The word cake covers an enormous range. A mug cake is three minutes and one bowl. A German chocolate cake is two hours, two components and a custard frosting cooked on the stove. Both are cake, and recipe roundups that mix them together without saying which is which are not much help when you have to decide what to bake tonight.

So these twenty-five are sorted by effort, shortest first. Mug cakes and emergency cakes open the list, then dump cakes, then coffee cakes you can serve from the pan, then pound cakes and bundts, then frosted layer cakes, and finally the no-bake icebox cakes that need fridge time instead of oven time. Every entry lists the real total time and how many it serves.

Cakes You Can Make Tonight

All five finish in under an hour, and the first one in three minutes. These are the cakes for when the craving arrives after dinner.

Chocolate Hazelnut Mug Cake

Four tablespoons of flour, four of sugar, two of cocoa and two of chocolate hazelnut spread, mixed and microwaved. One serving, eight ingredients, three minutes. View the full recipe — 3 minutes · 1 serving · 8 ingredients

Molten Chocolate Cakes with Ganache Center

A cup of dark chocolate chips with seven tablespoons of butter, two whole eggs and two extra yolks, with a ganache center frozen in the middle so it stays liquid. Only two tablespoons of flour in the whole recipe, which is why the centers stay molten. View the full recipe — 29 minutes · 6 servings · 9 ingredients

Emergency Cake With Oil

Six ingredients, all of them shelf-stable: flour, sugar, baking powder, oil, vanilla and water. No eggs, no butter, no milk. Worth memorizing for the week the fridge is bare. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · 9 servings · 6 ingredients

Ripe Banana Sheet Cake

Three overripe bananas worked into a butter-and-sugar batter with walnuts or chocolate chips folded in. Baked as a sheet cake, so it serves twelve with no frosting required. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · 12 servings · 9 ingredients

Condensed Milk Cake

A whole can of sweetened condensed milk with self rising flour, two eggs, butter, vanilla and lemon zest. Six ingredients and the condensed milk does the work of both sugar and liquid. View the full recipe — 50 minutes · 8 servings · 6 ingredients

Dump Cakes and Boxed-Mix Shortcuts

A dump cake is a cake mix scattered dry over fruit or filling with butter on top, baked without ever being stirred. Three of them here, going in three different directions.

Peach Dump Cake

Four ingredients: a can of sliced peaches in syrup, a 15-ounce box of yellow cake mix, half a cup of butter and a teaspoon of cinnamon. The shortest ingredient list on the page. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · 12 servings · 4 ingredients

Peanut Butter Cup Dump Cake

Chocolate cake mix over a layer of creamy peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk, topped with a cup of chopped peanut butter cups and chocolate chips. Serves twelve. View the full recipe — 50 minutes · 12 servings · 8 ingredients

Pecan Pie Dump Cake

A cup of chopped pecans with condensed milk and a cup of corn syrup under yellow cake mix. The filling sets like pecan pie and the top bakes into a crumb crust. View the full recipe — 1 hour 20 minutes · 12 servings · 8 ingredients

Coffee Cakes and Snacking Cakes

Cakes that get served out of the pan with no frosting, three of them with a streusel or cinnamon layer. These are the ones that disappear over two days.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

One egg and a quarter cup of oil in the batter, a brown sugar and cinnamon streusel with walnuts, and a powdered sugar drizzle on top. Fastest cake in this group at forty-five minutes. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · 9 servings · 15 ingredients

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

A full cup of sour cream in the batter, which is what keeps it tender for days, with a brown sugar, cinnamon and pecan layer. Serves twelve. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · 12 servings · 12 ingredients

Brown Sugar Apple Cake

Three medium apples in a batter built on three quarters of a cup of packed brown sugar and only a quarter cup of butter. Finished with powdered sugar rather than frosting. View the full recipe — 1 hour · 8 servings · 10 ingredients

Classic Butter Cake

A full cup of butter against a cup of sugar, with lemon zest and a tablespoon of sour cream. Ten ingredients, no frosting, and the recipe to learn if you only learn one. View the full recipe — 1 hour · 8 servings · 10 ingredients

Pound Cakes and Bundt Cakes

Heavier, denser, and all three keep well. Two are from scratch and one leans on a cake mix plus a box of instant pudding.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Eight ounces of cream cheese alongside a full cup of butter, three cups of sugar, six eggs and three cups of flour. Eight ingredients, no leavener at all, and the eggs do all the lifting. View the full recipe — 2 hours 5 minutes · 12 servings · 8 ingredients

Buttermilk Lemon Pound Cake

A cup of buttermilk and two whole lemons, zest and juice, in a four-egg batter, finished with a powdered sugar glaze. Serves twelve. View the full recipe — 2 hours 30 minutes · 12 servings · 10 ingredients

Chocolate Pudding Bundt Cake

Dark chocolate cake mix plus a box of instant chocolate pudding, sour cream, three quarters of a cup of brewed coffee and two cups of chocolate chips, under a cocoa glaze with pecans. The coffee is there to deepen the chocolate, not to taste like coffee. View the full recipe — 2 hours 30 minutes · 12 servings · 14 ingredients

Layer Cakes for a Celebration

The ones with frosting between the layers. Budget two hours for each, and read the frosting step before you start, because two of these have a cooked component.

