Easter Dessert Ideas: The Ultimate Guide

Whether you're looking for cute Easter dessert ideas, traditional desserts, or easy sweets you've come to the right place. You'll find over 60 dessert recipes divided into categories so that you can quickly find a recipe that's perfect for your spring celebration! Updated for 2020!

? Ultimate Guide to Easter Desserts

One thing you can say about the south is that we love our sweets. You might think that people's tastes are similar all over the country but they're not. Generally speaking southern desserts are way too sweet for northern palates. I think it's interesting how different people are in different parts of the country.

Easter is a time for celebration, whatever your personal beliefs, and every great celebration deserves a little something sweet to end with. Whether you're planning a brunch or full on party you'll find Easter treats from bunny cakes to desserts filled with Spring fruit. Quick and easy? I've got you. Cute dessert ideas? I've got those, too.

I've tried to include everything I could find that I would consider for my table from cookies to pies and pretty much everything else. I hope you'll pin this post so you can find it easily later.

One note - there is no "make-ahead" category because as I was looking at these I realized that most of these Spring desserts can be made ahead of time with no problem. I've noted the ones that might not work well.

? Easy recipes

Putting a holiday dinner together is hard enough without finding time to put together an extravagant dessert. You'll find easy Easter dessert ideas in this section - things that take a few minutes of your time and then are ready to go.

1. Three Minute Easter Fluff - Similar to Ambrosia with pineapple, coconut, and pastel marshmallows - this is a super easy Easter dessert idea! (don't make more than a few hours ahead of time)
2. Flower Pretzel Bites - white chocolate, pretzels, and pastel m&ms make a pretty flower sweet and salty snack.
3. Bunny Tail Mix- Popcorn, white chocolate, and other sweet and salty goodies are mixed to create a cute snack.
4. 15 Minute Sunflower Peeps Cake - A round cake is covered with chocolate frosting, Peeps, and chocolate chips to look like a sunflower - you can buy the layer cake to make it even easier!
5. Spring Confetti Bars -Sugar cookies bars made with Easter sprinkles and pastel m&ms.
6. Carrot Cake Poke Cake - Carrot cake, caramel, whipped frosting? YUM!
7. Easter Sugar Cookie Cake Bake a sugar cookie with pastel m&ms stirred in right in a cake pan
8. Spring Pudding Cups - So easy the kids can make them! Chocolate pudding cups, gummy carrots, and more create a cute garden scene.
9. Strawberry Filled Angel Food Cake - Purchased or homemade angel food cake is filled with whipped cream and fresh berries. ( Don't make more than a day ahead of time)
10. Haystack Cookies Easter Nests - You probably remember making these easy, no-bake cookies with chow mein noodles!

? Cute ideas

Who doesn't love a cute Easter dessert recipe? In this section you'll find fun Easter desserts that kids and adults will love. They're not all difficult or complicated - the Peeps Jello Cups, for example.

1. 15 Ideas for Fun Easter Food - 15 plus ideas for making cute Easter food your kids will love
2. Easter Egg Sugar Cookies (gluten free) - Gluten free sugar cookies cut in Easter egg shapes and decorated
3. Rice Krispy Easter Eggs - Rice Krispie Treats are colored pastel and formed into Easter Egg shapes
4. Bunny Booty Pretzels - I'm not sure why bunny butts are so cute but everyone one loves them - this is a cute, easy recipe!
5. Swimming Peeps Jello Cups - These are so cute! Yellow Peeps "swim" on blue jello.
6. Layered Peeps Crispy Rice Cereal Treats - SO adorable! Bands of Spring pastels color these Easter treats on a stick. Kids will love them.

? Decorated

We all know that decorated cakes and cupcakes are a big part of many people's holiday celebrations. Some of these are complicated and take a level of cake decorating experience while others are super simple.

1. Easy Easter Dirt Cake - Such a cute cake! Traditional Dirt Cake with frosting carrots coming up out of it.
2. Spring Chicks Cupcakes - Cupcakes with a thick drift of yellow frosting made to look like chicks. Adorable!
3. Chocolate Easter Bunny Cake - An Easter bunny sits in an edible grass nest atop a layer cake. (note- this recipe uses the edible Easter grass but I'd color coconut and use that, myself.)
4. Chocolate Tulip Cake - This is just gorgeous! A layer cake with pink frosting and white chocolate tulips - even if you're not going to make it click through and take a look!
5. Easter Polka Dot Cake - SO cute - a layer cake filled with pastel polka dots inside and out! One of my favorite Easter dessert ideas!
6. Chick Cupcakes - Ok, these look easy! A scoop of buttercream on a cupcake - a little colored coconut...voila! Check it out!
7. Easter Chicks in Nests Cupcakes - You could also change the color of the buttercream and have bluebirds in nests. It would be cute!
8. Flower Cupcakes - You'll need Russian Piping Tips for these but they are beautiful!
9. Speckled Easter Cupcakes - Pastel and pretty with speckles on them!
10. Easter Basket Cupcakes -Pretty Easter basket cupcakes look like little Easter baskets filled with eggs.
11. Buttercream Daisy - Learn to pipe a buttercream daisy with this tutorial.
12. Pastel Checkerboard Cake - When you cut into the cake you'll see pastel squares of different colors. Pretty!
13. Strawberry Lemonade Cake - Pink cake with pink buttercream ruffles.
14. Bunny Cake - No need for a special pan for this one! Cute bunny cut from 2 round layers of cake and then frosted.
15. Pastel Confetti Cake - Gorgeous inside and out! Several cake layers of Spring colors with edible confetti on the outside.
16. Gluten Free Coconut Cake- Dairy-free and gluten-free coconut cake with a creamy buttercream.

