Quick & Easy Cake Recipes

These mini mason jar desserts are not only adorable; they also keep portion sizes in check! These beauties can be prepped in under 20 minutes.

Get cheesecake flavor without having to bake with this healthy dessert recipe. To make it gluten-free, look for gluten-free graham crackers.

This sweet carrot-shaped cheese ball recipe is a clever take on an Easter dessert favorite: carrot cake. Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, gingersnaps or apple slices for dipping fun that both kids and adults will love.

Here we stir a little melted chocolate into ricotta cheese for a cheesecake-like topping for chocolate wafer cookies.

Ah, the maligned fruitcake. Many store-bought varieties, stuffed with unrecognizable candied bits, deserve their bad reputation--but not these wonderful cakes, made with a generous serving of dried fruit and candied orange peel in a light batter. There's only one trick: buy the best-quality, moist dried and candied fruit you can afford.

Pound cake got its name from the original formulation: a pound each of sugar, flour, butter and eggs. Just the thought of it is enough to raise your cholesterol. Our version calls for half whole-wheat flour, less sugar, a modest amount of butter and loses quite a few egg yolks. To keep it rich we moisten the cake with reduced-fat cream cheese and buttermilk. It is every bit as delicious as the original, with only a third of the calories and fat.

Schmear ricotta cheese and your favorite jam on graham crackers for an instant cheesecake.

Here, low-fat ricotta blended with reduced-fat Neufchâtel cheese gives this lighter, Italian-inspired cheesecake a great texture and all of the good cheese flavor you would want. We garnish the cake with mixed berries brushed with a red currant jelly glaze. With only 258 calories per slice, this dessert really is a worthwhile indulgence.

Grilling luscious seasonal fruit is the perfect way to end an outdoor celebration. Here, peaches soften and caramelize over a moderate fire before melding with a fruity red-wine sauce and toasted slices of (store-bought) angel food cake.

This gluten-free, healthy snack uses almond butter and apples, but feel free to swap for other nut butter and fruit combinations, such as peanut butter and banana.

Warm cake topped with perfectly sweet strawberry sauce, what could be better?

This double-chocolate pudding cake bakes up easily in an oval slow cooker. It takes just 10 minutes to throw all the ingredients together, and in 3 hours you and your holiday guests will be enjoying a moist and chocolaty dessert with creamy whipped topping.