18 Cake Recipes That Are Best Served Warm
Cakes create a unifying sense of occasion. These servings are best suited to wintertime celebrations.
The weather shouldn’t put a dampener on important celebrations. These centrepiece recipes are seasonally aware, shooing the cold away with their warmth.
Upon serving, these cakes are drizzled with homemade syrups, topped with cream, dolloped with yoghurt or creme fraiche or paired with fresh and candied fruits. They’re also sturdy enough to hold commemorating candles, should the occasion call for it.
This cake, made with seasonal fruits currently at the peak of season, is topped with toasty pine nuts and a textural lemon zest.
These mini cakes, for which Angela Casley drew inspiration from an especially chocolatey occasion, have a gooey, molten centre.
Writer and cook Jeff Koehler shares the recipe for mderbel, an Algerian jam cake, comparing its sweetness and crumbly texture to shortbread.
Poppy seed and grapefruit syrup cake
This buttery cake is finished with a drizzle of homemade syrup, which is a mix of fine caster sugar, butter and grapefruit juice.
Chocolate, date and banana cake
If you serve this fruity cake just about room temperature, the chocolate ganache topping will be pleasingly melted.
Semolina and almond syrup cake
Make this vibrant and sticky cake, finished with a honey and citrus drizzle, as a pairing for your afternoon tea or coffee.
This dessert dish features a layer of super-sweet Doris plums topped with a soft vanilla sponge. It’s finished with a sprinkle of icing sugar.
You can portion this sticky and dense lemon cake to serve a large group (and serve it alongside a pot of Earl Grey tea).
Swap the seasonal fruit topping of this luscious chocolate cake to suit the winter season (think citrus, stewed apple or tamarillos).
Poppy seeds create an interesting visual for this towering cake, which is drizzled with honey-sweetened syrup.
This upside-down cake showcases the bright colour of softened apricots. It’s also complete with a glug of homemade caramel sauce.
Gluten-free date and honey pudding
If you’re catering to those who go flourless, this sticky dessert could be a great substitution for cake.
Food writer and culinary Yasmin Newman shares this sublime citrus cake recipe from her Under Coconut Skies: Feasts & Stories from the Philippines.
If you’re seeking the tart flavours of raspberries, you could swap fresh raspberries for frozen and reduce them to a warming sauce.
Polenta and lemon drizzle cake
This sunny lemon cake is an uplifting option for grey days and cold evenings.
Melt into this glossy and sticky-sweet date cake, which is glazed with a brown sugar sauce. Angela Casley suggests pairing with a mild herbal tea.
Chocolate and berry lava cakes
A dollop of creme fraiche lifts the deeper flavours of these oozy chocolate and berry cakes.
Crystalised ginger, lychees and slices of pineapple garnish this cinnamon-tinged cake.