24 Bright and Spring-y Easter Dessert Recipes

An Easter meal deserves one of these 24 worthy dessert recipes for a sweet finish.

Easter offers no shortage of opportunities for eating sweets, between all the Cadbury eggs and chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and marshmallow Peeps. There's nothing wrong with store-bought candy—what kid doesn't love an Easter basket?—but a fancy holiday meal may call for a sweet ending that's a little more homemade. Since the first signs of spring put us in mind of bright, clean flavors and delicate textures, many of the 24 dessert recipes below are on the lighter side, including an airy fruit mousse and a tall and fluffy angel food cake. But there's room for richer fare, too, including traditional hot cross buns, a stunning brown butter–infused carrot cake, and an updated take on the classic mint-chocolate flavors of a grasshopper pie.

  • BraveTart's Brown Butter Carrot Cake

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    Vicky Wasik

    Bright and crunchy carrots can't help but remind us of Easter—bunnies!—and their natural sweetness is on full display in this elegant layer cake. Nutty brown butter highlights the earthiness of carrots and pecans and the graham cracker–like notes of whole wheat flour. Spread the fluffy layers with a tangy cream cheese buttercream frosting, and, for an extra-special touch, top the whole creation off with decorative (but edible!) roses made from twisted carrot curls poached in sugar syrup. It's a time-consuming recipe, but there's a lot you can do in advance, including browning the butter, shredding the carrots, making the frosting, and toasting the nuts.

  • Effortless Angel Food Cake

    Vicky Wasik

    This cloud-like angel food cake is shockingly easy to prepare, with a meringue that's as simple as whipping up egg whites, sugar, and vanilla, plus a bit of lemon juice and salt, in a stand mixer. After that, just stir in cake flour and scrape it all into an aluminum tube pan. We like to serve the cake with a light lemon chantilly and sweet berries tossed in fresh lemon syrup. If you're baking for the gluten-intolerant, this gluten-free angel food cake might be even fluffier and more tender than the original recipe. Or, for a slight caramelly edge and subtler sweetness, try Stella's toasted sugar angel food cake instead.

  • Chocolate Meringue Cake With Whipped Cream and Raspberries

    Nila Jones

    This elegant dessert's gorgeous layers of rich chocolate cake, airy meringue, and fluffy whipped cream make for a showstopping centerpiece. A sweet-tart sauce made with fresh raspberries sits between the layers, complementing the richness of chocolate and brown sugar with bright and tangy fruit. If you have your hands full with the rest of your Easter menu, the cake, meringue, and filling can all be made ahead of time, then assembled right before serving.

  • Chocolate Cherry Layer Cake

    Vicky Wasik

    Inspired by the classic combination of cherries and chocolate, this rich cake features high-quality cocoa powder and just enough tart cherry juice to bring out the chocolate's fruity side. The whole thing is slathered in a lovely pastel-pink frosting, made with whipped cream and freeze-dried cherries.

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  • Sour Cream Pound Cake

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    Vicky Wasik

    Pound cake is a staple at many potluck family gatherings, and this one is as dense and buttery-soft as they get. Sour cream replaces a portion of the usual fat and eggs, providing lactose that results in a beautifully browned crust, while a combination of vanilla beans and extract produces a more nuanced vanilla flavor. We love this cake served with a healthy dollop of fruity whipped cream.

  • Spiced Vanilla Hot Cross Buns

    Vicky Wasik

    Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten for breakfast on Good Friday, but they're delicious enough to serve again a couple of days later. We use Greek yogurt to keep the dough soft and pliable, yet easy to handle. Candied orange peel, dried cherries and apricots, and an array of spices—coriander, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg—lend the buns plenty of fruity chew and heady fragrance.

  • Dark Chocolate Easter Cookies

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    Vicky Wasik

    If you have more candy than you know what to do with come Easter, don't foist it all on your coworkers Monday morning—set a few handfuls aside for making these cookies. Thanks to Dutch-process cocoa, the chocolate dough mixes up dark as night and slightly bitter, making it perfect for balancing out the sweetness of the candy bits. Use whatever chocolate-friendly candy you have on hand—this recipe is especially handy for using up those big, hollow chocolate bunnies that never seem to get eaten otherwise.

  • Crispy Lemon-Ginger Sandwich Cookies

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    Vicky Wasik

    The brightness of lemon is an especially welcome flavor profile this time of year, when most of us are still struggling through the final days of the colder months. These cookies were designed to mimic Carr's Ginger Lemon Cremes: crisp, spicy gingerbread cookies with a citrusy filling, ideal for dunking into tea or serving with vanilla ice cream. Using refined coconut oil instead of butter in the filling allows the brightness of the lemon to shine through. The molasses in the dough, aside from contributing to its darker, richer flavor, helps the cookies spread out thin enough to sandwich.

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  • Lemon Meltaways

    Vicky Wasik

    Like a hybrid of lemon shortbread and cotton candy, these sugar-dusted meltaways are almost impossibly delicate. Here, some of the flour that you'd find in a typical cookie dough gets replaced with powdered sugar and tapioca starch—with less flour, these cookies really do melt when they hit your tongue. Unlike cornstarch, tapioca starch won't make the cookies feel chalky and dry when they come out of the oven.

  • Sunny Lemon Bars

    Vicky Wasik

    These velvety, rich lemon bars get a double dose of citrus: Lemon zest flavors the tender crust, while juice brightens the curd. Making the tart curd with equal parts whole eggs and egg yolks (as opposed to whole eggs alone) thickens it up without the addition of cornstarch. An anodized aluminum baking pan lined with parchment ensures that the bars don't overcook in the oven or take on any off flavors from the metal (but do make sure your other cookware, including pots and strainers, is made of nonreactive metal, too!).

