Show-Stopping Easter Desserts

March 07, 2018
Photo: Caleb Zorn Styling: Emma Crist
Celebrate the holiday with festive Easter desserts such as bunny cookies, easter egg cookies, strawberry cake, and colorful fruit tarts.
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Banana Upside-Down Pancake Cake

Photo: Kelsey Hansen; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley
Banana Upside-Down Pancake Cake Recipe

 

This incredibly tender, delicious spice cake has a secret… Aunt Jemima pancake mix. That’s right, this brunch-worthy cake starts with boxed pancake mix (but no one would guess it). The added bonus of brown sugary caramelized bananas, toasted pecans, and a hit of rum only makes the idea of cake-for-breakfast all the more appealing. 

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Mile-High Coconut Cupcakes

Photo: Iain Bagwell; Styling: Mindi Shapiro and Amanda Widis
Mile-High Coconut Cupcakes Recipe

With a name like Mile-High, this delectable treat does not imply a lack of generosity. The toasted coconut cupcake will rise to any occasion - perfect for entertaining with its delightful display of crisped coconut embellishment. Whoever says too much is a bad thing clearly has not experienced the Mile-High Coconut Cupcake!

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Carrot-Zucchini Cake with Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting

Photo: Dylan + Jeni; Styling: Scott Horne
Carrot-Zucchini Cake with Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Zucchini makes a brilliant addition to carrot cake, adding a verdant note to the sweet carrot.

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Dark Chocolate Cakes

Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Styling: Rishon Hanners
Dark Chocolate Cakes Recipe

Make a sweet dessert for your dinner party. Mini chocolate cakes filled with more ooey-gooey chocolate are sure to satisfy everyone's sweet tooth.

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Mrs. Lilien's Luau Cake

Photo: Stephen Devries; Styling: Lindsey Ellis Beatty
Mrs. Lilien's Luau Cake Recipe

Mrs. Lilien's Luau Cake

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Strawberry Poke Pound Cake with Strawberry Glaze

Photo: Kelsey Hansen; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis
Strawberry Poke Pound Cake with Strawberry Glaze Recipe

Poke cake meets pound cake in this must-make spring dessert. A perfectly moist, dense vanilla pound cake (with a delightful hint of almond) is filled with a fresh strawberry filling—adding to the cake's tender crumb and providing the perfect fruity sweet-tart flavor balance. Finish the whole thing off with an eye-catching fresh strawberry glaze, and you have a supremely awesome cake on your hands. Be warned, if you share this pound cake with friends, you'll need to be ready to share the recipe as well. 

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Cadbury Mini Egg Skillet Cookie 

Photo: Katherine Flynn
Cadbury Mini Egg Skillet Cookie 

We gave one of our favorite cookie-for-a-crowd recipes an Easter basket-inspired upgrade. And it might just be our new favorite simple Spring dessert. 

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Hummingbird Cheesecake

Photo: Hannah Burkhalter
Hummingbird Cheesecake Recipe

All of the elements of a classic hummingbird cake come together here in decadent cheesecake form. Layers of banana cheesecake, pineapple-pecan praline sauce, vanilla cheesecake, and white chocolate ganache are all stacked into a pecan-coconut graham cracker crust for a show-stopping dessert you won’t soon forget. Despite the intimidation factor that often surrounds making cheesecakes at home, we highly encourage you to give this one a go. In all honesty, cheesecakes are much easier to make—and make well—than you’d probably think. A layered cheesecake like this one is certainly simpler to pull off than baking, assembling, and frosting a traditional layer cake. So break out your springform pan with confidence—you’ve got this.

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Dark Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Anna Hampton; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis
Dark Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Avocado Frosting Recipe

This vegan cake (no eggs or butter!) is so delicious that our kids begged for more. The frosting is silky smooth, and the cake is light and loaded with chocolate flavor, and healthy fats.

