53 Easter Cakes Full of Fresh Fruit and Pastel Charm
You’ve stocked up on all the classic Easter treats (chocolate eggs, marshmallow bunnies, the works), but no holiday spread is complete without a stunning Easter cake. An opulent Easter brunch or dinner deserves an equally impressive finale, and these centerpiece-worthy cakes celebrate the season’s flavors: Fresh fruit, citrus, and bright, floral flavors. We have Easter cake recipes for every celebration, including lovable loaf cakes for your church potluck and elaborate layered numbers that’ll take center stage on the dessert table. Complete the spread with a platter of Easter cookies, and you’re well on your way to becoming hostess of the year.
Head this way for a roundup of all our favorite Easter recipes →
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Sean Dooley1/53Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
This Easter cake is a classic for a reason. You can add toasted nuts or raisins to the batter, but you don’t have to—moist, lightly-spiced layers of carrot cake, complemented by tangy cream cheese frosting, shine in their simplicity.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert4/53Chiffon Cake
Lightly coated with buttercream frosting or dusted with powdered sugar, this chiffon cake would make a lovely finale for your Easter dinner. Use chocolate decorations to turn it into an Easter bunny cake.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich5/53Cold Oven Pound Cake
The secret to the best pound cake? Start it in a cold—yes, cold—oven. This recipe for Cold Oven Pound Cake comes from Southern baking legend Cheryl Day.
Photo by Andrew Purcell, Prop Styling by Paige Hicks, Food Styling by Carrie Purcell7/53Easter Egg Cake With Strawberry Frosting
Decorated with a white chocolate nest and chocolate eggs, this fresh strawberry cake is made for your Easter celebration. If you don’t have a bar of white chocolate, use shredded, toasted coconut to make the nest.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton8/53Fresh Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
A sweet, caramelized layer of fresh pineapple adorns the top of this single-layer cake, which is easy to pull off for Easter brunch.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton9/53Dr. Bird Cake
This Jamaican antecedent to Hummingbird Cake calls for both pineapple juice and chunks. The secret to the cake’s slight tang? Apple cider vinegar.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks10/53Vanilla-Buttermilk Layer Cake With Orange Frosting and Raspberries
Go for major visual appeal with this classic white cake by arranging a ring of fresh raspberries between the layers—they deliver a pop of color and fruity flavor. No fresh berries on hand? Opt for a layer of lemon curd.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne11/53Pandan Chiffon Cake
Think outside the box this Easter with a vibrant green chiffon Bundt flavored with fragrant pandan extract.
Photo by Oriana Koren12/53Hummingbird Cake
With bananas, pecans, and canned crushed pineapple, this layer cake is chock full of goodness. Top it all off with cream cheese frosting.
Photo by Linda Xiao13/53One-Bowl Ricotta Olive Oil Pound Cake
No need to mess around with cake layers or frosting. Mixed in one bowl and baked in a Bundt pan, this cake is pretty as can be—no decorations required.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Astrid Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson15/53Classic Carrot-Coconut Cake
Carrot cake and coconut cake are two of the most popular Easter desserts—here, we’ve combined them into one epic Easter cake.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Prop Styling by Anne Eastman, Food Styling by John Bjostad16/53Double Chocolate Layer Cake
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou17/53Tahini Chiffon Cake With Burnt Honey Cream and Poached Rhubarb
This tender chiffon cake gains richness and nutty flavor from tahini, but the crunchy sesame coating really takes it over the edge. It’s a bakery-quality showstopper that’s deceptively easy to make at home.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton18/53Tre Latte Olive Oil Cake
Soaked with a mixture of olive oil and three types of milk, this Italian take on tres leches cake feels effortlessly luxe.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou19/53Golden Beet Cake With the Best Cream Cheese Frosting
Regular cream cheese frosting is no match for the best ermine cream cheese frosting—read about why, then get baking.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne21/53Gooey Butter Cake
