Our Best Fall Cake Recipes

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.

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.)

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.

Invert this moist cake while it's still warm to reveal a fall kaleidoscope of glistening, tart berries and sweet mandarin oranges.

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).

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).

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.

This wonderfully moist and generously spiced six-layer cake is a showy spin on humble applesauce 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.

No granulated sugar is added to this recipe; the sweetness comes from cider, fruit and applesauce.

This moist white cake combines toasted pecans and refreshing orange peel with cranberries. Orange peel flavors the thick cream cheese frosting, too.

Fill layers of walnut cake with caramel whipped cream and drizzle it all with caramel sauce for a rich fall dessert. 

This spiced chocolate cake brims with seasonal flavors, including a topping of pears, apples and cranberries.

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!

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. 

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.

Fresh ginger flavors this classic cake, topped with Double-Cream Cheese Frosting.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

A cream cheese layer and rich chocolate frosting make this pumpkin cake a crowd-pleaser. 

Lemon glaze and a sprinkle of crystallized ginger enhance the flavor and presentation of this old-fashioned gingerbread.

Cinnamon, ginger and apples give robust fall flavor to this gooey upside-down cake. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

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.

Chopped pecans and butterscotch pieces crown this easy one-bowl cake.

Deborah Biggs of Omaha completes this amazingly moist dessert with Maple Whipped Cream. 

Our  "twist" on the pumpkin craze. Nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon add even more fall flavor.

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.

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.