The 13 best recipes to bake in April
The only sourdough recipe you need, a mind-blowing churro cupcake, and more.
Date
April 3, 2023
By now, we’ve firmly settled into spring baking. Whether you’re looking for a spectacular layer cake for a spring celebration or just want a new scone recipe to bake on repeat, we’ve got you covered. Here, we’re sharing a baker’s dozen batch of recipes to bake all month long and beyond.
1) Carrot Cake Scones with Cream Cheese Frosting
Shredded carrots, toasted pecans, cinnamon, and ground ginger bring the essence of carrot cake to a tender scone that would fit right in at any breakfast spread. A final swoop of tangy cream cheese frosting provides an extra-special touch.
Get the recipe: Carrot Cake Scones with Cream Cheese Frosting
2) Churro Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
Allow me to introduce you to the cupcake mash-up you didn’t know you needed. To keep the spirit of a churro, pâte à choux cups are baked in a muffin pan and rolled in cinnamon sugar. The hollow choux cups are then filled with tender, cinnamon-scented cake and topped with luscious chocolate ganache for the grand finale. Check out all seven dessert-cupcake mash-ups from our latest feature: It’s Cupcake Season.
Get the recipe: Churro Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
3) Pain de Campagne (Country Bread)
All sourdough bakers need an everyday bread they can turn to, and that’s where Pain de Campagne comes in. This rustic, artisan-style bread can seamlessly fit into your schedule without much babysitting thanks to long fermentation times and the use of unfed starter. Watch Baking Ambassador Martin Philip walk through the entire process from mixing the dough to baking the final loaf.
Get the recipe: Pain de Campagne (Country Bread)
4) Tiramisu
Hear me out: The best tiramisu doesn’t call for ladyfingers. Sponge cake is superior! It requires less assembly time, can handle a generous soak of booze-spiked coffee, and gives you a more balanced bite of cake and mascarpone filling. Just look at those layers!
Get the recipe: Tiramisu
5) Big and Buttery Croissant Bread
Want to make croissants, but afraid to make croissants? Consider this buttery, flaky loaf — made with the same laminated dough used for croissants (and other pastries), it’s a good starter recipe that will help familiarize you with the technique. Baked in a loaf pan, it’s incredibly forgiving, a cinch to shape, and yields an impressive loaf that maybe become the toast to end all toasts.
Get the recipe: Big and Buttery Croissant Bread
6) Lachha Paratha (Flaky Paratha)
If you’re after flaky, flavorful flatbread to accompany weeknight dinner, this Lachha Paratha recipe from Tara O’Brady may be exactly what you’re looking for. These are as fun to make as they are to eat: Each piece of dough is rolled out thinly, brushed with ghee and covered in cilantro, garlic, and roasted cumin powder, then rolled, coiled, and flattened, resulting in a flatbread with irresistibly flaky layers.
Get the recipe: Lachha Paratha (Flaky Paratha)
7) Raspberry Lemon Cake
Bright flavor and brilliant color are in every layer of this fruit-forward cake. There are several elements to this project bake, but each pays off: As you slice into the cake, it’ll reveal tender white cake layers scented with lemon zest, plus raspberry buttercream, fresh berries, and tangy lemon curd sandwiched between. Save it for birthdays, Easter, or a special occasion dinner party.
Get the recipe: Raspberry Lemon Cake
8) Scallion and Cheddar Cathead Biscuits
Go big or go home is the mantra when it comes to cathead biscuits, so named because they’re said to be as large as a feline’s head. These simple drop biscuits are cheesy, packed with black pepper, and full of spring allium flavor — and they come out perfectly fluffy and golden brown every time.
Get the recipe: Scallion and Cheddar Cathead Biscuits
9) Potica
This swirled Slovenian bread is the definition of a special occasion bake. The enriched dough is filled with a sweet mixture of chopped walnuts (or pecans), cinnamon, maple syrup, and orange zest. Getting that signature swirl is easier than it looks: The dough gets rolled like a log, shaped into an oblong ring, then placed into a loaf pan.
Get the recipe: Potica
10) Masa Harina Pancakes
If you’re a tried-and-true fan of our Simply Perfect Pancakes, consider this adaptation made with masa harina. It provides a lovely, earthy corn flavor that pairs beautifully with blueberries (and syrup!).
Get the recipe: Masa Harina Pancakes
11) Easy Vegan Lemon Cake
This simple yet elegant cake comes together in mere minutes and doesn’t skimp on bright citrus flavors. Lemon is used in virtually all of its forms: zest, juice, and candied slices, plus a few not-so-secret ingredients for bolder flavor (lemon juice emulsion and lemon juice powder).
Get the recipe: Easy Vegan Lemon Cake
12) Banana Snacking Cake
This endlessly snackable cake is reminiscent of banana bread, but gets a childhood dose of nostalgia from malted chocolate cream cheese frosting. Rainbow sprinkles and crushed malted milk balls add a touch of fun and celebration to this everyday cake.
Get the recipe: Banana Snacking Cake
13) Gluten-Free Artisan Bread
Yes, you read that right. With our new Gluten-Free Bread Flour, crusty, country-style bread is possible! An overnight starter adds depth of flavor, and a smooth, kneadable dough makes this a breeze to shape into a boule. The results are impressively similar to conventional wheat bread.
Get the recipe: Gluten-Free Artisan Bread
Cover photo (Churro Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache) by Rick Holbrook, food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
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