30 Best Christmas Cake Recipes

Quick: Picture Christmas cake recipes for me.

Are you imagining elaborately decorated, insanely decadent, over-the-top confections?

Honestly, you’re not far off the mark. Think gorgeous holiday party desserts, and you’ve got it! 

30 Show-Stopping Cake Recipes for Christmas

Whether we celebrate Christmas as a religious or secular holiday, we all go overboard.

That’s part of why it was so easy to find 30 Christmas cake recipes for this list. I’ve pulled together a wide variety. 

So, expect everything from light to decadent, simple to intricately designed. No matter your tastes, there are plenty of Christmas cakes here for you. 

1. Holiday Peppermint Cake

It’s hard to find a more festive dessert – both in appearance and taste – than this holiday peppermint cake.

It tastes like sweet candy canes and looks like one giant piece of peppermint. Just look at all the crushed-up candy canes on top of the frosting! Gorgeous!

It’s ridiculously tasty and perfectly appropriate for the season.

2. Upside-Down Winter Citrus Cake

The upside-down winter citrus cake is one of the most stunning cakes I’ve ever seen. But you won’t need any fancy decorating skills to make it.

All the beauty and color come from the fruit.

You’ll need blood oranges, navel oranges, and tangelos for various colors. Plus, you’ll still need all your standard baking ingredients.

The cake is easy to make and has a bright, citrusy flavor everyone will appreciate.

3. Yule Log Cake

Yule log cakes are pretty standard holiday treats, and they’re unbelievably easy to make. If you can make a pumpkin roll, you can make this cake.

The processes are very similar. Of course, once you’ve made the yule log cake, you’ll ice it to make it look like an actual log.

Don’t worry; that’s not hard either. It’s also a lot of fun, so enlist your littles to help!

4. Orange Slice Cake

The orange slice cake is simple and flavorful, requiring no decorating and minimal work.

It’s packed with sweet orange and coconut flavors and features chopped pecans for crunch.

It makes a wonderful Christmas cake, but it also tastes great as a breakfast pastry.

5. Cranberry Christmas Cake

If you’re looking for a Christmas cake that perfectly walks the line between sweet and tart, cranberry Christmas cake is it. 

You’ll make it with eight simple ingredients. It’s moist, dense, powdery, and crumbly.

Each sweet-and-tangy bite will practically melt on your tongue.  

6. White Christmas Sparkle Cake

The white Christmas cake is a gorgeous, elegant cake that’s ideal for any formal holiday occasion.

The ingredients list is a bit long, and it takes about 2 hours. But honestly, it’s worth it.

It’s three layers of light, fluffy cake, cream cheese frosting, and sugared cranberries. Seriously? What’s not to love?

7. Gingerbread Cake

If you’ve ever had it, you know precisely how good gingerbread is.

Now, imagine that rich, spicy flavor but with cream cheese icing and salted caramel sauce on top!

It tastes just as good as you’d imagine it would.

Plus, the caramel sauce adds a bit of moisture to the sometimes dry gingerbread. It makes the cake softer and lighter.

8. Christmas Cookie Cake

If the goal for your holiday party is a Christmas cake that looks fantastic, I’ve got you! This Christmas cookie cake is just the thing.

Luckily, it also tastes great. It’s like a supremely chocolatey chocolate chip cookie with additional icing for extra sweetness.

And that design!! A bright green Christmas wreath complete with snow, berries, and a bow! Stunning!

9.  Chocolate Cake 

If pure holiday decadence is more your style, you’ll want to try this Hershey’s chocolate cake.

It might not look super festive, but it’s melt-in-your-mouth soft and 100% chocolatey deliciousness.

It’s simple to make, too, taking only 15 minutes to prepare and another half hour to cook.

After that, you can easily jazz it up with all kinds of fun decorations!

10. Chocolate Mint Cake

Are you an Andes Mints kind of person? A Thin Mint fan? Mint chocolate chip ice cream lover?

If so, you’ll love this cake. Of course, it’s so delicious that you’ll probably love it even if you answered no.

It’s sweet and decadent with a refreshing minty finish. And like most cakes on this list, it’s too gorgeous for words.

11. Bacardi Rum Cake

Rum cake is like a mix between Bundt cake and pound cake. But it’s juicier and sweeter than both, thanks to the butter-rum glaze.

You’ll make that sauce with four simple ingredients: butter, water, sugar, and rum.

This is one cake that doesn’t need any icing, powdered sugar, or anything else. It’s rich and decadent enough as is.

12. Cranberry Coconut Cake

Love coconut cake but don’t find it festive enough for Christmas? Try adding a sugared cranberry filling between each layer.

It gives it a tarter finish and adds a bright splash of holiday red in every bite. It’s pretty, tasty, and not too difficult to make.

As long as your friends don’t have a problem with coconut, they’ll dig it.

13. Carrot Cake

Ah, carrot cake. It may not be one of the most festive Christmas cakes. Still, I don’t know very many people who don’t love its delightful spicy flavor.

And this one also has its moist fluffiness going for it. It’ll also make your whole kitchen smell like cinnamon and brown sugar while baking.

It’s phenomenal.

14. White Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

Who can resist a silky, flavorful cheesecake on a crumbly Oreo crust? Not me!

And that’s BEFORE you add all the peppermint, vanilla, whipped cream, and mousse.

I love everything about this festive, indulgent cheesecake. It’s beautiful, it’s delicious, and it features a striking appearance that’s sure to turn heads.

Make it the centerpiece of your holiday dessert table.

