8 Easy Single-Layer Cake Recipes You’ll Love

While I love a multi-layer cake, sometimes it’s a bit too much for what I need. From a classic red velvet to one with a coconutty twist, these single-layer cake recipes have my heart.

They’re easy to make, often whipped together in one bowl, and make just the right size for a treat throughout the week (if you have that kind of self-control).

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1. Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my top favorite cakes is red velvet. Though I’m a stickler for cream cheese frosting (otherwise it’s wrong). This single-layer red velvet cake is soft, mildly chocolatey, with just that hint of tang. Perfection.

2. Oreo Cake with Oreo Buttercream

I’ve realized in recent years that I’m a bit Oreo obsessed. This simple cake incorporates crushed Oreos and Dutch-processed cocoa powder for that quintessential cookie flavor. Topped with a simple Oreo buttercream.

3. Lime Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Cream and Lime Curd

If key lime pie were a cake, it would be this one. We’re taking a soft lime olive oil cake and topping it with whipped cream (it has a little cream cheese inside for stability as well). Then finishing with this quick 4-ingredient lime curd.

4. Chamomile Strawberry Shortcake

Talk about a classic spring and summer dessert. Soak chamomile flowers or tea in milk to make this soft cake layer. Then, top with a layer of whipped cream and a pile of strawberries. It’s the perfect mix of fresh and lightly floral.

5. Cinnamon Olive Oil Cake with Salted Vanilla Glaze

This cake is the perfect balance of sweetly spiced and salty. A simple cinnamon cake topped with a quick but oh so creamy and, dare I say, fudgy (in texture only) salted vanilla glaze.

6. Coconut Texas Sheet Cake

If a coconut cake and a Texas sheet cake had a baby, it would be this masterpiece. An incredibly soft coconut cake base topped with that classically “fudgy” coconut frosting. It’s coconut-packed, just as it should be.

7. Orange Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and Salted Caramel

After making crepes suzette – crepes + orange caramel – in pastry school, I wanted to make a cake inspired by those flavors. So we’re taking an orange olive oil cake base, topping it with a rich brown butter cream cheese, and finishing it with pools of this 10-minute salted caramel.

8. Cherry Coffeecake

Technically, a coffeecake falls into the bucket of single-layer cake recipes, so I had to include this one. My mom made this recipe all the time growing up, and to this day it’s one of my favorite coffeecake recipes. Filled with cherries and baked with a soft crumb topping, it’s simply perfect.

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