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Lemon-Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Mascarpone

Photographer: Hector Manuel Sanchez; Prop Styling: Lauren Smith Ford; Food Styling: Tina Bell Stamos 
Lemon-Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Mascarpone Recipe

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Mini Lemon Tarts with Matzo-Almond Crust

Photo: Kelsey Hansen; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Paige Grandjean
Mini Lemon Tarts with Matzo-Almond Crust Recipe

Turns out, matzo crumbs make for one of the most delightfully crispy crusts we've ever tasted on a tart. And paired with a note of nuttiness delivered by ground almonds, they make a most delightful shell for a rich lemon filling. These mini tarts are an elegant and delicious dessert, perfect for a special occasion. 

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Mini Vegan Key Lime Icebox Pies

Mini Vegan Key Lime Icebox Pies Recipe

This “custard” has an insanely rich and silky texture born from a partnership between avocado and tofu.

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Hummingbird Cake Shake

Photo: Kelsey Harrison
Hummingbird Cake Shake Recipe

As the most requested recipe in Southern Living history, the Hummingbird Cake is a staple for southern flair and charm. We decided to put our own spin on the iconic dessert by shaking it up. Now you can enjoy the classic pecan, pineapple, and banana flavors in a shake! Southern never tasted so good.

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Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Photo: Kelsey Hansen; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis  
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Recipe

This vibrant pink layer cake is pure strawberry-on-strawberry goodness, with fresh strawberries going into the cake batter and frosting. One thing to note about the buttercream frosting—it is absolutely bursting with berry flavor, but is easily over-mixed. If you find you've broken your emulsion when whipping this frosting up, no worries. You can simply mix in a little more powdered sugar to restore it. That said, we love how purely strawberry-forward the flavor of this frosting is, so we'd advise being very light-handed when adding extra powdered sugar, as it will dilute the berry flavor. In our opinion, it's better to have a slightly broken frosting that tastes like strawberries than a perfectly pristine frosting that tastes like sugar. 

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Chocolate-Zucchini Loaf Cake

Photo: Alison Miksch; Styling: Missie Neville Crawford
Chocolate-Zucchini Loaf Cake Recipe

Zucchini squash is available year-round and is the secret to keeping this cake moist.

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Layered Peeps Crispy Treats

Photo: Ryan Moriarty
Layered Peeps Crispy Treats Recipe
Make colorful treats using Peeps and Rice Krispie cereal this Easter. 3-ingredients is all it takes to make these fun, sticky bars.

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Bunny Bark

Photo: Ashley Kappel 
Bunny Bark Recipe

Fill your basket with homemade Easter treats! This recipe is a fun way to get kids involved with cooking, plus they’ll love making the rainbow swirls.

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Tangy Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Photo: Jennifer Causey; Styling: Claire Spollen
Tangy Lemon Cheesecake Bars Recipe
Classic lemon squares with a twist, citrus cheesecake adds a creamy texture to these puckery bites.
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The Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas
The Lemon Cheese Layer Cake Recipe
Expecting a twist on cheesecake? You're in for an even sweeter surprise. This show-stopping cake is layered with a buttery rich lemon curd filling instead.

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Berry Lemonade Bars

Photo: Jennifer Causey; Styling: Lindsey Lower
Berry Lemonade Bars Recipe
Guests will swoon when you send them home with these pretty treats. The strawberry version is sweet and rosy pink; the raspberry version, deeper mauve and tart. The lemon variation is straight-up puckery perfection. We mix the filling together just before the crust comes out of the oven and then pour it onto the hot crust so that it sets quickly.

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Bunny Cookie Cupcakes

Photo: Mark Thomas; Styling: Karen Tack
Bunny Cookie Cupcakes Recipe
Kids will love decorating these simple bunny cupcakes. Start with boxed or grocery store cupcakes then decorate each with vanilla frosting, green coconut, and bunnie cookies. Kneading together refrigerated sugar cookie dough and flour make it easer to cut out the bunny shapes.
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Easter Egg Cookies

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Cindy Barr
Easter Egg Cookies Recipe
Use this easy, low-fat sugar cookie recipe anytime you want to break out the cookie cutters and have fun in the kitchen. Involve the children by letting them cut out simple shapes like eggs or try other designs like bunnies and flowers. Arrange the cookies in a basket for a festive (and edible) centerpiece.