This cake batter gets a boost from active dry yeast, the signature ingredient that makes this St. Louis classic truly unique.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne23/53Marguerite Cassis
With whipped cream instead of buttercream, this French blackcurrant cake looks (and tastes) light as a feather.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne25/53Super-Moist Yellow Cake With Rich Chocolate Frosting
Combine the nostalgic flavor of boxed cake mix with the sophisticated edge of a homemade layer cake in this simple-as-can-be yellow cake, finished with fudgy chocolate frosting.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele26/53Sticky Banana and Chocolate Skillet Cake
If you don’t own any cake pans, you can still make a cake for Easter: This banana upside-down cake bakes in a skillet.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Susan Ottaviano and Stevie Stewart27/53Original New York Cheesecake
Photo by Andrew Purcell, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Carrie Purcell28/53Coconut–Key Lime Sheet Cake
This is not your grandma’s vintage coconut cake. It packs in three different types of coconut—coconut oil, coconut milk, and shredded coconut—plus Key lime curd and a whipped cream topping.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell29/53Strawberry Shortcake With Thyme and Whipped Cream
Photo and Food Styling by Joseph De Leo30/53Backyard Citrus Upside-Down Cake
Spring desserts should highlight all the fresh, vibrant flavors of the season, and this citrusy take on an upside-down cake looks like a slice of sunshine.
Photo by Alex Lau31/53Rhubarb Custard Cake
Rhubarb season is short but sweet; make the most of it by baking this custardy cake topped with tender, blush-hued rhubarb stalks.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne32/53Marjolaine
With layers of chocolate ganache, hazelnut meringue, and two flavors of buttercream, this elegant cake tastes like a candy bar, but would look right in place on display at a French patisserie.
Photo by Dana Gallagher34/53Sheet-Pan Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake
Channel the flavors of your favorite muffin into an impressive layer cake, which you don’t need cake pans to make.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson35/53Orange Chiffon Cake
Bake this orange-infused chiffon cake in a tube pan (most commonly used for angel food cake). Once it’s cool, slice the cake in half and fill it with a Grand Marnier–infused whipped cream frosting.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton36/53Basque-Style Sweet Potato Cheesecake
You could make a plain cheesecake, or you could make things a little more interesting with this subtly-spiced sweet potato cheesecake.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Bill Clark40/53Berry Cream Cheese Cake
Studded with pops of cream cheese, this simple cake is a fresh take on berries and cream. Cookbook author Yossy Arefi recommends using raspberries and blueberries, but you can use whatever mix of berries you have on hand.
Photo by Anna Voloshyna41/53Karpatka Cake
Cookbook author Anna Voloshyna describes this Eastern European cake as “a cloud of rich milky frosting trapped between two layers of pâte à choux.”
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Anna Stockwell42/53Flourless Pistachio Cake With Strawberry Meringue
For a gluten-free Easter dessert, look no further than this pastel-hued flourless pistachio cake, topped with crackly strawberry meringue.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks44/53Lemon-Blueberry Poke Cake
You fill doughnuts with jam—why not give loaf cake the same treatment? Poking the cake with a dowel creates tunnels for the thick, ultramarine blueberry filling to run into, leaving a surprise in every slice.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks45/533-Ingredient Japanese Cheesecake
Made with just three ingredients—white chocolate, cream cheese, and eggs—this Japanese cheesecake boasts the light, fluffy texture of a soufflé. It can be made a day in advance, helping to whittle down your Easter brunch prep list.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton50/53Double Ripple Ice Cream Cake
With its blondie base and ripples of plum sauce and maple walnuts, this ice cream cake will help cool you down.
Photo by Isa Zapata, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boystova51/53Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake
Photo by Massimo Pessina & Blandine Boyer, Food Styling by Eric Kayser52/53Fraisier (Strawberry Cream Cake)
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert53/53Vanilla No-Bake Cheesecake With a Chocolate Cookie Crust
