Best Cake Recipes

Whether it's a birthday party, Sunday night family dinner, or a weeknight treat a homemade cake always hits the spot. Nothing beats a fresh, homemade cake to share with your loved ones. We are sharing 20 of our most popular and best cake recipes including a classic chocolate cake recipe, super soft lemon olive oil cake, luscious apple layer cake, creamy salted caramel tres leches cake and many more!

moist chocolate cake slice next to full cake

Best Chocolate Cake Recipe

This moist chocolate cake recipe is deliciously soft and moist. Simple ingredients and step-by-step photos help you make the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe!

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Chocolate Pound Cake

Chocolate pound cake is a dense, moist dessert topped with chocolate ganache. Step-by-step photos teach you how to make a delicious easy chocolate pound cake recipe.

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guinness chocolate cake frosted with baileys frosting on a cake stand

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Soft and moist chocolate cake is baked with Guinness for an irresistible flavor!! Frosted with a Baileys Swiss Meringue Buttercream and filled with a chocolate ganache this cake is perfect all year long but especially for St. Patrick's Day!

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Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Let's make Queen Elizabeth's favorite cake, chocolate biscuit cake. This easy no-bake cake is made of broken biscuits and a rich, chocolate sauce holding them all together. All you need are a few hours in the fridge for this beauty to set up. Step-by-step photos teach you how to make this chocolate biscuit cake recipe.

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cookies and cream ice cream cake slice on a turquoise plate

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

Delicious chocolate cake, cookies & cream ice cream, homemade hot fudge & whipped cream make this Ice Cream Layer Cake an absolute dream! This recipe is easy but all about planning your time out and working quickly with the ice cream! This Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Chocolate Layer Cake is perfect for your next party!

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Peanut Butter Cake

This delicious peanut butter cake is simple and easy to whip up but full of delicious peanut flavor. Step-by-step photos show you how to make this easy cake recipe. Top with your favorite frosting!

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up close of half eaten pumpkin layer cake on a stack of light plates with a fork

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Easy Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake Recipe is filled with Dulce de Leche and a Brown Butter Frosting, you will love this Easy Pumpkin Layer Cake! Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this cake recipe.

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Yellow Cake

This easy yellow cake recipe yields moist and fluffy cakes, which are so delicious everyone will want a slice. Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake a moist yellow cake.

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Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This scrumptious cream cheese pound cake is simply a dessert winner! The soft and tender cake has the perfect flavor. Step-by-step photos help you bake this easy pound cake recipe. Serve it plain or with whipped cream, lemon curd, or fresh berries.

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Lemon Olive Oil Cake

You're going to love this simple lemon olive oil cake. A good quality, fruity olive oil pairs beautifully with the bright flavors of lemon. Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this delicious lemon olive oil cake recipe.

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slice of sticky toffee pudding drenched in heavy cream on a white plate

Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe

Learn how to make this traditional British dessert, Sticky Toffee Pudding. Loved by everyone who tries, this recipe is surprisingly easy. Made with a secret ingredient this cake is full of flavor, serve it with heavy pouring cream, custard or ice cream!

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Coffee Layer Cake

Soft and moist coffee flavored cake layers are filled with a layer of apricot jam and topped with gorgeous coffee buttercream and roasted walnuts. This English-style coffee cake is perfect any time of day, not just for afternoon tea!

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carrot layer cake slice on a pink plate on a white background

Carrot Cake Recipe

Spicy and lush this carrot cake is filled with roasted walnuts, salted caramel, and pineapple then enrobed in a tangy cream cheese frosting

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close up of the inside of an apple layer cake

Apple Cake

This spiced apple cake is easy to make and full of autumn flavor. Step-by-step photos help you make this delicious fall layer cake. Topped with a brown butter cream cheese frosting you will fall in love with this apple layer cake recipe.

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slice of rhubarb cake on a white plate with a fork on an light cream surface

Upside Down Rhubarb Cake

If you love rhubarb, look no further. This is the best rhubarb cake recipe out there! Learn how to make the best rhubarb cake with step-by-step photos!