15. Chestnut Chocolate Chip Cake

This relatively straightforward cake requires only eight ingredients and just over an hour to make.

Thanks to the sweetened chestnut puree, it has a bold, nutty flavor that’s perfect for Christmas.

The addition of dark chocolate chips makes it richer and sweeter.

They’re also a pleasant surprise for anyone who isn’t suspecting to bite into chocolate in this otherwise unassuming cake.

16. Applesauce Cake

It doesn’t get much more comforting than this nostalgic, spiced applesauce cake.

You may remember your gramma making these for you at Christmas. Now, with this recipe, you can make your own.

It’s a dense, hearty cake you can serve for dessert, breakfast, or a mid-day snack.

17. Eggnog Cheesecake

Eggnog cheesecake is the epitome of easy Christmas cakes. 

It starts with a simple graham cracker crust. Then, it combines brown sugar, cream cheese, eggnog, rum extract, and yummy warm spices.

It’s lovely, simple to make, and doesn’t even require any cooking!

It’s rich, creamy, and wonderfully festive — just like the eggnog you’ll use to make it. 

18. Candy Cane Layered Cake

Are you looking for a cake that looks like it came straight from Mrs. Claus’ kitchen? This cake is it!

It consists of four layers of vanilla cake with mint buttercream frosting between each one. But the delectableness doesn’t stop there!

You’ll also frost the entire thing in cream cheese frosting and top it with plenty of crushed and whole candy canes.

It’s a charming confection straight out of Candyland.

19. Chocolate Kahlua Bundt Cake

Chocolate Bundt cakes are already yummy enough. But mixing in Kahlua and dusting it with confectioners’ sugar dials it up another notch. 

This sinfully sweet cake is impossible to resist. (Unless you’re a chocolate hater, that is!) Most of us, though, are powerless to say no. 

Serve it with some Baileys hot chocolate for an extra bit of indulgence. 

20. Orange Crush Pound Cake

This dense, crumbly cake is basically a jazzed-up pound cake. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but it’s true.

You’ll infuse regular pound cake with an entire can of Orange Crush soda. That makes it much lighter and juicier than traditional pound cake.

It also gives it a phenomenal orange citrus flavor that’s out of this world.

21. Black Forest Cake

I can’t think of a single cake that’s more elegant, sophisticated, gorgeous, and self-indulgent than black forest cake.

Ask me tomorrow, and I may tell you something different. But for now, black forest cake is THE Christmas cake for me.

I love everything about it – its taste, its appearance, even its aroma. There’s nothing about it that isn’t just shy of perfect. 

22. Ugly Sweater Cake

This cake is another one that I adore, but for a different reason. It’s just so much fun to make.

You can go crazy with it. Make it as ridiculous or cute as you like.

Follow the recipe or adjust it to make up your own design. The most important part is to enjoy yourself while making (and eating) it.

23. Atomic Cake

From the outside, the atomic cake just looks like a round cake covered in whipped cream.

That’s because all the exciting stuff is happening beneath the surface.

All that whipped cream hides a lot of yumminess. Including three different cake layers, fresh bananas and strawberries, and three different Jello puddings.

It’s cool, creamy, and fruity. It’s like a banana split without the ice cream.

24. Sweet Potato Pound Cake

Move over, sweet potato casserole! Sweet potatoes have found a new dessert, and it’s on point!

This sweet potato pound cake is buttery, rich, and earthy sweet. The sticky-sweet orange glaze also adds another depth of flavor.

In short, this dessert is comfort food at its finest. You may not have tried it yet, but you’re about to love it.

25. Oreo Cheesecake

Here’s an excellent no-bake cheesecake that you can use to help lighten your Christmas cooking load.

It takes 15 minutes to pull together. You’ll only need Oreos, butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and Cool Whip.

Just make sure you let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving it.

26. Cranberry Orange Olive Oil Cake

Have some party guests with a gluten intolerance? Don’t force them to skip dessert. Make them this beautiful, gluten-free cake instead.

It’s wonderfully festive with a bright, zesty, citrus-meets-cranberry flavor. It’s also quick and easy to make.

From start to finish, it takes just 40 minutes. Your friends will love you — the gluten-free and non-gluten-free ones alike.

27. Hot Chocolate Cake

Unless you’ve tried this cake already, you’ll probably never believe that hot chocolate is its key ingredient.

It’s what creates such a moist, light, and fluffy cake. It’s so spectacular – and so chocolatey! – that it’s almost fudgy.

So, if you have chocolate addicts anywhere in your house, beware! They’ll go crazy for this tasty cake.

28. No-Bake Philadelphia Cheesecake

I believe in making things as easy as possible whenever you can. Here’s another recipe to help you do that.

This easy-to-make, no-bake cheesecake is ready in just 10 minutes. (Though it’ll need 4 hours to chill.)

You’ll also only need five ingredients to make it (six if you want a pie-filling topping). Easy peasy, nice, and breezy!

29. Sticky Toffee Pudding Bundt Cake

The name of this cake tells you pretty much everything you need to know. It’s sticky. It’s toffee-flavored. It’s a Bundt cake.

If they had added the words “moist” and “delicious” into the description, it would have been perfect.

30. Snickerdoodle Coffee Cake

Finally, this cake is perfect for those looking for the ideal Christmas breakfast cake.

It’s filling but not heavy and has the perfect combination of vanilla sweetness and cinnamon spice.

It tastes unbelievably good with a cup of hot coffee. It’ll help you get your Christmas morning started off right.