Moist Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

A four-egg vanilla batter with both butter and a little oil, which is the trick for a crumb that stays soft, under a vanilla buttercream made from a cup of butter and four cups of powdered sugar. View the full recipe — 1 hour 50 minutes · 12 servings · 13 ingredients

Moist Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

Three quarters of a cup of cocoa in the batter and a cup of boiling water poured in at the end, which blooms the cocoa and thins the batter. Topped with chocolate buttercream. View the full recipe — 1 hour 55 minutes · 12 servings · 17 ingredients

Moist Coconut Layer Cake

Coconut three ways: a cup of full fat coconut milk and a cup of shredded coconut in the batter, coconut extract in both batter and frosting, and more shredded coconut pressed onto the cream cheese frosting. View the full recipe — 1 hour 50 minutes · 12 servings · 15 ingredients

Coconut Pecan German Chocolate Cake

Four ounces of sweet baking chocolate in a buttermilk batter, with the real coconut pecan frosting cooked on the stove from evaporated milk, butter, sugar and three egg yolks. The most involved cake on this page. View the full recipe — 2 hours · 12 servings · 16 ingredients

Carrot Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Three cups of finely shredded carrots with cinnamon and nutmeg, baked as a sheet and covered in cream cheese frosting with walnuts and coconut flakes. Twenty servings, which is why this is the one for a party. View the full recipe — 2 hours 5 minutes · 20 servings · 18 ingredients

No-Bake and Icebox Cakes

No oven. The long times here are chilling time, and the hands-on work on all three is fifteen to twenty minutes.

No Bake Dirt Cake

Fourteen ounces of crushed chocolate sandwich cookies layered with vanilla pudding, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and whipped topping, with gummy worms on top. Eight ingredients and no heat. View the full recipe — 3 hours 20 minutes · 12 servings · 8 ingredients

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icebox Cake

Six ingredients: sixteen ounces of cream cheese whipped with powdered sugar and heavy cream, layered with a pound of strawberries and eighteen graham cracker sheets. The crackers soften into cake layers overnight. View the full recipe — 4 hours 20 minutes · 10 servings · 6 ingredients

No Bake Banana Split Cake

A graham cracker crumb base under powdered sugar and butter, then bananas, crushed pineapple, strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Everything a banana split has, in a pan. View the full recipe — 4 hours 15 minutes · 12 servings · 9 ingredients

Two Worth Making for the Technique

One cake that makes its own sauce in the oven, and one rolled sponge.

Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake

Brown sugar and cocoa get sprinkled over the batter, then a cup and three quarters of hot water poured on top without stirring. The batter rises through it and a fudge sauce forms underneath. Fifty minutes. View the full recipe — 50 minutes · 8 servings · 12 ingredients

Black Forest Cake Roll with Cherries and Whipped Cream

A four-egg cocoa sponge baked thin, rolled around sweetened whipped cream and cherry pie filling, finished with chocolate shavings and fresh cherries. The rolling is easier than it looks if you do it while the sponge is warm. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · 8 servings · 14 ingredients

Cake Baking Questions, Answered

Which of these is the easiest for a beginner?

Emergency Cake With Oil, at six pantry ingredients with no eggs, butter or milk, and the peach dump cake, at four ingredients you do not even stir. If you want something that looks like a real cake, Classic Butter Cake is ten ingredients and one bowl.

What is a dump cake, exactly?

Fruit or filling goes in the pan, dry cake mix gets scattered over it, butter goes on top, and it bakes without being mixed. The mix soaks up moisture from below and crisps on top. All three dump cakes here serve twelve.

Why do some of these cakes use oil and some use butter?

Butter gives flavor, oil gives a softer crumb that stays moist longer. The Moist Vanilla Cake uses both for exactly that reason, and the carrot sheet cake uses a full cup of oil, which is why carrot cake keeps so well.

How far ahead can I make a layer cake?

Bake the layers a day ahead, cool them completely, wrap them tightly and leave them at room temperature. Frost the day you serve. The German chocolate frosting is cooked on the stove and can also be made a day ahead and warmed slightly to spread.

Which cake feeds the most people?

Carrot Sheet Cake at twenty servings. After that, eleven of these serve twelve, including all four layer cakes and all three dump cakes.

Can I make a no-bake cake the same day?

Not really. The icebox and banana split cakes need four hours minimum for the graham crackers to soften into layers, and the dirt cake needs a little over three. Start them in the morning for dessert that night.

Why does one chocolate cake call for boiling water and another for coffee?

Both do the same job. Hot liquid dissolves cocoa powder fully, which deepens the chocolate flavor and darkens the color. Coffee pushes it further without tasting like coffee in the finished cake.