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Easter Cookies

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Lisa Powell Bailey
Easter Cookies Recipe
Try this Easter dessert with a simple five-ingredient dough that can be made up to three days ahead and stored in the fridge. Break out the cookie cutters and let the children create flowers, bunnies, and eggs. The decorated cookies also double as an attractive table decoration.

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Coconut Nest Cookies

Victor Protasio
Coconut Nest Cookies Recipe
These coconut nest cookies are basically vanilla meringues made with sweetened, shredded dried coconut. Make a shallow depression in the center of each cookie before baking, then fill with jelly beans or other Easter candy once the meringues have cooled.
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Lemon Cloud with Strawberry-Mint Compote

Photography: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro
Lemon Cloud with Strawberry-Mint Compote Recipe
A homemade lemon curd adds bright flavor to the soufflé and perfectly complements the mint and strawberry compote. Enjoy while strawberries are ripe, or substitute any seasonal berry during the rest of the year.

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Candy Butterfly Cupcakes

Photo: David Malosh; Styling: Gerri Williams for James Reps
Candy Butterfly Cupcakes Recipe
These cupcakes are so cute, they'll fly right off the plate!

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Five-Spice Toasted-Coconut Cake Roll with Tropical Fruit Compote

Photography: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke
Five-Spice Toasted-Coconut Cake Roll with Tropical Fruit Compote Recipe
Freshly-baked angel food cake rolls easily when still warm. Simply spread with slightly-thawed sorbet, then freeze for at least one hour. To prepare in advance for Easter, make the cake up to two days ahead, then mix the compote about 20 minutes before serving.
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Pink Grapefruit Cupcakes

Photo: Quentin Bacon
Pink Grapefruit Cupcakes Recipe
Bake these bright and flavorful cupcakes in advance so they have time to cool before you frost them.

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Easter Egg Kaleidoscopes

Easter Egg Kaleidoscopes Recipe
Make a sugary (and edible!) table setting with Easter eggs featuring windows of tiny icing animals and candy blossoms. Royal icing performs double-duty in this recipe, acting as a "glue" to hold the sugar egg halves together as well as decorative décor around the edges of the windows.

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Raspberry Sorbet and Meringue Sandwiches

Photography: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro
Raspberry Sorbet and Meringue Sandwiches Recipe
Serve "finger sandwiches" of airy meringue cookies and tart raspberry sorbet. Divide the egg white mixture into rectangles before baking, then spread with the sorbet and freeze for about four hours before slicing into triangles.
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Lemon Velvet Tart

Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Lisa Powell Bailey
Lemon Velvet Tart Recipe
Dazzle your taste buds with the vibrant flavor of lemon and creamy white chocolate in this easy citrus tart. Simple-to-make Caramelized Sugar Spirals add to an impressive presentation. The secret: crushed lemon candies.

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Teapot Cake

Teapot Cake Recipe
Make a cake that doubles as a centerpiece. Bake two small pound cakes and stack to create the base, then decorate with fondant to create a spout, handle, daisies, butterflies, and anything else "Spring" you can think of. Decorating can take some time, but the result is well worth the effort.

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Spring's Little Cakes

Spring's Little Cakes Recipe
These fun and festive little cakes are perfect for those with little hands. Create fun shapes and have kids decorate them for a fun and festive treat.
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Banana-Raspberry Cake with Lemon Frosting

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke
Banana-Raspberry Cake with Lemon Frosting Recipe
Mashed ripe bananas mixed into the batter make this cake extra moist. The cream cheese icing, flavored with lemon zest and vanilla extract, serves as the base layer for the fresh raspberry filling and the outer frosting.

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