25 Best Graduation Cake Ideas for a Sweet End to the School Year
These desserts deserve their own diploma.
Graduation is a major milestone, and it deserves a celebration to match. And of course, no party feels complete without cake. If someone you love is getting ready to walk across the stage in cap and gown, baking a special graduation cake is a sweet way to celebrate everything they’ve accomplished. Ahead, you’ll find plenty of ideas for every kind of graduation party, including light spring cakes, no-bake treats, and icebox cakes for every type of graduation party. There are also plenty of towering layer cakes to impress every guest.
Hosting a backyard barbecue? Try a fun and refreshing ice cream cake. How about a cake that's fit for a crowd? Ree Drummond's strawberries and cream or chocolate sheet cakes will take care of that. You can even get creative in decorating your cake with frosting in your school's colors. Or make life simple and use sprinkles instead. They look like confetti so they feel instantly celebratory!
Whatever you decide, serve the cake alongside Ree's graduation cap brownie bites and an array of graduation party foods, and you'll have diploma-worthy celebration that's as memorable as it is sweet.
Daffodil Cake
As bright as their future, this vintage-inspired twist on angel food cake uses both egg whites and yolks for a fluffy texture and cheerful color. It’s light and airy with sunny layers of white and yellow batter and a bright orange glaze on top.
Get the Daffodil Cake recipe.
Snickerdoodle Cake
They deserve cookies and cake on their big day—and this dessert combines them into one! Tender vanilla cake layers are stacked with fluffy cinnamon cream cheese frosting and a brown sugar-cinnamon filling. An extra dusting of cinnamon sugar goes on top.
Get Ree’s Snickerdoodle Cake recipe.
3-Ingredient Mini Layer Cakes
An easy dessert that looks impressive with hardly any effort. Start with a store-bought pound cake loaf or angel food cake, add your favorite filling, and finish with whipped topping. The individual size makes them especially fun for celebrations, and they’re easy to decorate to match school colors.
Get Ree’s 3-Ingredient Mini Layer Cakes recipe.
Italian Cream Cake
Here’s a classic celebratory dessert with rich layers, creamy frosting, and plenty of old-fashioned charm. The tender vanilla cake has coconut and toasted nuts throughout, all finished with a luscious cream cheese frosting.
Get Ree’s Italian Cream Cake recipe.
Berry Chantilly Cake
Skip the trip to Whole Foods and make your own berry beautiful cake at home! Fresh fruits really shine when paired with tender white cake and rich mascarpone cream.
Get the Berry Chantilly Cake recipe.
Marble Cake
You don't have to choose between chocolate and vanilla with this Bundt cake! It has stunning swirls of both flavors throughout, plus a sweet and tangy buttermilk glaze on top.
Get the Marble Cake recipe.
Tres Leches Cake
Light, airy tres leches cake was made for summer celebrations like a graduation party! The poke cake is soaked with a mixture of three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream.
Get Ree's Tres Leches Cake recipe.
Strawberry and Cream Sheet Cake
Peak graduation season is also peak strawberry season! Head to your local market and make this sweet treat. It has berries in and on top of the cake.
Get Ree's Strawberry and Cream Sheet Cake recipe.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Here's a gluten-free recipe for a successful celebration! Omitting flour causes this indulgent chocolate cake to be extra fudgy and moist. It's topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, which means you don't have to bother with making frosting!
Get Ree's Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe.
Lemon Raspberry Cake
This sweet-tart cake is as pretty as it is delicious! The pink raspberry frosting and lemony cake layers even have a special filling made with raspberry jam.
Get the Lemon Raspberry Cake recipe.
Sprinkle Ice Cream Cake
Though this cake was originally created for a birthday celebration, it’s just as wonderful for a graduation party, too. The sprinkle-filled cake layers and strawberry sprinkle ice cream will have everyone screaming, “hip, hip, hooray!”
Get the Sprinkle Ice Cream Cake recipe.
Oreo Icebox Cake
This no-bake cake layers fluffy whipped cream with Oreo cookies and fresh fruit. But the best part is that you can make it in advance for easy party planning! In fact, the cake needs to refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours so it has time to set.
Get the Oreo Icebox Cake recipe.
Eclair Cake
This cake is made with a creamy filling, graham crackers, and a chocolate ganache. It tastes just like a classic French pastry, but without all the hard work. (No baking required!)
Get the Eclair Cake recipe.
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Now that school’s out for summer, you’re going to want a summer dessert. Enter: this beautiful and bright cake bursting with blueberries and fresh lemon flavor. There’s even a lemony cream cheese frosting on top!
Get the Lemon Blueberry Cake recipe.
Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
It doesn’t get easier than this 4-ingredient cake! The classic ice cream sandwiches act as the top and bottom layer with a minty filling that’s loaded with mint-flavored Oreos! Of course, you can always switch up the flavor based on your grad’s preferences. (Caramel ice cream with chopped up candy bars would be another hit!)
Get the Ice Cream Sandwich Cake recipe.
Cookie Cake
This cake-sized chocolate chip cookie is big enough for all your guests. Top it with fluffy chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles, or get creative with your grad's school colors. Either way, it's sure to be a hit!
Get the Cookie Cake recipe.
Coca-Cola Cake
This rich, chocolaty cake gets a little extra rise and a subtle caramel flavor from the addition of coca-cola. The chocolate glaze is the perfect canvas for adding any color sprinkles or decoration.
Get the Coca-Cola Cake recipe.
Lemon Cake
This bright, lemony cake just screams springtime! A few drops of yellow food coloring in the lemon cream cheese frosting will help guests know what they're getting.
Get the Lemon Cake recipe.
German Chocolate Cake
If you're looking to earn top honors from your friends and family, just make this extra-special German chocolate cake! The creamy coconut-pecan filling, chocolate cake layers, and chocolate Swiss buttercream are all worthy of straight A's.
Get the German Chocolate Cake recipe.
Chocolate Sheet Cake
No Drummond family celebration would be complete with this chocolate cake that's fit for a crowd. Ree says it's "absolutely, without a doubt, the best chocolate sheet cake ever."
Get Ree's Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe.
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