While we believe in celebrating the father figures in our life 365 days a year, Father’s Day is a special time to celebrate the special men in our lives who make our world go round. We already know that Dad has the hot dogs, hamburgers and steak covered, so while he tends to the grill, you can focus on the best part of the meal: dessert. And we’re not just talking about any dessert. Dad deserves best, and to us, that means cake. While the prospect of making a cake can feel daunting, there are so many options beyond a classic towering layer cake. Think: five-ingredient cakes that come together in one bowl, Bundt cakes, pound cakes and no-bake winners.
No matter your baking skills or time constraints, we’ve rounded up 35 of our favorite cakes that Dad is sure to love. For chocolate lovers, consider a classic Flourless Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake or Martha Stewart's decadent Mile High Salted-Caramel Chocolate Cake. Fruit lovers must try our summery Bourbon Pound Cake with Macerated Peaches, this impressive Lemon and Blackcurrant Stripe Cake or a Strawberry and Vanilla Ice Cream Cookie Cake.
If you’re looking for family-friendly options, we love the celebratory look of this Funfetti Pound Cake, Christina Tosi's Pancake Layer Cake and S'mores Ice Cream Cake. If the temperature is rising and you need something to cool Dad down with, try a Cookies-and-Cream Icebox Cake, Devil's Food Icebox Cake or Strawberry Ice Cream Cake. With a plethora of cake options, the good news is that you can’t go wrong in making Dad’s day extra special.
This boozy spin on peaches and cream is a dessert Dad will love. Bourbon is added to both the cake batter and filling, which infuses the pound cake with deep caramel notes. For a summery touch, serve slices with a heaping scoop of macerated peaches.
While it's readily available at practically any grocery store, a classic angel food cake is even better homemade. With its iconic shape, angel food cake has a golden brown exterior and light and tender crumb. While delicious on its own, we love serving it with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh fruit.
Cheesecake is one of those desserts that’s always beloved, but takes some real effort to get right. This no-bake recipe offers all the flavors of cheesecake with no stress. Seriously, it’s made with only five ingredients and requires just 20 minutes of hands-on work.
This peanut butter-flavored cheesecake is the treat to serve on hot days when you can’t bear to turn on the oven. A crumble chocolate cookie crust is pressed into a springform pan. From there, the topping comes together quickly with cream cheese, peanut butter, heavy cream and powdered sugar before setting in the refrigerator.
A traditional tres leches cake features a sponge cake that is soaked with a mixture of three different types of milk: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and whole milk. Here, the cake is simplified to deliver all that creamy flavor with a recipe that’s decidedly lower lift. You can make it up to three days in advance, making it ideal for planners.
Sour cream is the not-so-secret ingredient here that takes this pound cake from good to great. By incorporating sour cream into the batter, the cake has a lighter and loftier crumb while staying incredibly moist. Additionally, the sour cream provides an underlying tang that rounds out the sweetness of the cake, making it delicious with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
A wild streak runs through this dessert beneath a coating of rich chocolate frosting. Cut a slice and reveal zebra-like stripes of vanilla and chocolate cake. It’s a surprisingly easy trick to pull off — simply alternate spoonfuls of batter in the center of the pan and create concentric rings.
It only takes a handful of ingredients to put together this chocolate and mint icebox cake. Chocolate wafers are layered with peppermint-flavored whipped cream and chocolate sauce. To get that signature green color, use a few drops of food coloring.
Strawberries and cream take on cookie cake form with this low lift recipe. All it takes is sandwiching pre-made cookies with vanilla and strawberry ice cream. To make it a bit more festive, serve with whipped cream, strawberries and crumbled cookies.
This gorgeous cake turns into an absolute showstopper once you slice into it. Instead of the traditional horizontal layers of cake, the inside of the cake reveals vertical layers, which ensures a more even filling to cake ratio. If you can’t find black currants, blackberries will work in their place.
Funfetti meets pound cake in this festive recipe mashup. A combination of vanilla and almond extract flavors the cake, making it taste that much more like the boxed stuff (in the best way), while a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles folded into the batter speckles the butter-tinted crumb like confetti. Drizzle it with a simple glaze and top it with — you guessed it — more sprinkles.
With brown sugar and cinnamon to boost the flavor, this carrot cake is as classic as it gets. A double dose of fat from butter and grapeseed oil keeps it incredibly moist and gives the crumb a velvety texture.
Flourless chocolate cake is a classic for good reason. With its light and airy texture and intense chocolatey flavor, this cake only takes a handful of ingredients to pull together. It’s also a naturally gluten-free option for guests with dietary restrictions.
Made in a Bundt cake, this cake is chock full of chopped pecans, vanilla and brown sugar, which give it a wonderfully nutty flavor. The secret ingredient here is crushed pineapple, which keeps the cake batter moist without adding any fruity flavor. The golden raisins are optional, but add a great textural element along with the pecans.