  • Fresh and Creamy Lime Pie

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    Vicky Wasik

    This pie resembles a cross between lemon meringue pie and Key lime—and yes, it's as good as that sounds. The nuttier flavor of a whole wheat pie crust does a particularly good job of setting off a deliciously sweet-and-sour custard that's thickened with whole eggs to keep the citrus flavor prominent. Top the pie with fluffy Swiss meringue—you can get fancy with a pastry bag and star tip like Stella's done here, or just swirl it on freeform—which will brown and puff nicely in the oven.

  • Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie

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    Vicky Wasik

    Refreshing mint is another flavor profile that gets us in a spring kind of mood. Our version of a retro grasshopper pie incorporates Fernet Branca instead of crème de menthe, for a bitter, herbaceous edge to accompany the peppermint extract, and thickens the filling with whole eggs instead of marshmallow for a pie that's richer and less sweet. A cocoa-nib fudge and drizzles of chocolate throughout the filling ensure you'll get a little chocolate in every bite.

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  • No-Bake Chocolate-Nutella "Cheesecake" Verrines

    Nila Jones

    These parfait-style individual desserts look highly sophisticated, but they're a snap to make. Just layer an Oreo crumb crust, dark chocolate and Nutella-cheesecake fillings, and homemade whipped cream in a little glass, then sprinkle on more crushed Oreos and toasted hazelnuts—no baking necessary.

  • Tangy Strawberry Fools

    Yvonne Ruperti

    A classic English fool layers custard with stewed fruit. For a lighter version perfect for spring, we swap a blend of whipped cream and yogurt for the rich custard, and both fresh and macerated strawberries for the traditional cooked fruit. You can also try the same dessert in versions with lemon and blueberry or pineapple, mango, and coconut.

  • Light and Easy 5-Minute Fruit Mousse

    Nila Jones

    Desserts don't get much simpler than this refreshing fruit mousse—all you need are three ingredients, five minutes, and a food processor. Mixing an egg white with frozen fruit (any kind you'd like) and sugar turns what would otherwise be a plain fruit purée into a fluffy treat.

  • Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

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    Vicky Wasik

    Creamy, delicate, and sophisticated, this panna cotta is delicious perfectly plain, but also makes an excellent accompaniment for fresh or lightly macerated fruit. We steep the cream with Tahitian vanilla for at least an hour and up to 24 hours to get the deepest flavor. In place of or in addition to the vanilla, you can also try steeping with lemon zest, cinnamon sticks, lavender, fresh ginger—this recipe makes a brilliant canvas for all kinds of interesting flavors.

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  • Cranachan (Scottish Whipped Cream With Whisky, Raspberries, and Toasted Oats)

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    Vicky Wasik

    A traditional Scottish dessert that's tasty, pretty, and easy, cranachan consists of raspberries layered with toasted oats, honey, and whipped cream spiked with Scotch. Soaking the oats in the cream you'll whip later helps tenderize them, so they turn crisp, not tough, when toasted in the oven. An optional addition of mascarpone in the whipped cream makes the final product richer and more mousse-like.

  • Meyer Lemon Ice Cream

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    Vicky Wasik

    Thin-skinned Meyer lemons, found in supermarkets from roughly November through March, are sweeter, more floral, and less harsh than conventional lemons, making them a much better choice for infusing into ice cream. The result is rich and creamy, yet bright and tangy at the same time. This ice cream uses fewer eggs than usual, for a leaner, more refreshing profile, with cornstarch added to keep it silky-smooth. An optional splash of orange curaçao or other citrus liqueur plays up the orangey notes in the Meyers.

  • Meringue Nests With Orange Curd Cream and Easter Eggs

    Nila Jones

    In this delightful spring treat, each delicate meringue "nest" holds a swirl of tangy, bright orange curd and cradles a pair of store-bought candy-covered chocolate eggs. The nests and curd can both be made several days ahead of time—just don't combine them until right before serving, or else the meringue will get soggy.

  • Chocolate Marshmallow Peeps

    Yvonne Ruperti

    Marshmallow Peeps may not be your ideal Easter dessert, but what if you could make them at home, with full control over the flavoring and sugar level? These adorable homemade Peeps, infused with rich cocoa and dabbed with semisweet chocolate for eyes, have the festive look of the mass-produced originals, with a more subdued sweetness. Piping them out into chick-like shapes is easy—just allow the marshmallow to thicken a bit first.

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  • Cherry Ice Cream

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    Vicky Wasik

    We'd be lying if we said this recipe was quick or easy. But it's worth every bit of work. First, the cherries are roasted with their pits in, to concentrate the fruity flavor, then the pits are steeped in cream. The finished ice cream is a beautiful pinkish-red, with incredibly concentrated and pure cherry flavor.

  • No-Bake Cookies With Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Chewy Oats

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    Vicky Wasik

    These chewy oatmeal cookies aren't really, well, cookies at all. They're a type of creamy peanut butter fudge, and as long as you're equipped with a digital thermometer, they're as easy as can be.

  • Creamy Whipped Greek Yogurt

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    Vicky Wasik

    This whipped Greek yogurt is a perfect dessert for the warmer months. It's a light and airy mixture of whipped cream and tangy, dense yogurt. Serve it with fresh fruit, nuts, a drizzle of honey, or eat it plain.

  • Double Strawberry Cake

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    Vicky Wasik

    This pale-pink layer cake practically screams "spring!" It takes on its beautiful color thanks to a combination of fresh strawberry purée and freeze-dried strawberries pulverized into a fine powder. You can finish this light and fluffy cake with Swiss buttercream, strawberry whipped cream, or—our favorite—tangy cream cheese frosting to highlight the tart strawberries.