55 Easy Easter Cakes

Hector Sanchez

There is more to Easter Sunday celebrations than church, dresses, parties, and egg hunts. You’ve also got to debut a delicious Easter cake for the occasion. Lucky for you, we’ve got Easter cake recipes that will wow your friends and family at every egg hunt this season. From the deliciously springy Coconut Cream Cake to a Strawberry-Lemonade Layer Cake or the prettiest cupcakes you’ve ever seen, we’ve got all the Easter cakes you could ever think to make. Go ahead and choose your favorite Easter cake recipe, that is if you can pick just one from the bunch. Don’t worry about making too many – think of those extra Easter cakes as decoration for your cake stand collection and Easter table! We're sure they'll be enjoyed.

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Strawberry Dream Cake

Photo: Greg Dupree

Recipe: Strawberry Dream Cake

You'll fall in love with this too-good-to-be-true strawberry cake. Fluffy whipped frosting made with marscapone cheese, sugar, whipping cream, and vanilla and almond extracts is the perfect finishing touch. We love the presentation of cake slices with upright strawberries between the layers. When it comes down to the details, this sweet confection takes the cake.

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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

If you're not confident with your layer cake skills, this sheet cake is perfect.

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Strawberry-Lemonade Cake

Jen Causey

Recipe: Strawberry-Lemonade Cake

This pastel cake is beautiful for an Easter spread, and it tastes like spring.

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Coconut Cream Cake

Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Coconut Cream Cake

Look for packaged coconut shavings in your grocer's natural foods section.

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Key Lime Pound Cake

Jen Causey

Recipe: Key Lime Pound Cake

Serve a taste of the Keys this spring.

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Chocolate Bundt Cake

Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke

Recipe: Chocolate Bundt Cake

Boxed cake mix and boxed brownie mix meet in this decadent and easy recipe that has twice the chocolate of your usual cake.

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Lemon-Lime Pound Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Lemon-Lime Pound Cake

This recipe is based on a classic Southern favorite called 7UP Pound Cake, which was created in the 1950s when the soda company suggested using its soft drink instead of other liquid in pound cake recipes. The result: one of the best, and simplest, cakes you'll ever make.

Watch: Lemon-Lime Pound Cake

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Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

Micah Leal

Recipe: Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

You won’t find a drop of artificial flavor or dye in these gorgeous spring cupcakes.

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Coconut Pound Cake

Antonis Achilleos

Recipe: Coconut Pound Cake

A slice of this coconut pound cake will make even the orneriest guests smile.

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Lemon Sherbet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Lemon Sherbet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

These citrus treats are too good to keep to yourself. Make an extra batch and bring to a friend for the sweetest surprise.

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The Ultimate Carrot Cake

Photo: Alison Miksch

Recipe: The Ultimate Carrot Cake

These layers are tender, so remove from pans carefully!

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Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

Alison Miksch

Recipe: Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

We took the traditional pound cake recipe and raised it a stunning, triple-chocolate twist. This cake means business. A duo of glazes—one creamy chocolate, the other subtle buttermilk—comes together atop this dreamy confection. It’s indulgent and, we admit, so much fun to eat and serve. Chocolate enthusiasts will be over the moon for this recipe, but it has enough unexpected flavor—thanks to the addition of the buttermilk glaze—that you’ll also win over the harder-to-please dessert eaters at the table. Warning: You—and they—won’t be able to resist a second slice. Go for it. We won’t tell.

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Lemon-Orange Chiffon Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Lemon-Orange Chiffon Cake

Serve this decadent spring dessert at your next ladies' luncheon and wow the crowd with edible flowers.

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Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

Trust us: This simple and swoon-worthy sheet cake will be a keeper in your recipe box. File it under "Springtime Crowd-pleaser."

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Key Lime Icebox Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Key Lime Icebox Cake

Layers of tangy-sweet Key lime custard and graham crackers stack up to make one quick and easy layer cake with just enough pucker to take the heat off summer. Add the lime juice once you've fully cooked the custard to let the cornstarch thicken the mixture properly.

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Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake

Securing parchment paper with masking tape (it won’t melt at the low temp) makes it easy to spread picture-perfect layers of meringue.

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Key Lime Pound Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Key Lime Pound Cake

Dress up traditional pound cake with a little lime zest and a homemade Key lime glaze for a deliciously tropical dessert.

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Carrot Cake with Chèvre Frosting

Photo: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Caroline M. Cunningham

Recipe: Carrot Cake with Chèvre Frosting

Substituting goat cheese for the standard cream cheese gives this frosting an extra-tangy kick.

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Green Tea-Honeysuckle Cake

Photo by Iain Bagwell; Styling by Heather Chadduck

Recipe: Green Tea-Honeysuckle Cake

Spring-green ribbons of matcha-flavored batter and a homemade honeysuckle glaze elevate a basic vanilla butter cake to gourmet status. Bonus: It tumbles from the pan perfectly fluted and party ready.

