13 Indulgent Cakes to Make for Father’s Day

This cake from pastry chef Karina Gowing is perfection for anyone who loves frosting. The ultracreamy icing, which is almost like a milk-chocolate ganache, gets spread liberally over layers of light, delicate, cocoa-flavored cake.

Sacher torte is a classic Austrian chocolate cake layered with apricot preserves. Lidia Bastianich’s version uses the preserves three ways: for moistening the cake layers, as a thick filling between the layers and as a glaze to seal the cake before covering it in chocolate. The cake is moist and luscious on its own, but it’s also delicious served the traditional way, with unsweetened whipped cream.

Many Bundt cakes are heavy and buttery, but this one is surprisingly light and incredibly moist under its silky chocolate glaze. Strong-brewed coffee in the batter intensifies the chocolate flavor while cutting the sweetness.

When Matt Lewis became a baker, he started a quest to re-create the lemon Bundt cakes of his youth. After “a million different versions,” he says, he achieved lemon-cake bliss, using the zest of 10 lemons and a little lemon extract to get the flavor just right. The cake has a moist crumb (thanks to a lemony syrup brushed over the top) and a crackling, sugary glaze.

This simple butter cake can be topped with any kind of in-season fruit you may have on hand. Try strawberries in spring, figs in fall or poached pears in winter. This summer version is bursting with fresh blueberries, lemon and coconut. You can use either fresh or frozen berries for this cake, but don’t defrost before using if frozen is all you have, or their juices will seep into the cake batter.

In this fun variation on traditional pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake spiced with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves gets frosted with a slightly tangy, super-caramelly frosting. It's delicious served cold or at room temperature.

Sam German created the mild, dark baking chocolate called Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate in 1852; in the late 1950s, a Dallas newspaper published a recipe for German's Chocolate Cake. The dessert took the South by storm and has been a staple ever since.

This luscious cake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days if you want to make it in advance of the holiday.

We love serving this sweet and nutty cake chilled.

This beauty has everything you want in a perfect chocolate cake—a simple, stir-together batter infused with velvety melted chocolate; a no-fail cream cheese–based frosting, and plenty of it; and a stress-free decorating method you can nail no matter your skill level.

Basically a gargantuan éclair, this cake features an ethereal choux pastry crust and a quick homemade vanilla custard layer, topped with drifts of mascarpone cheese–enriched whipped cream and generous curls of shaved chocolate.

We all cook with red wine, adding a glug or two to enrich pan sauces and stews. Here, our culinary director Justin Chapple makes the case for baking with it as well. Cabernet Sauvignon adds fruity notes that brighten this chocolate cake, which is great for a midday snack or casual dessert.

Chef Joe Flamm cinched his season 15 Top Chef win with this simple brown sugar cake, which he learned to make from the late pastry chef Todd Kunkleman at Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat in Chicago.