Ranking 27 Popular Cake Flavors, From Worst To Best

Let them eat cake! According to Encyclopedia Britannica, this famous (albeit overused) line likely wasn't actually said by Queen Marie-Antoinette during the French Revolution, but it does reflect how much people around the world love their sweet slices of cake. The Nibble notes that the ancient Egyptians were the first population to bake proto-cakes and bread on hot stones. The first cakes were made with wild yeasts, and towards the 18th and 19th centuries, bakers started adding leavening agents like eggs and eventually baking soda and baking powder to encourage cakes to rise. In modern times, there are hundreds of different kinds of cakes that encompass immense diversity in flours, fruits, nuts, chocolate, and other flavorful additions. 

While we like to think that all cakes are good cakes, there are some strong opinions about what types "take the cake." And if you're going to spend time mixing, baking, and decorating your cake, why would you pick a type of cake that you don't enjoy eating in the first place? Here are some of our favorite (and in conjunction, bottom-tier) cake flavors. 

Icebox cake is one of the easiest cakes you can make at home. You'll just need some wafer cookies, cream, sugar, and whatever textural elements you plan to add to the cake — like chocolate, pretzels, nuts, or syrups. Then, shove the cake in your freezer for a few hours, and voila! 

The ease of making icebox cake is one of its redeeming qualities. But, you won't get the subtle crumb of a sponge, and the entire dessert can easily become overwhelmed by the cream-to-cookie ratio. 

Anything with orange teeters on the edge of being too artificial and pleasant. Adding too much orange juice, zest, or extract to a cake can disrupt every flavor, while adding too little will leave your guests thinking it's just vanilla chiffon cake. Orange cakes fare better than other varieties on our list because they have the potential to amplify other flavors like chocolate or vanilla. But, proceed with caution when working with orange-flavored anything. 

A pineapple upside-down cake may be interesting to look at, but the mechanics of making one are anything but easy. This cake is made by adding a layer of caramel to a skillet, pouring in the cake batter, and baking it until golden brown. The trick then comes with inverting the cake so the pineapple layer is facing upwards without dislodging any of the pineapple or the cake. If you cut the pineapple rings too thick, they won't cook at the same rate as the sponge. And if the rings are too thin, your pineapple will disintegrate into the cake. There are just too many variables to have to control when you're making this cake. 

What does coconut actually taste like? If you're thinking about a Southern coconut cake, the answer is sweet. While coconut has very little flavor in itself, it can provide a nostalgic texture when placed on the outside of a cake. To get a strong coconut flavor in a cake, you're going to have to use an entire coconut arsenal of coconut extract, coconut shavings, and coconut cream. Otherwise, your cake is just a subpar white or yellow cake with a little coconut garnish on the outside. If you love coconut-flavored things, this cake is for you. If you feel ambivalent about coconut as a flavor, stick to a plain chocolate cake instead. 

Strawberry cake can take on many forms. Strawberry shortcake, which is a vanilla sponge or angel food cake topped with whipped cream and macerated strawberries, is one of the most popular strawberry-inspired cake options you can find in the United States. In Japan, the strawberry cake is served on street corners and features a genoise sponge with whipped cream and strawberries. Both of these cakes elevate the strawberry flavor beyond the florescent pink-colored boxed cake mix you can find at the grocery store (which, we should note, you should never consider buying if you have other flavors to choose from). 

We mean it when we say it — cheesecake is overrated. While you can make different types of cheesecake (the Cheesecake Factory alone offers 36, per its website) getting the perfect texture for a cheesecake is something that takes a lot of practice. When it comes to making different flavoring for cheesecake — we have to argue that adding a distracting layer of peanut butter or dulce de leche distracts from the fundamental mistakes in the traditional cheesecake itself. Stop adding crazy ingredients and just keep cheesecake, cheesecake. 

We should also add that cheesecake's classification as a cake is highly contested. Per the Collin Street Bakery, cheesecake is actually a tart because it is enclosed on three sides with a pastry shell, can have its top decorated, and does not require baking to be safe to eat. 

Marble cake is the perfect kind of cake for people who can't make decisions. Although the marble cake may look difficult to make, it involves simply swirling chocolate and vanilla cake batter together to make a unique new pattern. Although you get the best of both worlds, the flavor of the marble cake doesn't lean into the chocolate or vanilla territory. It's rather bland, and if you get enough of one flavor, it overpowers the other — thus defeating the purpose of having two flavors of cake in one.

White cake is a very delicate type of vanilla cake used for weddings and special celebrations. The crumb texture is delicate because it is leavened using egg whites and baking powder. While the crumb structure on a white cake is something of beauty, the flavor is as exciting as its color. There is very little flavor in a white cake, and you'll find that the bland taste of the cake makes any failures you make in the buttercream more apparent.

Spice cake often contains a bold mix of cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, but some recipes may also call for a bit of dried ginger for heat or cardamom for zest. From a flavor perspective, the spice cake gets our approval. But, this cake can get very dense and stodgy because there are few ingredients to keep it light and fluffy. You can also add cream cheese icing to provide a sweet relief from the spice and include chopped nuts for texture. 

Carrot is a versatile cake flavor that includes an important ingredient to help break up the monotony of the spiced sponge. Depending on your carrot cake recipe, you can incorporate chopped nuts or dried fruits into the batter for a bit more texture as well. Therefore, carrot cake is a bit more flexible of a cake flavor than other types. Plus, although the most common frosting for carrot cake is homemade cream cheese icing, you can also keep your cake naked and know you'll still have enough reprieve from the flavor of the sponge. 

Hummingbird cake is a classic Southern cake made from a moist mixture of mashed banana and crushed pineapples with the accent of toasted pecans. There are a ton of tropical flavors in this cake, and you can even add a bit of a rum to take your Southern dessert to a new level. While hummingbird cake is often served as a layered cake with cream cheese frosting, you could also stick to a traditional American buttercream or opt for a light vanilla glaze. This cake is Southern hospitality served on a plate. 

Yellow cake is truly the Swiss Army knife of the cake world. We have a lot of nostalgia from eating yellow cake with chocolate frosting at birthday parties and celebrations — and even more fond memories of baking it in the kitchen from a Duncan Hines box. Although the yellow cake isn't as flavorful as our other top contenders, it does have versatility in both frosting and flavoring. You can use a buttercream frosting (chocolate or vanilla) to ice your cake and decorate it with chopped fruits, nuts, or candies — all without upsetting the vanilla undertone of the cake. 

What does red velvet cake taste like? That's not an easy question to answer. Red velvet cake has some of the same depth as a chocolate cake, but with the subtle tang of buttermilk and a sweet cream cheese frosting. The complexity of flavor and sensations in a red velvet cake (along with its astonishing color, which was originally attributed to the use of certain types of cocoa powder used in the sponge, per Southern Living), is what makes red velvet cake one of our timeless favorites.