Hummingbird Cake

Sweet as nectar. That’s what we think of this Southern classic that’s a ridiculously rich, sweet stack of pineapple, coconut, bananas, and pecans aplenty.

• Quick Glance
• 25 M
• 1 H
• 12

Iced Berry Cake

This hardly decorous dessert is likely to make a colossal mess that will haunt your kitchen for weeks. But tell us it isn’t worth it.

• Quick Glance
• 30 M
• 30 M
• 10

Red Velvet Cake

We’re hearing rumors that this all-natural rendition of the classic surpasses all others. And it’s not just kids who’re saying that. See for yourself, grown ups.

• Quick Glance
• 45 M
• 1 H, 20 M
• 16

Coconut Angel Food Cake

Not just the stuff of sweet memories, angel food cake is still in fashion–and still fashionably simple to whip up. Truly heaven sent.

• Quick Glance
• 45 M
• 1 H, 35 M
• 16

Ricotta Cheesecake from Rome’s Jewish Quarter

This is prettier and more puddinglike than we’re accustomed to in a cheesecake. But no complaints here. None whatsoever.

• Quick Glance
• 20 M
• 1 H
• 20

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Vanilla Stout Buttercream

Cupcakes may not seem like the manliest of desserts…with the exception of this recipe, seeing as it mandates a beer run.

• Quick Glance
• 30 M
• 1 H, 15 M
• 9

Basic White Cake

We beg to differ with the name of this fetching creation, as it’s far too easy to mistake “basic” for “blah.” Far more fitting, we think, is “best white cake.”

• Quick Glance
• 25 M
• 45 M
• 16

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Yup. It’s vegan. It’s also chocolate through and through. Dare you to guess which of these traits is inspiring both omnivores and vegans alike to swoon.

• Quick Glance
• 20 M
• 1 H, 30 M
• 13

Satsuma Orange Cake

Looks like an upside-down cake. Tastes like an upside-down cake. Yet this cake couldn’t be more right-side up, with no scary moment of wrecking, er, reckoning.

• Quick Glance
• 30 M
• 1 H, 30 M
• 16

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

The true beauty of this Bundt depends on your perspective. Does it lie in its stunning silhouette? Its intensely chocolatey chocolatiness? Or its lazy day ease? You tell us.

• Quick Glance
• 25 M
• 1 H, 30 M
• 27

Bûche de Noël

We’ve no clue why the French felt compelled to roll chocolate cake with ganache in the likeness of a log. But with a taste like this, who the heck cares?

Zucchini Cake with Lemon and Poppyseed

A charmingly old-fashioned cake that puts to lovely use the abundance of late-summer zucchini languishing in your veggie bin or garden.

Plum-Blueberry Upside-Down Cake

This super simple, purple-stained cake—er, what’s left of it—bears no surprises. Just old-fashioned goodness and the season’s most compelling fruits. Got milk?

Cherry Clafouti

A simple, old-style French dessert that’s as easy to toss together as it is to tie a scarf.

Blueberry Tea Cake

An irresistible tea cake that’s essentially dessert masquerading as breakfast, lunch, or pretty much any nosh time when you crave something sweet.

• Quick Glance
• 15 M
• 1 H
• 12

Coconut Cake

Flaunting an ever-practical, always-stunning, goes-with-anything white, this froufrou coconut cake livens up holidays, dinner parties, bridal showers, weddings, birthdays, and Tuesday nights.

• Quick Glance
• 25 M
• 1 H, 15 M
• 22

Homemade Twinkies

These little ditties are miles away from the cello-wrapped Twinkies you grew up eating. They’re delicate sponge cakes filled to bursting with a lappingly good seven-minute frosting.

New York–Style Cheesecake

How do you define a true New York-style cheesecake? A sweet graham cracker crust cushioning a smooth, rich, moan-inducing filling with a lemony lilt. In other words, this recipe.

• Quick Glance
• 20 M
• 2 H
• 19

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

Ah, blood orange olive oil cake. It’s moist, dense, and full of citrusy goodness. It makes a perfect ending to a meal or, even better, a great start to the day.

Margaret’s Espresso Cake

Care to slice yourself some espresso cake and sit down for a spell? It’s rich, robustly flavored, and satiating in that way only coffee can be.

• Quick Glance
• 15 M
• 1 H, 15 M
• 23