Christmas Cake Recipes

Impress holiday guests with a dessert buffet featuring these stunning Christmas cakes.

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Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Ina Garten's chocolate cake has a subtle mocha flavor thanks to the cup of freshly brewed coffee in the batter, but our favorite part of this recipe is the thick chocolate buttercream icing on the top of the cake and between its layers.

Get the Recipe: Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Throwdown's Toasted Coconut Cake with Coconut Filling and Coconut Buttercream

Bobby Flay and his team put their spin on this classic Southen cake. The buttercream frosting truly takes this dessert to the next level –– but make sure you've got space in a cool place (or your fridge) to keep it chilled before serving.

Get the Recipe: Throwdown's Toasted Coconut Cake with Coconut Filling and Coconut Buttercream

Chai-Spiced Bundt Cake

The warm, comforting flavors of chai tea melt into an olive oil-pecan Bundt cake base, topped with a sticky-sweet, buttery agave syrup glaze.

Get the Recipe: Chai-Spiced Bundt Cake

Grandma's Red Velvet Cake

If everyone's grandmother could turn out a dessert as moist and gently sweet as Sunny's, we'd all move back home. Best of all, this crowd-pleasing cake takes just 30 minutes to prepare and 30 more to bake.

Get the Recipe: Grandma's Red Velvet Cake

Gingerbread Icebox Cake

Prepare this gumdrop-bedecked cake in a Bundt pan for a stunning holiday dessert that is way easier to construct than a gingerbread house. The spicy gingersnaps flavor the creamy filling overnight, so make it ahead of time and then decorate it before guests arrive.

Get the Recipe: Gingerbread Icebox Cake

Jamaican Black Cake

Channel that holiday cheer with a spicy fruit cake spiked with rum and brandy-soaked cherries.

Get the Recipe: Jamaican Black Cake

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

This dark and dense chocolate cake is almost like hazelnut fudge, so there's no need to test it with a toothpick to check if it's ready. It emerges from the oven fluffy and souffled, but it will deflate to half the size during the cooling period, so don't despair when you see it sink.

Get the Recipe: Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Ginger-Rum Bundt Cake

Consider this cake a Dark and Stormy in dessert form. Don't skimp on the freshly grated ginger, as it adds much deeper flavor than powdered varieties.

Get the Recipe: Ginger-Rum Bundt Cake

Coconut-Frosted Carrot Cake

This carrot cake is moist and sweet with a complex combination of spices and zest. Adding a bit of lemon to the icing brings out the bright flavors of the cake and the Lyle's Golden Syrup kicks it over the top.

Get the Recipe: Coconut-Frosted Carrot Cake

Featherlight Chocolate Cake

True to its name, this reliable cake has a springy and tender crumb, thanks to the addition of ice water to the batter. Good-quality cocoa powder is crucial to achieving the deep chocolate flavor, and this cake retains its moisture so well that it will keep for as long as a week.

Get the Recipe: Featherlight Chocolate Cake

Red Velvet Cake

This popular cake with a cocoa base is dressed for the holiday season with its bright red hue. Cloaked in a cream cheese and butter vanilla frosting, this is a cake that holds up well for at least three days.

Get the Recipe: Red Velvet Cake

Sour Cream Cheesecake

This cheesecake is rich, creamy and has just the right amount of tang.

Get the Recipe: Sour Cream Cheesecake

Florence's Orange Cake

This dense cake gets its vibrant flavor from fresh orange zest and an irresistibly tangy orange glace drizzle.

Get the Recipe: Florence's Orange Cake

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pattie Cake

Elevate your holiday dessert buffet to new heights with this take on the classic Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie. The fudgy chocolate cake is topped with a rich ganache frosting and a drizzle of mint-infused simple syrup.

Get the Recipe: Dark Chocolate Peppermint Pattie Cake

Walnut Cake with American Frosting

This dense walnut cake finds it perfect partner in Rachel Allen’s luxurious, fluffy American frosting. Note: this cake keeps very well – but we doubt you’ll have any leftovers.

Get the Recipe: Walnut Cake with American Frosting

Carrot Cake

Alton Brown's carrot cake is rich and moist with a dense, quick-bread-like texture.

Get the Recipe: Carrot Cake

Better-Than-Boxed Chocolate Cake

This cake is completely delicious and not the least formal, which is a very good thing. The rich, silky, buttery chocolate icing is what really takes this cake to over-the-top, legendary status.

