55 Festive Cake Recipes Perfect For The Winter Holiday Season

When it comes to holiday desserts, poke cakes take the cake (no pun intended). We have plenty of variations on this dessert hack, but this eggnog version is a festive favorite come the holiday season. If you can't get enough of the creamy winter cocktail, then get ready to meet your new favorite dessert.

Get the Eggnog Poke Cake recipe.

With the not-too-sweet creamy filling inside a crispy shell, cannoli are a nearly perfect dessert. Making your own is a fun little project but a little time consuming, and frying the shells can be intimidating. This easy cake is a great alternative. The filling is similar: sweetened ricotta and orange zest combine with whipped cream to make the cake even lighter.

Get the Cannoli Icebox Cake recipe.

Baklava is already one of our not-too-sweet dessert faves, so turning it into a cheesecake felt like an obvious way to take things to the next level. To carry the nutty-honey of baklava flavor through the entire dessert, the creamy cheesecake center is blended with pistachio paste, honey, and orange zest, then topped with more nuts, and honey-butter brushed phyllo dough roses. Once it’s all baked and cooled, the whole thing is drizzled with honey syrup to create a sticky-sweet, creamy sensation.

Get the Baklava Cheesecake recipe.

Holly jolly and extremely delicious, these pull-apart cupcakes are the holiday showstopper that you’ve been looking for. To make this recipe as simple as possible, I used boxed cake mix so that you can focus on the decoration. Feel free to let your creative juices flow on this recipe! Turns out these pull-apart cupcakes are just as easy to put together into one Santa cake.

Get the Pull Apart Santa Cake recipe.

Calling all chocolate dessert lovers—this fudgy Bundt cake is really something special. We’re partial to covering it in a rich ganache and serving it after a nice dinner, but keep it plain and it can be the perfect indulgent Christmas brunch or midday pick-me-up.

Get the Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe.

A black forest cake can feel like a big task to make, but these mini trifles break down the components into a very approachable dessert. These trifles can come together quickly as far as desserts go, which make them great for last-minute guests or when you’re the host and already have so many other dishes planned.

Get the Mini Black Forest Trifles recipe.

Want your kitchen to smell like Christmas? Make gingerbread cake! Enjoy it warm or cold, for breakfast or after dinner, plain or topped with whipped cream, from a plate with a fork or straight out of your hand. No judgment here.

Get the Gingerbread Cake recipe.

Opera cake is one of those baking projects that will make you feel like a pastry chef superstar. Coffee-soaked almond cake, coffee buttercream, and chocolate ganache are layered together to create a French masterpiece that’s equally stunning to look at and enjoy.

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This perfect holiday treat takes two holiday classics in crisp, caramelly Biscoff cookies and the iconic Mexican tres leches cake, and combines them into a new instant favorite. This cake is the perfect combo of caramel and cream and comes together for what just may be your new holiday tradition.

Get the Biscoff Tres Leches recipe.

Bûche de Noël cakes are a French Christmas tradition dating back to the 19th century. Decorate it like a log, as is traditional, or try any other variety of frosting and topping combos—it's all about that gorgeous swirl, so anything else is a bonus.

Get the Bûche de Noël (Yule Log Cake) recipe.

Get ready to dazzle your holiday guests with this stunning candy cane cake. This show-stopping holiday dessert features eight layers of moist, flavorful cake in festive red and white stripes, reminiscent of a classic candy cane. Each bite is a delightful blend of vanilla and peppermint, creating a perfect harmony of holiday flavors.

Get the Candy Cane Cake recipe.

We used slices from navel, blood orange, Cara Cara oranges, grapefruit, and lemons, but really any of your favorite wintery citrus can be used for this stunner of an upside-down cake.

Get the Citrus Upside-Down Cake recipe.

Want to feel like you’re on The Great British Bake Off? Make Battenberg cake. White- and pink-tinted slices of rich almond cake are brushed with apricot jam, artfully stacked, and covered with sweet almond marzipan for a cake that’s stunning and delicious enough to win the approval of Paul Hollywood any day of the week.

Get the Battenberg Cake recipe.

Traditionally a date-studded sponge cake topped with a rich toffee sauce, this is the perfect dessert for holiday meals or special occasions. It’s truly a dessert unlike any other and is best served still slightly warm out of the pan with extra toffee sauce drizzled on top.

Get the Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe.

My espresso martini icebox cake has layers of chocolate graham crackers, coffee chocolate ganache, and espresso whipped cream stacked in a loaf pan and chilled until set and sliceable. The top is decorated with cocoa powder and chocolate-covered espresso beans for an added crunch and a hint about the flavors hiding inside.

Get the Espresso Martini Icebox Cake recipe.

Fruitcake is an iconic holiday dessert, and most of the time, it isn't getting the love it deserves. This is the one you should take the risk on. Freshly baked, fruitcake is delicious and studded with dry fruit and pecans and warmly spiced—we love it with a glaze, but feel free to skip!

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Everyone should have a good red velvet cake recipe in their back pocket—and this is it. It has a decadent chocolate flavor and the creamiest cream cheese frosting, and the striking red color makes it unforgettable (and perfect for the holidays!).

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Nine layers of breathtaking beauty! This Christmas tree cake is perfect for when you really want to show off this holiday season. We recommend using a homemade cake recipe, like our chocolate or yellow cakes, but boxed cake mix will work too.

Get the Christmas Tree Cake recipe.

A classic icebox cake is just layers of chocolate cookies and whipped cream chilled for a few hours into harmony. Yet there is magic in that combination as the cookies soften and the cream firms, becoming way more than the sum of its parts. For this recipe, everything is scaled down to create individually sized icebox cakes using thin gingersnaps full of warm spices, cool cream, and adorable charm.

Get the Mini No-Bake Gingerbread Icebox Cakes recipe.

Baked Alaska is the classic, nostalgic dessert that we’re bringing back. Basically a glorified ice cream cake, this towering dessert will be the talk of any dinner party you serve it at (especially when you cut into it for the very first time—be prepared for ooh’s and aah’s).

Get the Baked Alaska recipe.