32 Graduation Cakes That Are Ready to Get This Party Started

May 06, 2019
Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Christina Daley; Food Styling: Sarah Epperson
Make graduation day all the sweeter with the perfect celebratory cake. Here, we’ve gathered our best graduation cake and cupcake ideas to commemorate the occasion. From simple sheet cakes that are perfect for a graduation party crowd to impressive layer cakes that are sure to make your grad feel special, we have the graduation cake recipe for you. 
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1-2-3-4 Cake 

Photographer: Gina DeSimone; Prop stylist: Kashara Johnson; Food Stylist: Briana Riddock
1-2-3-4 Cake  Recipe

Time to oust your box cake mix, and embrace your inner baker with this basic yellow cake formula. This recipe will raise your cake-crafting confidence to new heights the first time you try it. As the name suggests, the numbers represent the measurements of the ingredients in the cake. Just remember what number matches with which ingredient, and you can easily memorize this recipe to whip up anytime you please. The buttery yellow cake is moist and has a perfectly dense crumb. Consider the 1-2-3-4 Cake a blank canvas; have fun adding layers of your buttercream frosting, whipped cream with fruit, or your own favorite frosting. One key to keep in mind when making this cake is that you really do need to have your butter softened and, ideally, your eggs at room temperature. Mixing these ingredients in when cold makes them more difficult to incorporate and can yield a “broken” batter. When baking the cake, be sure to use a light baking pan to help prevent over-browning. If you see that the top of your cake is brown, but the center is still wet, make a foil tent over the cake to keep it from getting darker. 

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Marble Sheet Cake

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine
Marble Sheet Cake Recipe
Swirl chocolate and yellow cake batter together in this marble sheetcake recipe and top with a rich mocha frosting.

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Graduation Cake

Photo: Jessica Colyer, Styling, Jessica Colyer, Katie Hanley
Graduation Cake Recipe

Made with a simple buttercream frosting and topped with festive decorations, this cake is a perfect and simple way to celebrate the graduate in your life. 

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Birthday Cake

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Stylist: Sarah Elizabeth Cleveland; Food Styling: Sarah Epperson
Birthday Cake Recipe

For a festive occasion, few treats can match the celebratory spirit of a classic birthday cake—and this easy-to-follow formula is the only one you’ll ever need. Our birthday cake recipe yields two dense layers of buttery, vanilla-forward white cake wrapped in classically rich buttercream frosting. For the signature, picture perfect birthday cake look, don’t forget to garnish your frosted cake with rainbow sprinkles. You can also stir a handful of colored sprinkles right into the cake batter  to create a funfetti effect.

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Lemon Naked Cake with Flower Crown

Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke
Lemon Naked Cake with Flower Crown Recipe

Perfect for birthdays, showers, or special get-togethers, this flower-topped layer cake is so pretty you won’t want to cut it! Made with a lemon cake mix and Lemon Buttercream frosting, it’s incredibly simple to make, even though it looks impressive. Top with a ring of edible flowers and prepare for complements.

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Tahini-Blueberry Sheet Cake With Strawberry Buttercream

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley
Tahini-Blueberry Sheet Cake With Strawberry Buttercream Recipe

Perfect for a graduation party or summer cookout, this impressive dessert offers the ease and crowd-friendly factor that we associate with a sheet cake, as well as a delightful twist of creativity and surprising vibrancy with the incorporation of tahini and fresh berries. If you have a jar of the trendy sesame seed paste hanging out in your pantry, trust us—it’s high time to go beyond hummus and welcome it into your dessert life. Tahini lends a delicious toasty quality to the tender cake while fresh blueberries dotted throughout the batter balance this nutty depth with their bright, juicy sweetness. A simple strawberry buttercream ties everything together and makes for a low-effort, eye-catching presentation. 

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Chocolate Fudge Sheet Cake With Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Kashara Johnson; Food Styling: Pam Lolley
Chocolate Fudge Sheet Cake With Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

The addition of cinnamon adds a kick of “something special” to this rich chocolate sheet cake, but if you prefer, you can reduce the amount or leave the cinnamon out all together; you will simply have a delightful, classic chocolate cake on your hands. Once topped off with a decadent chocolate-cream cheese frosting, this cake is ready to please at virtually any event you bring it to.

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Basic White Cupcakes

Photo: Beth Dreiling; Styling: Buffy Hargett
Basic White Cupcakes Recipe
Enhance a white cake mix with buttermilk, butter and flavoring extracts for this basic white cupcake.  Then add whatever frosting and topping you are in in the mood for. We went for Coconut Buttercream and flaked coconut for these stunning Coconut Cupcakes.

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Easy Vanilla Cake

Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke
Easy Vanilla Cake Recipe

Fresh flowers make this cake simply gorgeous—no decorating skills required! Simply choose edible blooms and petals (such as Carnations, English daisies, freesia, lavender, nasturtium, pansies, peonies, roses, stock, sweet William, tuberous begonias, or violets) For a smooth finish, dip a knife or offset spatula in hot water; then wipe it dry before frosting the cake.

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Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Caroline M. Cunningham
Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake Recipe

If you've never known the glory of a mayonnaise cake, you're in for a treat! The staple ingredient yields an ultra-moist crumb and keeps the sugar from taking over your taste buds.

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Bribery Cake

Nicole Franzen/Ten Speed Press
Bribery Cake Recipe

Chocolate cake with Swiss meringe buttercream will get you across the finish line, or help someone else to. 