Get the Recipe: Better-Than-Boxed Chocolate Cake

Free-Range Fruitcake

Alton Brown proves that fruitcake shouldn't be the butt of holiday jokes any longer. Give his quick, easy and, most important, delicious fruitcake as a holiday gift, but be sure to bake one for yourself too.

Get the Recipe: Free Range Fruitcake

Carrot Cake with Marshmallow Fluff Cream Cheese Frosting

Bobby Flay updates this vegetable-based dessert by frosting it with marshmallow-laced cream cheese. The tangy-sweet results are completely irresistible.

Get the Recipe: Carrot Cake with Marshmallow Fluff Cream Cheese Frosting

Sweet and Salty Cake

Hate choosing between sweet or salty? Sour cream lends extra moisture to this dark chocolate cake while fleur de sel, a flaked French sea salt, is sprinkled on top of the salted caramel ganache frosting for perfect contrast and a slight crunch.

Get the Recipe: Sweet and Salty Cake

Mom's Banana Cake

The addition of oats gives this banana cake nutty flavor and makes it denser than what a classic recipe might yield. Use overripe bananas to ensure fresh banana flavor.

Get the Recipe: Mom's Banana Cake

Chocolate Cake

Rachel Allen's chocolate cakes get sandwiched together by a rich chocolate butter frosting. A light dusting of cocoa power makes for an elegant finish, making this cake worthy of your holiday spread.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Sarabeth’s cake is moist and devilishly rich with whipped ganache filling and a dark chocolate glaze. A hint of orange in the cake lightens things up, making this cake a perfect match for your post-dinner cup of coffee.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Truffle Cake

Kitchen Sink Carrot Cake

This cake stays true to its name, as it is full of just about everything in the kitchen: fresh carrots, pineapple, coconut, brown sugar and spices.

Get the Recipe: Kitchen Sink Carrot Cake

Chocolate Amaretti Cake

Amaretti cookies, crisp almond-flavored Italian biscuits, are ground with whole almonds, creating the unique texture and sweet flavor of this irresistible chocolate cake.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Amaretti Cake

Stack Cake

In the Appalachian Mountains region, neighbors used to bring a single layer of cake to the bride's family for a wedding celebration. The family would then stack the cake layers with jam or apple butter. In the end, the number of cake layers helped to gauge the bride's popularity.

Get the Recipe: Stack Cake

Bourbon German Chocolate Cake

The filling in this cake is a delicious, sticky mess of sweet, buttery and bourbon-infused coconut and toasted pecans, and the dark chocolate icing is rich and thick, with a ganache-like sheen. All told, it’s the ultimate German chocolate cake recipe.

Get the Recipe: Bourbon German Chocolate Cake

Bienmesabe Cake

Bienmesabe cake is a Venezuelan dessert that literally translates to "it tastes good to me" in Spanish. With layers of sponge cake soaked in a coconut-and-rum syrup, rich coconut cream and toasted meringue, it's no wonder why.

Get the Recipe: Bienmesabe Cake

Coconut Carrot Cake

Bal Arneson adds a couple of unorthodox spices (fennel and cardamom) and a cup of shredded coconut to give her cake exotic flair. A luxurious spiced mascarpone frosting makes this carrot cake one to remember.

Get the Recipe: Coconut Carrot Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake

All you need for this festive dessert is eggs, chocolate, butter and sugar. Bon appetit!

Get the Recipe: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Spiced City Cake

The combination of ground fennel and cardamom in Bal's cake will fill your home with an intoxicating aroma of the holidays — with an exotic twist.

Get the Recipe: Spiced City Cake

Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Cake

This sinfully sweet cake gets a triple hit of butterscotch flavor from brown sugar in the batter, the frosting and the butterscotch sauce drizzled on top.

Get the Recipe: Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Cake

Super Chocolate Cake

No holiday dessert table would be complete without an incredibly chocolaty cake. With chocolate cake, filling, frosting and ganache, this decadent cake will fit the bill.

Get the Recipe: Super Chocolate Cake

Monkey Tail Banana Cake

Chocolate chip banana cake is layered with Nutella and covered in swirls of cream cheese frosting for an unforgettable dessert.

Get the Recipe: Monkey Tail Banana Cake

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Just a tablespoon of cocoa, a cup of buttermilk and a full ounce of red food coloring make this an authentic southern red velvet cake. Make sure to toast the pecans around the border, which lend their nutty crunch.

Get the Recipe: Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting