10 cake recipes for hopeless bakers who want the spotlight this Christmas
‘Tis the season to not burn your cake
Treating ingredient measurements as mere suggestions. Using baking soda instead of baking powder. Forgetting to preheat the oven. Burning the cake base. Making frosting that collapses like lumpy atta. If, like me, this is your usual course of chaos whenever you step into the kitchen to bake a cake, then by all culinary laws, you are a hopeless baker.
And yet, there is something about the year-end festive season that makes you wildly optimistic about baking the perfect cake. You want to have your Nigella Lawson moment at the office Christmas party or the New Year dinner you’re hosting. And this time, you believe your cake will finally rise to the occasion, with silky frosting and a soft, moist crumb that will have everyone eyeing seconds.
While we are not wish-granting genies who can supply you with overnight baking skills, we have the next best thing to aid you in your quest. We’ve rounded up 10 easy-to-follow cake recipes (some of these don’t even require you to touch an oven!) that you can borrow from Instagram food creators that will let you confidently don your baker’s hat this season.
10 easy to bake cake recipes for the festive season
When you want to keep it classic
The OG crowd-pleaser
It is Christmas. You stare at the traditional plum cake recipe like it is written in another language: rum soaks, caramel sugar, bundt pans, perfect timing… This classic requires baking competence that you don’t possess—and you know better than to tinker with the recipe and ruin the holiday spirit. So instead, pivot to this dry-fruit tea cake recipe by baker and food creator Meghna Kamdar (@meghnasfoodmagic), which indulges and comforts in equal measure. All you need to do is prepare a batter of refined flour, milk, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and cardamom powder; add almonds, cashews, pistachios and other dry fruits of your choice, and stick it in the oven. What you will get is a soft, fluffy tea cake baked to golden-brown perfection. Bonus? Tea cakes are generally loved by everyone, irrespective of age, so be ready for compliments from all quarters.
Mini treats, max delight
Are you not ready for the commitment that a full-size cake requires? Then cupcakes may be the right choice for you. They don’t require a lot of planning, or complex slicing, layering, and also balancing when you have to serve them. MasterChef India Season 4 runner-up and food content creator Neha Deepak Shah (@nehadeepakshah) has an easy-peasy recipe, which does not require an oven. Here, the batter is not baked, but cooked in a paniyaram pan for six to eight minutes. It has the shape and texture of idli, but tastes just like a chocolate cupcake should when topped with colourful frosting or just some chocolate drizzle. Little bags of these secured with baker’s twine would make for the perfect personalised Christmas gifts.
When you want to impress at the office party
Winning the cup
When you’re assigned the very important task of arranging the cake for the office year-end party, you don’t want to just order something generic. This is your chance to showcase your smarts, so why not turn the office pantry into your own bakery? Enter the mug cake: bold, almost too easy, and it’s not even cheating when the outcome is so delicious. This hot chocolate mug cake recipe by MasterChef India Season 5 winner, food creator and entrepreneur Kirti Bhoutika (@kirtibhoutika) is simple enough to be made in minutes and indulgent enough to be devoured in seconds. All you need are a few basic ingredients and a microwave-friendly mug. The hot chocolate drizzle on top adds a warm touch, perfectly capturing the festive spirit, and leaving your manager impressed.
Micro(wave) manager
If a mug cake seems too basic even for you, safely up the stakes with this eggless chocolate bar cake from self-taught baker and cookbook author Shivesh Bhatia (@shivesh17). Turn a simple blend of curd, refined flour, cocoa powder, and a few other ingredients into an indulgent chocolate cake with just one step: microwaving. Really, it’s that simple, and takes less than 10 minutes to make. Once it’s done, place a chocolate bar on top and microwave again till you have a gooey top layer. It’ll be the centrepiece of the office potluck, and will make your work enemy mutter, “I can’t believe they made this?!” while sneaking extra bites when no one is looking.
When you want to be the hostess with the mostest
A marble-lous creation
You’re hosting Christmas for the first time this year, and you want to bake a cake for a personal touch (and boasting rights). Your best move is to opt for something that’s effortless to make, and looks impressive and mildly intimidating. This eggless marble cake by patisserie chef, food content creator and entrepreneur Guntas Sethi (@chefguntas) is just the multi-hyphenate you need. It’s a no-frosting, no-frills dessert, but its pretty cross-section courtesy the chocolate and vanilla swirls suggests hard work and skill. That Anita bua won’t be able to criticise your cooking this time, mainly because she’ll have her mouth full of marble cake.
A trending temptation
Biscoff’s star continues to rise in India, with Biscoff-flavoured desserts being a whole genre of their own. (In fact, the biscuit was officially launched in India just last month.) You can bring a bit of the zeitgeist to your celebrations with the Biscoff cheesecake by pastry chef and food content creator Arushi Hasija (@millsandbuns). It takes only six ingredients, a 15-minute prep and overnight refrigeration to create an end product—crunchy Biscoff base, soft cream cheese filling and silken Biscoff-spread garnishing—that will look like it was days in the making. While the recipe is for a small-size cake, you can increase ingredients size anusaar.
When you’re doing it for the gram
Cake on main
Baking a cake for joy and celebration is all very well, but is it good enough to go on the ‘gram? If that’s a consideration for you (we get it, content is king), look no further than this eggless strawberry cheesecake by food content creator and entrepreneur Saloni Kukreja (@salonikukreja). Not only is it photogenic, delicious, and a departure from the usual Christmas fare, it’s also foolproof to make. The buttery base is made of digestive biscuits and refined flour, and the smooth, dense filling comes from cream cheese and hung curd. Strawberries lend the cake freshness and a cozy decadence. Your DMs will be inundated with questions about which top cake artist made this, and you can humbly tell them.
That desi girl
There’s nothing like a fusion dessert to signal culinary expertise even when you can’t tell your chhena from your curds. This falooda cheesecake by baker, recipe curator and content creator Aditi Garware (@sweetboutiquebyaditi) adds Indian flair to the classic. Divide it into three easy-to-make layers: the biscuit-crumb base, the whipped cream cheese layer, and the sevaiyan, sabja seed and strawberry jelly for garnish. The glazed top layer makes the cake shine and lends it a photo-finish. Rest assured, pictures of every angle of this cake are making it not just to your feed, but your guests’ as well.
When you want to have your cake and eat healthy too
Guilt-free indulgence
You think eating cake is the right way to ring in the New Year, but not moments ago you also loudly declared “I will eat healthy starting right NOW”. Good news: this healthy chocolate cake recipe by MasterChef India Season 8 semi-finalist and TEDx speaker Kriti Kaur Dhiman (@kriti_kaur_dhiman) lets you have your dessert and hold your head up high too. It swaps refined flour, sugar and oil for healthier alternatives such as oats and jaggery powder. The chances of messing up this recipe are almost zero, because all you need to do is mix a few ingredients in a bowl and tuck the batter in the oven. No complicated steps, and definitely no guilty conscience.
Season’s greetings
It’s strawberry season, and of course, you’re looking for opportunities to include the fruit in everything you eat and drink. Its sweet and tart goodness is especially helpful when you want to add a pop of fun and indulgence to your healthy cake. Like the strawberry marble tea cake food content creator Kanak Gurnani (@kanak_gurnani), who regularly shares easy, healthy tiffin recipes. It’s made without refined flour, oil or butter, and also uses desi khand, a natural sweetener made from sugarcane juice instead of refined sugar. When layered with the strawberry compote, you get a dessert that’s simple, seasonal and still feels like a treat. You don’t even need an oven to bake it, use a kadhai instead.
