, and zesty lemon cake recipe on hand for easy entertaining. There's fabulous lemon flavor in this delightful cake, thanks to more than a quarter cup of fresh lemon juice and a tablespoon of lemon zest.

A crisp can be filled with nearly any fruit that is in season, but we particularly love using sweet, firm pears. The topping, which distinguishes this dessert from cobblers or buckles, is made with rolled oats, light brown sugar, sliced almonds, flour, and butter.

We're teaching you how to make Thanksgiving's MVP—pumpkin pie—using pure pumpkin purée (no mix here!). The creamy, spiced filling is poured into our best pâte brisée crust, which can be made in advance to cut down on prep work on Thanksgiving day.

Who doesn't love a decadent chocolate dessert that also happens to be gluten-free? Made with four-ingredient, flourless chocolate cake is rich, romantic, and super easy to prepare. Be sure to use very good quality chocolate, such as Valrhona, for ultra-luxurious flavor.