Sometimes the shortest path between making cake and eating it is opening a can of ready-made frosting. Here are easy upgrades to make it taste better.

These classic layer cake recipes are as delicious as they are decorative. Try one of our best vanilla, chocolate, or citrus cakes at birthdays, holidays, and parties.

This strawberry lemonade cake combines a citrus-scented, tender butter cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting for a sweet and tangy dessert that's impossible to resist.

(Excerpted from "The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook" 2nd edition by Elisa Spungen Bildner and Robert Bildner with chef Brian Alberg. Used with permission from Countryman Press.) This handsome carrot ...