Cake Recipes

Spring has sprung and it’s time for lemon, berry and s’ mores themed desserts! These lemon cupcakes are made with a white cake mix, but you can use lemon or yellow. I just prefer using the white because I feel like I get a more “fresh” taste starting with a blank canvas. Cream cheese frosting tastes good on everything, and with a little hint of lemon, you can’t go wrong!

Traditionally a pillow-shaped deep-fried dough, sopapillas are cousins to puff pastry and often topped with cinnamon sugar. Naturally, it follows that sopapilla and cheesecake are a match made in heaven: crispy, sweet dough sandwiching creamy, smooth cheesecake filling is a combination that can't be beaten. The best part? We use the store-bought crescent dough to make this a painless dessert to make.

Right or wrong I’ve always viewed the cupcake as a frosting transport system, and if you’re not a huge frosting fan (I’m not), then I figured, why bother? Then I remembered a friend had mentioned a recipe from Maida Heatter that was, in her words, a “grown-up cupcake.” I figured perhaps I owed the miniature confections a chance. Ms. Heatter’s recipe, modestly entitled, “Chocolate Cupcakes” from her 1974 book “Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts,” produced a rich, moist crumb that relies on cocoa powder for its deep chocolatey flavor. But it’s her topping of semi-sweet chocolate ganache that separates these cupcakes from the crowd. No buttercream, no food coloring, and no diabetic shock after consumption. Just a really nice chocolate cake that’s a bit on the small side.

This rich and decadent spiced pumpkin cake is just the thing to serve for an autumn celebration, Thanksgiving or otherwise. Chocolate chips and chopped pecans are added to the pumpkin batter for extra sweetness and a bit of welcome crunch. For those who like to plan ahead, it can be made and frozen – iced and all. Just put the entire finished cake on a plate or a baking sheet, unwrapped, and freeze it overnight until it is hard. Then it can be wrapped without damage to the frosting, and returned to the freezer. Layers can also be wrapped well and stored, to be iced later.

These boozy Bahama Mama Cupcakes will make you so excited for summer. Bahama Mama cupcakes turn your favorite summertime drink into the perfect dessert. One bite and you'll feel like you've had the beach vacation of your dreams. Have a Bahama Mama cupcake in one hand and Margarita cupcake in the other!

If only carrot cake were always in season. I'd be so happy posting carrot cake-themed recipes all year round. But since possibly no one else besides me wants to eat carrot cake in December, I try to pack as much carrot cake as I can into the few weeks between St. Patrick's Day and Easter. This is one of my other favorite recipes. I knew the carrot cake banana bread was going to be good before even trying it; there was no possible way it couldn't be good – it was carrot cake AND banana bread!

Why doesn't maple syrup find its way to American cheese platters the way chestnut honey does to Italian ones? We think it works particularly well with subtle, creamy cheeses, a conviction that inspired our riff on a classic New York cheesecake. Enjoy the cheesecake plain or make the maple whipped cream or maple cream sauce to drizzle over slices. A warm purchased or homemade butterscotch or caramel sauce would be great on this cheesecake as well.

The warm, spicy flavors of gingerbread are a natural match for cheesecake. I mean, who doesn’t love a slice of gingerbread cake slathered with cream cheese frosting? This dessert is certainly rich, but it is also packed with lots of spices, including a hefty sprinkle of both ground and fresh ginger, classic cinnamon, allspice that lends a slightly peppery note, and a bit of fresh lemon zest to brighten things up. It can be a little tricky to get the batter completely smooth, so make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature before you start mixing, and take care to bake the cheesecake gently to avoid cracks. The cranberry topping here is optional but it is festive and delicious, and a great little cover-up if the cheesecake does happen to crack. Alternatively, this is great with a bit of lightly sweetened whipped cream or crème fraîche. Slice cheesecake with a clean, hot knife for the tidiest servings.

These pumpkin cheesecakes were the first thing that came to mind when I thought of creating a simple-yet-decadent fall dessert. These would make the perfect dessert for holiday parties and fall gatherings. They’re super versatile with the ability to be made in muffin tins for a single-serving size, ramekins for 3-4 small cheesecakes, or a round cake pan (or springform pan) for one large cheesecake to feed a crowd.

Minty Chocolate Cake Bites! Incredibly easy and perfect for the holidays. It’s made with ZERO artificial colors or flavors and ZERO high fructose corn syrup. Boom. Fudgy, sparkly, minty if you want them to be, perfectly stored in the fridge for an after-dinner bite-sized dessert or five…

I'm quite picky about vanilla cupcakes. You can’t get by with a mediocre one, you know? They might be one of the most important flavors to get right. Next, to chocolate, that is. If you don’t have a good vanilla cupcake, you’ve got a problem. These vanilla cupcakes are the perfect soft and fluffy vanilla cupcake! I have done a lot of testing and am proud to say that I finally have my favorite version to share with you!

I've never turned down a slice of banana bread in my entire life. Serious though—I'm fascinated to compare the texture and flavor to my recipe, which, if I'm allowed to say, is the BEST banana bread. What makes it so great? I personally it's the buttermilk, which makes it so tender. Anyways, I've made batch after batch of this for years and have tweaked it according to my taste.