Our Best Fall Cake Recipes
Savor fall flavors—cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin, apples, nuts, cranberries and more—in these delicious, moist cakes.
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Cocoa Gingerbread with Heaven Frosting
A humble snack dresses up for company. With its nutty flavor and tiny flecks of toasted milk solids, browned butter elevates a simple cream cheese frosting to saintly levels.
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Doughnut Bundt
Nutmeg is the secret ingredient that makes this playful Bundt taste just like a cake doughnut. (Be sure to use freshly grated nutmeg—you'll really notice the difference in flavor.)
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Apple Sour Cream Kuchen
This German-style, not-too-sweet, yeast-raised cake begs for a cup of coffee. For an extra tang, you can serve it with a dollop of lightly sweetened sour cream.
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Cranberry Orange Upside-Down Cake
Invert this moist cake while it's still warm to reveal a fall kaleidoscope of glistening, tart berries and sweet mandarin oranges.
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My My's Brown Sugar Pound Cake
Patty's grandmother sifted together the flour and baking powder three times before adding them to the batter. We had good results just whisking them together. This recipe comes from Patty Pinner's cookbook Sweets (crownpublishing.com).
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Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
This utterly unforgettable autumn cake layers moist chocolate-pumpkin cake, luscious milk chocolate ganache and fluffy pumpkin-spice whipped cream. The recipe comes from Minnesota blogger Amanda Rettke (iambaker.net).
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Bourbon-Apple-Rye Upside-Down Cake
We hid shredded apple in the cake for extra flavor and moistness, but the real star here is the gorgeous array of fall fruit, glazed with bourbon-infused caramel.
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Pioneer Wedding Stack Cake
This wonderfully moist and generously spiced six-layer cake is a showy spin on humble applesauce cake.
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Quick Black Forest Cherry Cake
This quick twist on the classic German chocolate-cherry cake uses boxed cake mix and cherry preserves. Don't skip the kirsch or brandy; it adds that signature Black Forest flavor.
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Applesauce Spice Cake
No granulated sugar is added to this recipe; the sweetness comes from cider, fruit and applesauce.
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Cranberry Layer Cake
This moist white cake combines toasted pecans and refreshing orange peel with cranberries. Orange peel flavors the thick cream cheese frosting, too.
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Walnut Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream
Fill layers of walnut cake with caramel whipped cream and drizzle it all with caramel sauce for a rich fall dessert.
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Chocolate Harvest Fruit-Topped Cake
This spiced chocolate cake brims with seasonal flavors, including a topping of pears, apples and cranberries.
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Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake
A buttery-sweet mixture of apples, cranberries and pecans covers cornmeal cake. Try serving with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream for even more fall flavor!
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Maple Syrup Cake
Ruth Smiley of Parke County, Indiana, gave us her recipe for Maple Syrup Cake, which she makes in a fluted tube pan. We mixed up an easy maple syrup icing to drizzle over the top.
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Fresh Apple Cake
This nutty comfort cake from Sharon Buckner of Rhineland, Missouri, gets a sugary top and caramelized gooey bottom as it cooks. Don't be surprised by the thick batter; it will bake into a moist, dense cake.
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Ginger Carrot Cake
Fresh ginger flavors this classic cake, topped with Double-Cream Cheese Frosting.
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Pumpkin-Praline Layer Cake
This nutty layer cake is a favorite dessert with Midwest Living® readers. Whipped cream topping complements a moist filling of pumpkin, brown sugar, pecans, butter and more whipping cream.
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Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
The famous St. Louis dessert gets a makeover from Emily Hobbs of Springfield, Missouri. She adds pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to the moist cake.
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Chocolate-Pear Spice Cake
Cloves and nutmeg scent your home as the cake bakes, but the toppers are what really sets this dessert apart: chopped chocolate, nuts and homemade pear chips.
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Graham Cracker Cake
This special-occasion dessert features a moist cake with crushed graham crackers, cream filling between the layers and brown sugar frosting on the outside. Top with additional graham crackers just before serving if you like.
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Gingerbread Cake Roll
If this isn't a forkful of fall, we don't know what is. The cinnamon, molasses and maple glaze transport us to bonfires and hayrack rides in just one bite.
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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Sandwich Cake
A cream cheese layer and rich chocolate frosting make this pumpkin cake a crowd-pleaser.
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Glazed Gingerbread Cake
Lemon glaze and a sprinkle of crystallized ginger enhance the flavor and presentation of this old-fashioned gingerbread.
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Apple Upside-Down Cake
Cinnamon, ginger and apples give robust fall flavor to this gooey upside-down cake. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
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Pumpkin Pie Cake
Sprinkle moist pumpkin filling with a cake mix topping for a quick and easy cake. The recipe is from Farmer's Inn in Havana, North Dakota.
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Butterscotch Chip Oatmeal Cake
Chopped pecans and butterscotch pieces crown this easy one-bowl cake.
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Spiced Pecan Sweet Potato Cake
Deborah Biggs of Omaha completes this amazingly moist dessert with Maple Whipped Cream.
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Pumpkin Cake Roll
Our "twist" on the pumpkin craze. Nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon add even more fall flavor.
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Hummingbird Cake
This tall layer cake, with a medley of flavors from nuts, fruit and spices, comes from the kitchens of Silver Dollar City theme park near Branson, Missouri. Add a sprinkling of pecans on top for even more crunch.
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Apple-Butter Cakelets
Caramel sauce adds a creamy-sweet finish to individual Apple-Butter Cakelets created by Midwest Living® in honor of Illinois' Amish bakers. You can choose between two Prairie State ingredients, apples or pumpkins, for this treat.