Cake

Our best gluten-free chocolate cake recipe combines oat and rice flours for a tender fudgy all-occasion dessert. The pudding-like frosting is just a bonus.

Tiny but mighty, these individual buckwheat cakes are rich and dense and bring big sticky toffee pudding energy.

This single-layer take on the classic will turn any gathering into a party.

With crunch from toasted walnuts and an optional boozy punch from rum-plumped raisins, this is the only carrot cake recipe you’ll ever need.

In the Venn diagram of chocolate bakes, this recipe falls squarely in the middle of where brownie, molten chocolate cake, and chocolate soufflé meet.

With pounds of dried fruit and glugs of dark rum, this is a recipe for serious fruitcake fans.

Butternut squash shows up canned pumpkin purée in this tasty fall-forward coffee cake with crisp streusel and a spiced sugar swirl.

A little oil in this bûche de noel helps keep it pliable even when cool—perfect for rolling the Yule log shape.

When cutout cookies just won’t cut it, turn to these fanciful tortes, lazy-day snacking cakes, and festive multi-layered showstoppers.

This deliciously moist sweet potato cake recipe from Baltimore’s Crust by Mack is stacked high with thick layers of salted cream cheese frosting.

Subtly sweet and a smidge savory, this cake is an ideal on-the-go breakfast or afternoon pick-me-up.

One bite is all it takes to fall in love with this extra-plush, cardamom-scented cake.

This tres leches cake recipe gets its tenderness from the addition of a fourth type of milk and a kick from a shot of rum.

This showstopper has confetti cake layers, vanilla and strawberry ice cream, and rainbow sprinkles. Let’s party.

Crisp pecans in a sticky mochi cake makes for a dreamy dessert. A dab of miso gives it intriguing depth.

You’ll find a jammy swirl of sweet-tart cherries in this plush, buttery crumb cake topped with crispy, spiced streusel-y bits.

A whole vanilla bean takes this supremely creamy, wonderfully rich, classic New York–style cheesecake to pro-level.

Double down on chocolate and orange with this vegan dessert that gets a little help from the freezer aisle.

This is possibly the simplest strawberry cheesecake you’ll ever make: It requires no mixer, no springform pan, and it bakes in 30 minutes.

A one-bowl vanilla cake, doctored store-bought ice cream, and quick raspberry curd make this impressive dessert totally achievable.

A slice of this spiced cake with buttermilk-cinnamon glaze feels like a warm hug, and the best part is, it takes less than an hour to make.

However you look at boxed cake mix—a desperate measure for desperate times or a jumping-off point for an infinite number of delicious desserts—here are our best strategies to make it taste better than you ever imagined.

The decoration is built right in.

This plushy almond cake with toasted-sugar edges is the perfect match for sweet fruit and a dollop of softly whipped cream.