30 Incredibly Easy Cake Recipes For Every Level Of Baker (2024)

For this version of a classic, we kept it simple with strawberries, meaning you can make this for any occasion this summer. We love it for outdoor picnics, birthdays, BBQs, or even after a casual weeknight dinner.

Get the Strawberry Upside Down Skillet Cake recipe.

This no-bake cheesecake is everything you love about creamsicles, made extra fancy (and y'know, not frozen!). The batter might feel kind of loose as you're adding it to the pan—don't worry! After a couple hours in the refrigerator, it will be perfectly firm and creamy.

Get the No-Bake Creamsicle Cheesecake recipe.

If you can't get enough of the fudgy, cream-filled cupcakes, then this sheet cake will be your new favorite dessert. Taking inspiration from the classic Hostess dessert, this sheet cake delivers on all the same flavors in an easy, shareable form.

Get the Hostess Sheet Cake recipe.

Dump cakes might have a horrible name, but they're beloved because they're stupidly easy—you literally dump cake mix and cherry pie filling into a baking dish and bake it. This recipe simplifies everything even more by using canned cherry pie filling. It's the definition of foolproof.

Get the Cherry Dump Cake recipe.

It doesn't get much more classic than this chocolate birthday cake. Our version adds some coffee to amp up that chocolate flavor, and sour cream to give a super-soft, moist texture. The best part? The batter all comes together in one bowl in MINUTES.

Get the Chocolate Birthday Cake recipe.

Poke cakes are one of our favorite easy desserts no matter the season. This recipe is made from a box vanilla cake mix, and is upgraded with a homemade blueberry sauce, cream cheese frosting, and a blueberry topping. It's easy to create, and is the perfect spring dessert to serve a crowd in a pinch.

Get the Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake recipe.

Those that love peanut butter LOVE it, and this cake was made with those in mind. It's got peanut butter cake, peanut butter frosting, AND peanut butter drizzle. 😱 We love whole chopped Reese's, but for a colorful (and still peanut-buttery) twist, use chopped Reese's Pieces instead.

Get the Peanut Butter Cake recipe.

If you liked strawberry shortcake ice cream bars growing up, then you’ll love this poke cake. In it, we start with a boxed cake mix, infuse it with strawberry flavor, top it with fluffy cream cheese frosting, then finish it off with a strawberry-and-cookie topping for the perfect summer dessert.

Get the Strawberry Crunch Poke Cake recipe.

"No-bake" and "whipped" in the same recipe name as "cheesecake"? Sure! The whipped ricotta and mascarpone combination lightened with whipped cream is quite dreamy.

Get the No-Bake Whipped Ricotta Cheesecake recipe.

Translating to “three milks,” tres leches cake is a Latin American favorite. A light sponge cake that is soaked in a milk mixture for at least an hour, it’s basically the original poke cake. Instead of a traditional buttercream frosting, this cake gets topped with a sweetened whipped cream, cinnamon-sugar, and strawberries.

Get the Tres Leches Cake recipe.

This cake is DANGEROUSLY good. If you can't find in-season peaches, check out our caramel apple upside-down cake. It's got a similar batter, and major fall vibes.

Get the Raspberry Peach Upside-Down Cake recipe

Why choose just one dessert for your birthday celebration when you can have two classics in one? If you love festive Funfetti but are more of a cheesecake person, this sprinkle-filled cheesecake is the dessert for you. Plus it's super easy, using store-bought cake mix!

Get the Funfetti Cheesecake recipe.

Inspired by the trio of flavors common in Italian spumoni, or molded gelato, this ice cream cake demands attention. With 6 whole pints of ice cream, it feeds a big, hungry crew. Bonus: it's totally no-bake.

Get the Spumoni Ice Cream Cake recipe.

In the summer, it can feel like there's a potluck every other night. This peach dump cake is perfect for when you simply can not chop any more veggies for pasta salad or fill another deviled egg. Requiring only 3 ingredients, this peach dump cake is low on effort, high on flavor.

Get the Peach Dump Cake recipe.

Few desserts are as easy as an icebox cake. If you can whip cream, you're basically halfway there. Oreo Thins make a great cookie base because they can soften perfectly all the way through, but, honestly, a a regular Oreo will work just as well if you have those on hand.

Get the Easy Icebox Cake recipe.

This chocolate cake is rich, extra-fudgy, and topped with plenty of toasty pecans. It's a classic dessert for very good reason: it was made for chocolate lovers, and ready in under an hour.

Get the Texas Sheet Cake recipe.

Icebox cake may be an old-school concept, but this recipe is truly spectacular. The combination of lemon curd and cream cheese frosting is intensely citrusy and refreshing, and the quick candied lemon peel makes it priceless.

Get the Lemon Icebox Cake recipe.

It may be retro, but this classic cake is a staple summer dessert for a reason. If you're looking for a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, you can't go wrong with this pineapple upside-down cake—it never goes out of style.

Get the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake recipe.

Gooey, puffy, cinnamon sugar-filled cinnamon rolls are what dreams are made of, but we can’t always get it together to make them from scratch. This cake helps you skip all the finicky rolling and proofing, but still get all that delicious cinnamon roll flavor (including the cream cheese frosting!).

Get the Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake recipe.

When we just can't get enough of our favorite banana pudding we turn it into a sliceable cake. Here in New York, instant banana pudding mix is hard to come by, so we used vanilla instead. And since there are tons of bananas in the cake, it really doesn't matter!

Get the Banana Pudding Icebox Cake recipe.