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Two-Step Fresh Peach Pound Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Two-Step Fresh Peach Pound Cake

Turn out a high-rise cake with a moist, tender crumb by layering the ingredients in the bowl in the order specified. Don't have a stand mixer with a 4-qt. bowl and paddle attachment? Prep the batter the traditional way.

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Caramel Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Caramel Cake

This old-fashioned cake will seal your reputation as a baker.

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35th Anniversary Hummingbird Cake

Photo: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Heather Chadduck

Recipe: 35th Anniversary Hummingbird Cake

Over-ripe bananas (yellow peels splotched with brown flecks) are best for baking. You won't get the same depth of flavor or moistness without them.

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Layered Carrot Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Layered Carrot Cake

The star of this classic carrot layer cake is the thick sweetened cream frosting that you spread between the cake layers and on the top and sides of the cake. The cake gets extra sweetness from the addition of crushed pineapple to the batter.

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Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Hummingbird Bundt Cake

From pineapple to cream cheese, the same ingredients first featured in the 1978 version of this popular layer cake still shine in our new version— simplified by baking in a Bundt pan.

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Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake

Recipe: Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake

Layers of moist strawberry cake and Strawberry Buttercream Frosting make this three-layer cake a must for strawberry lovers.

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Mama Dip’s Carrot Cake

Recipe: Mama Dip’s Carrot Cake

This recipe from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, restaurateur Mildred "Mama Dip" Council is one of the best carrot cakes we've tested. The cake layers can be made ahead and frozen up to one month.

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Heavenly Angel Food Cake

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas

Recipe: Heavenly Angel Food Cake

The rich, moist texture of this divine angel food cake is unlike any other. Made from scratch in minutes, it's spread with frosting that's a lemon lover's dream.

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Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

There are a few things to note about this recipe before you start baking. First, the cream cheese is added after beating the butter and sugar. And, yes, you read the cooking instructions correctly—the cake bakes at a slightly higher temperature than usual.

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Best Carrot Cake

Tina Cornett

Recipe: Best Carrot Cake

Make this classic favorite for a crowd and you might not have any leftovers to bring home. Simply adding a can of crushed pineapple and the luscious Buttermilk Glaze makes this truly the Best Carrot Cake.

Step-by-Step Video: Best Carrot Cake Ever

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Hummingbird Cake

Photo: Lee Harrelson

Recipe: Hummingbird Cake

This ultimate recipe is the most requested in Southern Living magazine history and frequents covered dish dinners all across the South, always receiving rave reviews.

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The Lane Cake

Hector Sanchez

Recipe: The Lane Cake

This legendary Southern cake is the ultimate labor of love, and your Easter guests will taste it in every bite.

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Easter Bunny Cake

Southern Living

Recipe: Easter Bunny Cake

The kids will love this sweet cake that they can help decorate and devour.

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Crepe Cake

Micah A. Leal

Recipe: Crepe Cake

This elegant and fruity dessert would be a gorgeous addition to an Easter brunch spread.

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Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Buttermilk-Cream Cheese Frosting

Antonis Achilleos

Recipe: Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Buttermilk-Cream Cheese Frosting

If you’re hosting a crowd this Easter, swap your usual carrot cake recipe for this big-batch recipe that’s oh-so-festive and sweet.

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Lemon Bar Cake

Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Lemon Bar Cake

A bright citrus dessert is always welcome on our Easter table, especially when it’s made with the hands-off ease of the slow cooker.

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Grand Marnier Cakes

Photo: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Ana Kelly

Recipe: Grand Marnier Cakes

Mini Bundt cakes make for the prettiest presentation with this vintage recipe.

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Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Photo: Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Recipe: Banana Pudding Poke Cake

This so-moist poke cake was made to feed a crowd, but we guarantee there won’t be any left after the meal.

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55 Easy Easter Cakes

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Strawberry Dream Cake

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Coconut-Carrot Cake with Coconut Buttercream

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Strawberry-Lemonade Cake

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Coconut Cream Cake

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Key Lime Pound Cake

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Chocolate Bundt Cake

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Lemon-Lime Pound Cake

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Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

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Coconut Pound Cake

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Lemon Sherbet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

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The Ultimate Carrot Cake

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Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

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Lemon-Orange Chiffon Cake

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Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

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Key Lime Icebox Cake

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Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake

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Key Lime Pound Cake

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Carrot Cake with Chèvre Frosting

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Green Tea-Honeysuckle Cake

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Two-Step Fresh Peach Pound Cake

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Caramel Cake

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35th Anniversary Hummingbird Cake

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Layered Carrot Cake

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Hummingbird Bundt Cake

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Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake

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Mama Dip’s Carrot Cake