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Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake

Photo: Hector Sanchez; Styling: Caroline M. Cunningham    
Strawberries-and-Cream Sheet Cake Recipe

Trust us: This simple and swoon-worthy sheet cake will be a keeper in your recipe box. File it under "Springtime Crowd-pleaser."

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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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Confetti Flower Cake

Photo: Whitney Ott; Food Styling: Mary-Claire Britton; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis
Confetti Flower Cake Recipe

 

It may be hard to believe that this stunning layer cake could taste as delightful as it looks, but trust us on this one… it’s well worth cutting into. We create an all-natural “fun-fetti” look for this Confetti Flower Cake with edible flower petals flecked throughout the moist and delicate vanilla layers. Covered in a light, fluffy strawberry frosting (and a few more garnishing edible flowers for good measure), this wow-worthy confetti cake is the perfect centerpiece for your next special occasion—be it a birthday party or a wedding shower.

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Banana Pudding Cake 

Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Food styling: Emily Nabors Hall and Kady Wohlfarth; Prop styling: Kay Clarke
Banana Pudding Cake  Recipe

One of our testers called this "the ultimate banana pudding in cake form." Tender laters of cake, creamy vanilla custard, and bananas come together to create a mouthwatering dessert. Warning: There won't be leftovers. 

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Graduation Cake

Photo: Ralph Anderson; Styling: Rose Nguyen
Graduation Cake Recipe

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Tiramisu Cake

Time Inc. Video Studios
Tiramisu Cake Recipe

Everything you love about classic Italian tiramisu, layered into an impressive cake. 

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Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes Recipe
Top these lemon-scented angel food cupcakes with tiny edible pansy blossoms or rosebuds for decoration. Store extra cupcakes in an airtight container, or send them home with guests as party favors.
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Margarita Cake

Time Inc. Video Studio
Margarita Cake Recipe

It’s everyone’s favorite refreshing tequila cocktail… in cake form. Truly, what could be better? With tart lime curd and tequila syrup, this festive show-stopper cake does justice to the flavors of an authentic margarita. 

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Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro
Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes Recipe
Chocolate and peanut butter—the perfect pairing. The generous swirl of Peanut Butter Frosting and luscious filling of Chocolate Ganache make this cupcake an irresistible chocolate treat.

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Yellow Sheet Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
Yellow Sheet Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Here's a moist, buttery dessert that can make any occasion a celebration. It was a favorite with our staffers, receiving top scores for its taste. Fresh edible flowers, such as mums, make an easy, pretty decoration; most people remove the flowers before eating the cake. If you're offering the cake at an informal gathering, serve it right from the pan.
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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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Butter Pecan Layer Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

Photo: Victor Protasio; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall
Butter Pecan Layer Cake with Browned Butter Frosting Recipe

Nutty Browned Butter Frosting meets tender pecan cake in this showstopping three-layer dessert. When browning the butter for the frosting, pour the butter into a bowl as soon as it turns golden brown, or it will continue to cook and get too dark.

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White Linen Cupcakes

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro
White Linen Cupcakes Recipe
White Linen Cupcakes are a light combination of Mascarpone Frosting and white chocolate curls over a tender cupcake. Perfect for a tea, party, or shower, they're delicate and delicious. Serve them with an ice-cold glass of milk.
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Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro
Cookies and Cream Cupcakes Recipe
Cookies and Cream cupcakes are irresistable! The creamy vanilla frosting is jam-packed with crushed cookies. A tall glass of milk is all you need to complete this luscious treat.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Victor Protasio
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Recipe
This chocolate peanut butter cake is like eating a giant Reese's peanut butter cup, perfect for lovers of this classic flavor combination!

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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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Unicorn Cake

Photo: Daniel Agee; Food Styling: Pam Lolley
Unicorn Cake Recipe

This colorful unicorn-inspired layer cake is the pinnacle of cuteness—perfect for a birthday party or for anyone who’s just super into the current unicorn craze.

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Lemon Naked Cake with Flower Crown

Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Torie Cox; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke
Lemon Naked Cake with Flower Crown Recipe

Perfect for birthdays, showers, or special get-togethers, this flower-topped layer cake is so pretty you won’t want to cut it! Made with a lemon cake mix and Lemon Buttercream frosting, it’s incredibly simple to make, even though it looks impressive. Top with a ring of edible flowers and prepare for complements.

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Aperol Spritz Cake

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Christina Daley; Food Styling: Sarah Epperson  
Aperol Spritz Cake Recipe

The delicate blance of sweet, bitter and citrus that makes the cocktail so refreshing also makes for an unusual citrus cake. The inclusion of the orange juice and the Aperol gives the frosting a citrus note, too. 

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Cookies-and-Cream Stuffed Pound Cake

Meredith Food Studios 
Cookies-and-Cream Stuffed Pound Cake Recipe

What’s better than pound cake? A stuffed pound cake, that’s what. A rich, cookies-and-cream filling takes a prepared pound cake to the next level. For this recipe, check the supermarket bakery for a pound cake on the larger side; alternatively, if you go with a smaller loaf cake (like a Sara Lee brand pound cake), go ahead and grab two—you’ll have enough filling to go around. For a different spin, swap the Oreo cookies for chopped peanut butter cups or sliced fresh strawberries.

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Mudslide Cake

Photo: Aaron Kirk; Prop Styling: Christina Daley; Food Styling: Sarah Epperson
Mudslide Cake Recipe

Turn the cocktail that's basically a dessert into an actual dessert.

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