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French Apple Cake

Get ready to enjoy a piece of this melt-in-your-mouth French Apple Cake. It's so good and step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this delicious cake recipe.

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slice of brown sugar granola cake on a white plate with a fork on an light brown surface

Upside Down Granola Cake

Calling all granola lovers! This buttery, caramelly vanilla cake is topped with a crunchy brown sugar caramel granola topping for an extremely addicting cake. This upside-down granola cake is the cake you never knew you needed! Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this easy cake recipe!

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fork taking a bite of a tres leches cake on a white plate on a blue linen with more cake aand a bottle of baileys in the background on a white marble surface

Baileys Tres Leches Cake

Delicious sponge cake is soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk, heavy cream and Bailey's Irish cream. This Bailey's Tres Leches Cake is a new twist on the classic tres leches cake.

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Salted Caramel Tres Leches Cake

Salted Caramel Tres Leches Cake is drenched with Condensed Milk, Evaporated Milk, Half & Half, and Salted Caramel and topped with a thick layer of fresh whipped cream and more caramel. Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this delicious cake recipe. You will love this recipe, perfect for a special taco Tuesday or even Cinco de mayo!

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Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

This easy chocolate tres leches cake recipe is chocolatey, soft, and a great dessert to serve at parties. Step by step photos teach you how to bake this chocolate lover's cake!

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🍽Making cake ahead of time

Most layer cakes can be frozen with or without the frosting, my preference is without the frosting. But American-style buttercream frosting does freeze well. Tres leches cakes should not be frozen with the milk soak.

Let the cake layers cool completely. Once cooled wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then wrap the cake in a second layer. Two layers of plastic wrap helps prevent any freezer burn.

Store the cakes on a flat surface for the first few hours of freezing, this initial time ensures the cakes freezes in the proper shape. After frozen feel free to store the cakes on top of each other or on their side.

Because of the custard-style texture of the French apple cake I would not suggest freezing it.

♨️ Thawing frozen cake layers

Take the cake layers out of the freezer and place them on the counter at room temperature for a couple of hours. The cake will thaw a lot quicker than you think. Frozen cake layers are also easier to frost.

Common cake ingredients

For the wet ingredients you'll often see:

Buttermilk. Buttermilk helps create a moist and tender cake. This tangy liquid is an acid so can help the baking soda activate and the cake rise while baking. In neutral flavored cakes, buttermilk can add great flavor.
Sour Cream. Sour cream is one of the fatties dairy products so it acts as a moisture bomb creating a richer and very moist cake, I often use sour cream in heavier cakes like pound cakes, as opposed to super light airy cakes.
Whole Milk. Using whole milk instead of water adds fat to the cake batter which will create a softer crumb and richer tasting cake.
Butter. Butter adds great flavor. Often times the recipe calls for room temperature butter so it can cream into the rest of the ingredients.
Oil. Often for chocolate cake, when the intense flavor of chocolate will overpower the flavor of butter I use oil. Oil creates a really moist cake.
Sugar. Often times sugar is creamed with the butter to create thousands of tiny air bubbles that lighten the cake batter creating an airy cake.
Eggs. Eggs play a pivotal role in the cake baking process. Eggs add structure, fat and flavor, and color to cake recipes. Some recipes call for separating them, so you can whip the egg white to help create a very light in texture cake.
Vanilla Extract.

And for the dry ingredients you will see:

All-Purpose Flour. This is an all-around good flour perfect for most of your baking needs. All-purpose flour has a protein content of 10%-13% depending on which brand you buy.
Cake Flour. Using cake flour creates a softer, more delicate, and tender cake layer. The protein content in cake flour is usually 8% - 9% depending on the brand.
Baking Soda. For baking soda to activate and help give life and rise to a cake, you need to pair it with an acidic ingredient.
Baking Powder. Baking powder is a combination fo create of tartar, the acid, and bicarbonate of soda. So this does not need another acid to activate.
Cocoa Power. Keep in mind you cannot easily swap natural cocoa powder with dutch process cocoa powder due to the acidity.
Salt. This little ingredient brings all of the other ingredient flavor profiles out and helps balance all of the sweetness.