9 Deceptively Easy Cakes for When Your Mother-in-Law Asks You to Bring Easter Dessert

Southern Living Editors

These Easter cake ideas are perfect for spring. They’re simple enough to make the day before Easter and super easy to transport—plus, they’re fancy enough to impress your in-laws at Easter lunch. For kitchen novices, we’d recommend trying one of our easy and delicious pound cake recipes. You can’t go wrong with a pound cake. They’re an ideal easy Easter dessert, the perfect, sweet culmination to an Easter lunch with family. We also have other easy cake recipes for you too, including cheesecakes, layer cakes, sheet cakes, shortcakes, and crumb cakes, all guaranteed to impress your in-laws. These cake recipes are all spring-inspired, flavorful, and bright—you’ll be proud to add any one of these easy Easter cakes to the dessert table.  

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Coconut-Carrot Cake with Coconut Buttercream

Photo: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas

Recipe: Coconut-Carrot Cake with Coconut Buttercream

Carrot cake and Easter are a classic pair. We added another classic flavor: coconut.

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Key Lime Pound Cake

Jen Causey

Recipe: Key Lime Pound Cake

Airy yet substantial, Key lime zest and Key lime juice are a dynamic, flavorful duo this spring dessert recipe.

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Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Hector M Sanchez

Recipe: Cream Cheese Pound Cake

The beauty of this 8-ingredient pound cake lies in its simplicity. It is one cake that everyone should master for impromptu parties. This quick-fix pound cake is a crowd-pleaser, and it couldn’t be easier to make. Personalize it with additions you love—we recommend fresh fruit for a pretty Easter dessert.

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Strawberry Semifreddo Shortcake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Strawberry Semifreddo Shortcake

Need to whip up a dessert but don’t want to use the oven? Look no further that this fantastic recipe. With just seven easy ingredients and a few hours of freezer time, you’ll have a gorgeous, fruity semifreddo shortcake ready for the Easter dessert table. 

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Petite Blueberry Cheesecakes

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Petite Blueberry Cheesecakes

Give everyone their own personal cheesecake with this sweet spring recipe. These petite cheesecakes look super fancy, but they only require five easy steps to put together, and you probably already have most of the ingredients on hand. To customize, trade the blueberries for your family’s favorite fruits.

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Lemon Coconut Pound Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Lemon-Coconut Pound Cake

This bright and tropical pound cake is a crowd-pleaser, and you can master it in no time at all. The bright tartness of lemon and the flavorful creaminess of coconut blend into the perfect spring dessert.

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Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

If you’re headed to your in-laws and need a dessert that will feed a crowd, try this delicately sweet sheet cake recipe. It’s pink and festive and a delicious twist on the classic strawberries-and-cream combination.

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Lemon-Yogurt Crumb Cake

Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Lemon-Yogurt Crumb Cake

The perfect end to an Easter brunch, this crumb cake has all of the brightness of lemon with a creamy, satisfying crumb. We love the indulgence provided by the dollops and swirls of lemon curd in this recipe.

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Heavenly Angel Food Cake

Beth Hontzas

Recipe: Heavenly Angel Food Cake

This light and delicate angel food cake is deceptively simple to make. It practically melts in your mouth, and the 5-ingredient Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting gives it a sophisticated spin.

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Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

Photo: Alison Miksch

Recipe: Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

If your in-laws are chocoholics, treat them to this recipe. No one will guess how easy it was to make, especially once they see the cascading chocolate and buttermilk glazes.

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Lemon Bar Cheesecake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Lemon Bar Cheesecake

This citrus-inspired cheesecake has the wow factor. It combines the best of flavors of both lemon bars and cheesecakes, creating a creamy dessert that will be the talk of Easter lunch.

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