Lemon and meringue make one of the all-time great culinary duos. Here, they’re whipped up into a light-as-air cake and topped with a Swiss meringue frosting that gets toasted to create a golden hue. While stunning in presentation, it only takes a handful of ingredients to put together.
Bakers know that the trick to enhancing the flavor of chocolate in baked goods is to add a touch of coffee to the batter. This recipe does just that. If you don’t want to risk being kept awake at night, decaf works just as well.
For the purists, it doesn’t get more classic than this red velvet cake recipe. The batter is made with buttermilk, which adds a tang while keeping the cake moist and tender. After baking, cover the cake in a homemade cream cheese frosting.
Bright and punchy from the lemon with bursts of texture from the seeds, there’s a reason why lemon and poppyseed are such a beloved duo. Here they take on Bundt cake form with a two-ingredient lemon drizzle. The cake incorporates both rich olive oil and sour cream, which keeps it moist while adding a subtle tang.
With only five ingredients, this decadent chocolate cake couldn’t be easier to throw together. Take a shortcut by using boxed cake mix and gussy up the batter with peanut butter, milk, eggs and chocolate chips. The cake can be served dusted with powdered sugar or covered with chocolate frosting or Cool Whip.
If Dad is a chocolate lover, we can’t imagine anything he’d like better than this mile-high chocolate cake. Moist layers of cake are separated by pools of homemade salted caramel before getting covered in luscious chocolate frosting. Prep the cake and caramel up to three days in advance for effortless assembly.
The secret in this recipe may surprise you. With a few extra ingredients, boxed cake mix gets gussied up into a moist, intensely chocolatey dessert. Frost it in homemade ganache and no one will know your store-bought secret.
This breakfast-inspired cake looks and tastes like a tall stack of pancakes. Fluffy buttermilk cake layers and sweet maple frosting pack all the flavors of the morning favorite into an impressive dessert.
A handful of store-bought ingredients come together to make this decadent ice cream cake. Start by making an easy crust with chocolate sandwich cookies. Then come the layers of chocolate peanut butter and vanilla ice cream — along with a layer of chocolate peanut butter cups and a chocolate chips. Keep this showstopper in the freezer until ready to serve.
If a layer cake feels too fussy but you still want that wow-factor, a Bundt cake is a great solution. This one incorporates buttermilk and olive oil into the batter, which keeps it moist and tender while lemon juice adds a pop of acidity. Drape it in a limoncello-infused glaze to serve.
While this vanilla white cake looks prim and proper on the outside, it’s all about the grand reveal inside. Removing a slice reveals a striking rainbow striped heart. While this recipe is a project, there’s no question Dad will love this thoughtful treat.
While cream cheese frosting is non-negotiable when it comes to carrot cake, the add-ins are always a personal preference. This recipe allows you to choose your own adventure when it comes to the cake. You can mix in shredded coconut, chopped nuts or raisins — or keep it totally classic.
This cake highlights the bounty of summer with a corn-flavored cake and jammy blueberry sauce. Since it’s a sheet cake, this is a great option if you’re serving a crowd. Better yet, the cake is frozen before serving, making it ideal for prepping ahead of time.
For outdoorsy dads, there’s nothing better than channeling campfire’s favorite dessert: s’mores. Vanilla ice cream is doctored up with graham crackers, marshmallow fluff and a chocolate shell for a sweet summer treat.
Move over red velvet cake! This lemon-flavored version is about to be the talk of the town. Buttermilk adds a bit of tang and keeps the cake moist while the lemon extract delivers big lemon flavor. Dress it in a lemon-flavored cream cheese frosting and decorate with pieces of candied lemon.
The joy of an icebox cake is that there’s no cooking required. This five-ingredient cake makes it easy for the whole family to get involved. All it takes is layering chocolate sandwich cookies with whipped cream and letting it set in the freezer until ready to serve.
Combine boxed yellow cake mix with instant pudding and a handful of pantry staples to create this moist Bundt cake with a tender crumb. After the cake comes out of the oven, drench it in a white wine and butter glaze. Almost all the alcohol gets cooked out of the wine, but you can swap it for orange juice or apple juice if you want an alcohol-free version.
This versatile dessert is perfect for summer and totally customizable. A press-in vanilla wafer crust is topped with vanilla and strawberry ice cream, sliced strawberries and whipped cream. Top the cake with strawberries macerated in limoncello before serving.
While not totally no-bake, this recipe only requires 10 minutes in the oven. Here, homemade chocolate wafers are layered with chocolate cream and pecans. Once assembled, chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours before serving.
This decadent cake delivers caramel flavor in every layer. This vanilla cake is made with brown sugar and layered with caramel buttercream, caramel coating and feuilletine (crunchy praline flakes), all of which can be made a few days ahead before assembling.
With only five ingredients, this decadent cake comes together quickly. To cut down on time, make use of boxed cake mix (we won’t tell). Layer the cake with vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream, then top it off with homemade whipped cream and a generous drizzle of chocolate sauce.