? Chocolate

Easter and chocolate go together like ... well, they just go together. You'll love some of these great ideas!

1. White Chocolate Oreo Bark -Easy Oreo bark with white chocolate and pastel m&ms
2. Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs - Just like the ones you buy!
3. Cadbury Egg Brownies - My kids love those big Cadbury eggs! Here they are in brownie form.
4. Easter Peeps S'mores Dip - Made with two kinds of chocolate and Peeps toasted into an ooey gooey dessert dip.
5. Cadbury Cream Egg Chocolate Lava Cakes - Lava cake but with a melty center of  Cadbury Cream Eggs.
6. German Chocolate Brownie Birds' Nest  Bites - Round brownies topped with coconut-pecan frosting and candy eggs.
7. Carrot Strawberries - Whole strawberries dipped in orange candy coating to look like carrots. Would be super cute on a cake. ( Make the same day as serving or the night before)
8. Lavender White Chocolate Truffles - Creamy white chocolate truffles flavored with lavender. Pretty!
9. White Chocolate Raspberry Bunny Fluff Trifle - Y'all take a look at this - it's so unique and beautiful!
10. Easter Crack - White chocolate toffee with pastel sprinkles - easy and it looks yummy!

? Pies

Pie is always right, no matter what the occasion. You can call any kind of pie and Easter dessert but here are some that are served more often at Easter than others. Take a look at the coconut pie - it's got a gooey coconut filling that's very similar to pecan pie.

1. Coconut Praline Pie - Creamy coconut custard over a layer of pecan praline - topped with whipped cream.
2. Traditional Swiss Easter Rice Tart - A creamy rice custard in a sweet tart shell - one of the more unique Easter dessert ideas!
3. Coconut Pie - This coconut pie comes from one of my very old cookbooks and it's more like a pecan pie filling but with coconut.
4. Lemon Ice Box Pie - No bake so you can make it and take it!
5. No Bake Lemon Cheesecake - remember that luscious, light cheesecake you used to be able to get at Woolworth's? Well I've recreated it, just for you!

? Traditional desserts

Citrus flavors seem to find their way to the Easter table more than most other flavors. Maybe it's because we're close to Spring and ready to taste some of those bright, light flavors. These traditional desserts are the perfect ending for Easter meals.

1. Carrot Cake Cupcakes - Moist and spicy carrot cake in cupcake form.
2. Pinza Triestina (Sweet Italian Easter Bread)- Sweet orange flavored yeast bread and a sweet story to go with it! Would be great for brunch.
3. Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake - Tangy sweet Meyer lemon bundt cake is glazed with lemon glaze for more citrus flavor. One of my favorites.
4. Easter Egg Bread - This slightly sweet yeast bread is a braided ring with colored Easter eggs baked right in the braid - so pretty!
5. Carrot Cake Roll - Moist and yummy carrot cake rolled around cream cheese frosting
6. Coconut Cake - 3 layers of coconut cake filled with coconut butter cream and raspberry jam. It's a showstopper!
7. Banana Pudding - In the south if you don't have banana pudding on the table it's not a celebration.
8. Hummingbird Cake - I used to think this cake was made with hummingbirds and was relieved to find out it wasn't when I was about 6. Pineapple, pecans, bananas.... everything good.
9. Ricotta Pie - a traditional Italian sweet for Easter, this one is made with orange and chocolate flavors.
10. Orange Layer Cake - This is full of bright orange flavor.
11. Coconut Ice Box Cake - You'll want to make this scrumptious layer cake 2 to 3 days ahead of time so that the sour cream and coconut milk have time to soak in - oh my!

? Easter dessert recipes that didn't fit anywhere else

Here are the Easter dessert recipes that I just couldn't fit anywhere else. Punch Bowl cakes, trifles, and pastel Easter desserts? All here.

1. Pretty Pastel Easter Desserts- If you are looking for pastel Easter dessert ideas you'll find a bunch here!
2. Pink Velvet Cheesecake Trifle - Around here we call it a Punch Bowl Cake! Layers of pink velvet cake, cheesecake mousse...and Peeps.
3. Strawberry Punch Bowl Cake - It's called a trifle in some places - this one is strawberries and cream - real easy if you start with a bought pound cake!
4. Resurrection Rolls - Ok, this is a stretch because they are more like a sweet dinner roll but... you've gotta make them at Easter with your kiddos! You put a marshmallow inside and it disappears during baking - symbolizes the empty tomb on Easter Morning!
5. Lemon Cream Cake -This lemon cream cake bakes in a 13x 9 inch pan and has an easy (and I mean EASY) whipped frosting.
6. Here are 85 more Easter Desserts if you still haven't found what you're looking for!
7.  AND - if you love Easter as much as I do... here's my Pinterest board with ABSOLUTELY everything Easter from decor to dinner!

Find even more ideas in this 50 Easy Potluck Desserts.

First published February 12, 2018. Last updated February 27, 2020 to fix broken links and add more desserts.