Recipe Roundup

37 Fall Cakes Full of Baking Spice and Everything Nice

Bake your way into cozy mode.
Pumpkin and cookie butter cake topped with toasted meringue and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet with a side of pumpkins...
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Nathaniel James, Food Styling by Anna Hampton

Fall cakes hit a sweet spot—as the weather cools, baking feels right again, and the apples, pumpkins, pecans, and warming spices that epitomize the season truly shine in cake form. Below you'll find our favorite fall cake ideas, including easy Bundt cakes and loaves, impressive layer cakes for birthday celebrations, and lots of cinnamon-spiced, dinner-party-worthy desserts that celebrate the season. Get ready for gooey caramel and toffee, freshly grated nutmeg, swirls of cranberry, and pops of juicy grapes—once you start baking these cakes, you might forget all about pie.

  • Tall apple cake with dripping caramel glaze and walnuts on a cake stand with a black background.
    Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
    1/37

    Caramel Apple Drip Cake With Candied Walnuts

    The best fall cakes bring nostalgic autumnal flavors to life. Grated apples in the filling give this spice cake a moist, dense texture, while the dripping caramel glaze and pretty caramelized walnuts make it a true showstopper for any special occasion.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    2/37

    Majestic and Moist New Year's Honey Cake

    We promise, this is the best honey cake you've ever tasted. It's rich, nicely spiced, and majestic in flavor and stature. Better yet: it keeps wonderfully, if you can hold off on gobbling the whole thing. 

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne
    3/37

    Apple Sticky Toffee Pudding

    Go ahead, give your apple cake a luscious drizzle of toffee sauce.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Erika Joyce
    4/37

    Grape Cake With Hazelnut Streusel

    Any kind (or mix) of seedless grapes will work for this crowd-ready snack cake. We love using Thomcord grapes, which give you all the intense juicy punch of a Concord grape without the annoying seeds.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo & Food Styling by Kendra Vaculin
    9/37

    Cranberry-Orange Snacking Cake

    This simple snacking cake could be breakfast—or an after-school pick-me-up. It’s a great way to put any lingering cans of cranberry sauce to good use.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    10/37

    Olive Oil Apple Cake With Spiced Sugar

    This dairy-free cake hits all the right autumnal notes: it’s earthy thanks to the olive oil and warm thanks to the spices. Just be sure to choose your apples wisely—a softer type will melt into the cake, while firmer apples (such as Granny Smith) will give the cake a coarser texture.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Travis Rainey, Food styling by Micah Marie Morton
    13/37

    Easy Coffee Cake

    This no-mixer cake recipe is one of our favorite options for a relaxed Sunday brunch.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele
    14/37

    Pistachio Cake

    This fragrant cake pairs shelled pistachios with lots of orange zest. The active prep time is just 15 minutes, and you'll have this cake cooling on your counter in less than an hour.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Stevie Stewart
    15/37

    Pumpkin Bread

    Does this pumpkin loaf count as a fall cake? The apple cider, pumpkin purée, cinnamon, and nutmeg in this recipe all emphatically say yes.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    16/37

    Cranberry-Pistachio Baked Alaska

    Underneath the toasted meringue, you’ll find a surprising lightness that comes from cheery red cranberry sorbet layered with pale green pistachio ice cream and buttery pound cake.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Sean Dooley
    17/37

    Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

    The earthy flavor of carrots pairs beautifully with cinnamon, allspice, and freshly grated nutmeg. This reader favorite would be a great choice for a fall birthday party.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton
    18/37

    Basque-Style Sweet Potato Cheesecake

    Inspired by Basque cheesecake tradition, this luscious sweet potato-based marvel is baked until its exterior is a deep copper.

    Get This Recipe
  • Andrew Purcell, food styling by Carrie Purcell, prop styling by Sarah Cave
    19/37

    Pear and Walnut Upside-Down Cake With Whipped Crème Fraîche

    Ripe pears, cut into thin wedges, are dressed in caramel and walnuts to top this luscious cake. It needs nothing else, but whipping cream into crème fraîche for a topping makes it extra special. 

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    20/37

    Swirl Spice Cake

    This isn't your average spice cake recipe—the swirl combines finely ground coffee, granulated dried orange peel, ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, and fennel seeds.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert
    23/37

    Beet Red Velvet Cake

    As we enter the season of root vegetables, it's time to bake with beets. This cake eschews artificial coloring—and the beets improve the crumb too.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne
    24/37

    Molten Double Chocolate Mug Cake

    If you're into chocolate lava cake, you'll love these easy cakes, which come together in your microwave.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
    27/37

    Tiramisu Bundt Cake

    Love the flavors of tiramisu? Then this recipe from cookbook author Sarah Kieffer has your name on it.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Holly Wulff Petersen
    28/37

    Sumac, Spelt, and Apple Cake

    Spelt flour gives this vegan cake a rustic look and nutty flavor, producing a delightfully crunchy crust that hides a soft, moist crumb underneath, with chunks of sweet apple running all the way through.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Matthew Septimus
    29/37

