14 Easter recipes for a spring celebration
From carrot cake to hot cross buns, and much more.
Date
March 23, 2026
When it comes to Easter recipes, you have options. You can go for a traditional bread, a classic carrot cake, a lemony pie, or an unexpected dessert mashup. We have all of these recipes and plenty more — including hot cross buns, because no Easter recipe roundup is complete without them.
1) Easter Bread Wreath
This anise-scented enriched bread would make a beautiful centerpiece on an Easter table and is made all the more celebratory by the addition of colorful sprinkles. The shaping is simple: Twist the dough into a three-strand braid, then curl into a circle. A final glaze, perfumed with orange, elevates it for the holiday.
Get the recipe: Easter Bread Wreath
To make this recipe, you'll need: King Arthur Fiori Di Sicilia
2) Chocolate Cassata
This chocolatey spin on a classic Sicilian Easter cake features a sweet ricotta filling and silky fudge frosting, which combine for a decadent dessert. The components can be made over the course of multiple days if you’d like to get ahead.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Cassata
To make this recipe, you'll need: King Arthur Standard Bread Loaf Pan
3) Robin Egg Cake
Turns out all you need for a special Easter cake is some food coloring and a clean paintbrush. To make this cute cake, decorate the outside with blue-tinted buttercream, using a bench knife to create a smooth finish. Then, dip a paintbrush in a mixture of cocoa and water and flick it onto the cake for a speckled, robin’s egg effect. It’s fun and fancy.
Get the recipe: Robin Egg Cake
To make this recipe, you'll need: Unbleached Cake Flour
4) King Arthur’s Carrot Cake
Carrot cake is an Easter classic, and ours has been beloved for years. It has nearly 300 perfect five-star reviews, and The Kitchn once described it as “the universally perfect carrot cake everyone you know will love.” What makes it so great? Oil for moisture and tenderness, spices for flavor, loads of grated carrots, and a tangy cream cheese frosting that swoops on easily. And if you’re more into cupcakes, we’ve got an option for you too: King Arthur’s Carrot Cake Cupcakes.
Get the recipe: King Arthur’s Carrot Cake
To make this recipe, you'll need: Vietnamese Cinnamon
5) Easy Hot Cross Buns
If you’re looking for a reliable, easy-to-bake Easter hot cross bun recipe, this is it. The slightly sweet buns are made with rum (or apple juice), dried fruit, brown sugar, and spices for full flavor and enriched with milk, eggs, and butter to make them tender. Pipe on the iconic icing cross after baking and you’re ready to celebrate. (If you want to skip the yeast and keep the classic cross, try these quick and easy Hot Cross Muffins instead.)
Get the recipe: Easy Hot Cross Buns
To make this recipe, you'll need: Baker's Fruit Blend
6) Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
These sweet pink cupcakes are a good choice if you're serving lots of people at your Easter celebration. They're made with fresh strawberries (frozen works too!), which are cooked down to concentrate their flavor, then used in the cake batter, filling, and as a frosting swirl. Sweetened cream cheese pulls double duty, as it’s used in both the cupcake filling and the whipped cream cheese frosting.
Get the recipe: Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
To make this recipe, you'll need: King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
7) Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Carrot cake and cream cheese are destined to be together — what, after all, is carrot cake without a layer of cream cheese frosting? This recipe takes that classic pairing to the next level by layering both carrot cake and cheesecake together in a single springform pan.
Get the recipe: Carrot Cake Cheesecake
To make this recipe, you'll need: Vietnamese Cinnamon
8) Green Goddess Herb Biscuits
Early spring baking can be tricky — you’re itching to bake with fresh flavors, except nothing is really in season yet. Herbs to the rescue! These eye-catching biscuits, inspired by the iconic salad dressing, are made with fresh basil, parsley, and chives, which give them a bright flavor and color.
Get the recipe: Green Goddess Herb Biscuits
To make this recipe, you'll need: King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
9) Coconut Cake
A towering white coconut cake is always in season. This classic recipe is extra-moist since the two cake layers are both split in half and filled for a higher frosting-to-cake ratio. Using egg whites, instead of whole eggs, ensures a snow-white appearance to go with the shower of shredded coconut that covers the cake.
Get the recipe: Coconut Cake
To make this recipe, you'll need: King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
10) Mile-High Meringue Pie
We’re right in the sweet spot for lemon-forward baking: at the tail end of citrus season and the beginning of spring, when the fruit's zippy flavor is especially welcome. One of the best ways to showcase lemons is in this classic meringue pie, which features a towering cloud of meringue atop the tart citrus filling.
Get the recipe: Mile-High Meringue Pie
To make this recipe, you'll need: Instant Clearjel
11) Strawberry Mascarpone Tea Cake
Make this fluffy layer cake for any Easter party where you’ll be baking for a large group of people. It’s filled with fresh strawberries sandwiched in an easy mascarpone filling for a light, refreshing dessert.
Get the recipe: Strawberry Mascarpone Tea Cake
To make this recipe, you'll need: Instant Clearjel
12) Karpatka (Polish Mountain Cake)
Think of Karpatka like a super-sized cream puff. Our version of this stunning dessert layers crisp, golden pâte à choux with a lightened version of German buttercream — i.e., pastry cream whipped with butter — for a rich filling that’s still wonderfully fluffy. A slick of raspberry jam adds a jewel-toned pop of color.
Get the recipe: Karpatka (Polish Mountain Cake)
To make this recipe, you'll need: Snow White Non-Melting Topping Sugar
13) Rhubarb-Ginger Coffee Cake
Celebrate one of the year’s first farmers market finds with this gingery rhubarb cake. It’s a bright, sweet-tart cake crowned with nutty, ginger-spiked streusel. What makes it truly special, though, is the homemade rhubarb syrup that gets added to the batter, which adds an extra burst of zingy flavor.
Get the recipe: Rhubarb-Ginger Coffee Cake
To make this recipe, you'll need: 9" x 13" pan
14) Lemon Ricotta Cake
The secret to this plush cake comes from the unexpected addition of ultra-fine '00' Pizza Flour. Here, lemon zest, ricotta cheese, and vanilla are an unbeatable flavor trio, but the secret star is Fiori di Sicilia, which really elevates the cake with its haunting floral flavor.
Get the recipe: Lemon Ricotta Cake
To make this recipe, you'll need: '00' Pizza Flour
For another way to celebrate, try making colorful, whimsical Printed Sugar Cookies for holidays, birthdays, graduations, and more parties this spring.
Cover photo by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily.
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