    Apple Walnut Bundt Cake

    It is great to have this apple Bundt cake in your repertoire; it's easy to make and stays moist and flavorful for five days at room temperature, up to 10 days refrigerated. The caramel glaze is an optional but fabulous accompaniment.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Anna Surbatovich, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    30/37

    Chocolate and Pumpkin Zebra Cake

    We'd like to present your Halloween cake plans. This spooky cake is just right for a party.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
    31/37

    French Spiced Bread

    This classic French spiced bread is flavored with a vibrant spice mixture of star anise, ginger, and cinnamon. It's great for a sweet toast in the morning, or it can be sliced thinly and served with pâté for a pretty party appetizer.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Antonis Achilleos
    32/37

    Cranberry-Maple Pudding Cake

    This corn and maple pudding is great, but with a healthy helping of whipped cream and cranberry sauce, it's an ideal final course in a fall dinner.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photograph by Christopher Testani, Food styling by Victoria Granof, prop styling by Alex Brannian
    33/37

    Sweet Potato Loaf Cake With Dark Chocolate Ganache

    This tender loaf cake enrobed in dark chocolate ganache is the brainchild of baking maven Cheryl Day. Making your own sweet potato purée here is absolutely worth the effort.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photo by Christopher Testani
    34/37

    Spiced Pear Upside-Down Cake

    Pomegranate molasses and fresh orange juice make this stunning upside down cake perfectly sweet, tangy, and sticky. Finely ground walnuts add a toasty flavor to the crumb, and it's one of our best-looking cakes for fall.

    Get This Recipe
  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Liberty Fennell, Prop Styling by Suzie Myers
    37/37

    Caramel Apple Snacking Cake

    Classic caramel apples get reimagined as one of our favorite fall cakes, complete with a glossy top and soft, custardy interior. This is the kind of recipe that easily becomes an annual tradition.

    Get This Recipe
Following stints at StarChefs and Saveur, Joe joined Epicurious in 2016 where he’s written about how to make the very best biscuits, the singularity of third-culture cooking, and the ultimate cream cheese frosting. Currently, he works across both BA and Epi as the senior SEO editor for cooking stories, which ... Read More
Senior SEO Editor, Cooking
The Epicurious editorial team develops original recipes, and publishes stories about cooking better, faster, and more creatively, sustainably, and affordably. See our full masthead, here. ... Read More
Read More
29 Pumpkin Desserts to Bake Your Way Through Fall
icon
Gallery
29 Pumpkin Desserts to Bake Your Way Through Fall
Pie is just the start.
43 Apple Desserts for a Warm and Cozy Start to Fall
icon
Gallery
43 Apple Desserts for a Warm and Cozy Start to Fall
Our favorite apple desserts, including classic apple pie, galettes, spiced cakes, tarte Tatin, and more.
How to Choose the Best Apples for Baking Pies, Crisps, and Crumbles
How to Choose the Best Apples for Baking Pies, Crisps, and Crumbles
There are thousands of apple varieties out there—here’s how to pick the right one for your baking project.

Lillian Schiffer

With This Easy Cake Method, You’ll Never Cream Butter and Sugar Together Again
With This Easy Cake Method, You’ll Never Cream Butter and Sugar Together Again
The reverse-creaming technique is almost impossible to mess up—and it makes sure that you'll end up with a light, fluffy cake.

Genevieve Yam

It’s Not Just Pound Cake. It’s Philly Fluff Cake.
It’s Not Just Pound Cake. It’s Philly Fluff Cake.
My family has been trying to recreate this legendary cake, a staple of local Jewish-Italian bakeries, for decades. Here’s how I finally cracked the code.

Zoe Denenberg

The Best Stand Mixer for Every Kind of Baker (and Budget)
The Best Stand Mixer for Every Kind of Baker (and Budget)
You may think KitchenAid is the only player in the stand mixer game, but after testing 14 models, we have a new recommendation.

Caroline Lange

The Most-Saved Recipes in the Epicurious App This Week
Like grilled chicken wings and a citrus bitters cocktail.
The Most-Saved Recipes in the Epicurious App in May
Like green falafel smash burgers and a crispy rice salad.
19 Low-Alcohol Cocktails That Still Bring the Party
Like a strawberry-rhubarb spritz, a watermelon-sherry-kombucha cooler, and more low-ABV drinks for day drinking and keeping your witz.
41 Father’s Day Breakfasts to Say, “Thanks, Dad”
Extra-tender cinnamon rolls, everything-bagel quiche, a chorizo and egg crunchwrap, and more ways to show your gratitude.
31 Fourth of July Desserts for Star-Spangled Summer Fun
Like butter-pecan icebox cake, sour cherry pot pie, sheet pan shortcake, and more.
The Best Mac and Cheese You'll Ever Make (Restaurant-Quality)
In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make the best mac and cheese at home. From the perfect melty sauce to a delicious toasted crust, follow Frank’s guide and never make a dry mac and cheese again.