Making even one of the Easter dessert recipes below will ensure that the Easter bunny is camped out on your lawn until July! Easter is the time to indulge in sweets and spending time with your family. So whether you're celebrating your religion, your family, or just the arrival of Spring, these wonderful Easter desserts are the perfect way to do it. And have your friends and family showing you in compliments for weeks to come. A double bonus!

Want to make some bright, beautiful Easter eggs while you're at it? We've got tips and recipes for dying Easter eggs here!

This wonderful, moist carrot cake recipe is the one of the best --and most classic-- Easter dessert recipes you'll ever make. And making it just once means you'll make it again... and again... and again. Because you'll never stop getting requests.

What makes this Easter carrot cake recipe so moist? The addition of crushed pineapple. It doesn't lend much pineapple flavor to the cake, but fills it with a wonderful moisture. The extra moisture does make the cake sink slightly in the middle in some cases... but as long as you use the two cake tops as the middle of your layer cake, it comes out perfect and beautiful.

This recipe serves about 12-14. You may have a little of the wonderful cream cheese carrot cake frosting recipe leftover, but believe me... you'll eat it! Not as sweet as most frostings, it's ultra creamy and ridiculously delicious. But hey, indulge yourself... after all, it's Easter!

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Ingredients:
2 C. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 3/4 C. granulated sugar
1 C. vegetable oil
3 lg. eggs
2 tsp. real vanilla extract
2 C. peeled, shredded carrots
1 C. dry flaked coconut
1 C. chopped walnuts
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained well

Cream Cheese Frosting:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened (full fat is best)
1/2 C. salted butter, softened
4 C. powdered sugar

Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix with a fork.

4. Add sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix well with a wooden spoon.

5. Add the grated carrots, shredded coconut, walnuts, and well-drained crushed pineapple. Mix well.

6. Divide batter evenly between your two prepared pans. Bake about 40 minutes.

7. Let cool on wire racks. Allow to cool completely before removing from pan and applying frosting.

8. Frost generally with cream cheese frosting and decorate as desired with nuts, piped frosting carrots, etc.

9. Sit back and wait to be complimented on your perfect, moist carrot cake recipe!

To make frosting:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

2. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, until thick and creamy.

This is a classic Easter dessert recipe eaten in Italy... and is most definitely a tradition worth trying no matter where you're from. This cake is like a cross between custard, cheesecake, and rice pudding-- and it tastes like heaven. Leave a little extra time for prep, as you need to drain the ricotta cheese overnight to keep the cake from getting soggy.

This Easter dessert recipe serves about 16 people, though you may have to plan for everyone asking for seconds! Use a real vanilla bean if you can --it's definitely worth it!-- but if you can't, substitute 2 tsp. of high-quality vanilla extract.

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Ingredients:
4 C. whole milk
3/4 C. Italian arborio rice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean
1 1/4 C. sugar
3 lbs. fresh ricotta, drained (see instructions)
6 lg. eggs
Powdered sugar (for garnish)
Sliced strawberries (optional - for garnish)

Instructions: 1. At least several hours but preferably the day before you are to make the cake, drain the ricotta through a layer or two of cheesecloth

2. When it's time to make the cake: In a large, heavy saucepan, bring milk to a boil.

3. Stir in the rice, cinnamon and salt. With a sharp knife, slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and add that as well.

4. Reduce heat to med-low. Cook, stirring often (use a wooden spoon for this) about 30 minutes. At the end of the cook time, the rice should be soft and tender and the milk should have been absorbed.

5. Take the pan off the heat and stir in 3/4 C. of your sugar. Cover and allow mixture to cool. Stir it occasionally with a wooden spoon to keep it from sticking. Remove the vanilla bean (this can be thrown away or reserved for other uses).

6. Grease and flour an 8" springform pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

7. In a small mixing bowl, separate the yolks from 3 of your eggs, discarding the whites (or reserve for another use). Beat yolks gently. Add your additional three whole eggs (whites included) and mix gently (don't overbeat).

8. In a large mixing bowl, carefully fold together the ricotta cheese, eggs/yolk mixture, the remaining 1/2 C. sugar, and your sweetened rice mixture. Be gentle with the mixture, and use a spatula for best results.

9. Pour batter into your prepared baking pan.

10. Bake until only very slightly jiggly in the middle and golden on top, anywhere from 65 to 80 minutes. Cook time will vary widely depending on your oven, so keep an eye on the cake at the end of the cooking time. You may have to cover it with foil if it begins to brown too much before it is set.

11. When brown and mostly set, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Let cool completely before attempting to remove from pan.

12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve at room temperature. Garnish with sliced strawberries, if desired.

Kids will definitely enjoy the two elegant, tasty Easter dessert recipes above... but if you really want to get your kids excited, they'll go wild for these Easter cupcakes! Chocolately, sweet, and oh-so cute, they're the perfect way to celebrate Easter with your kids. Let the kids help decorate, and have some Easter fun as a family.

The decorating options are all optional, so have fun with it! The cupcakes are shown here with simple green "grass" piped frosting (and chocolate Twizzler "handles"), but you can also do green (or whatever color) frosting or coconut "grass." Then add chocolate eggs, jelly beans, marshmallow Peeps... the sky's the limit. Let the kids help and have fun with this kid-friendly Easter desset recipe!

This Easter dessert recipe makes about 32 not-too-sweet cupcakes (the darker chocolate flavor makes it so adults will love them, too), and you may have a little frosting leftover after frosting them. The recipe makes a rather sweet frosting to complement the dark chocolate cupcake, so if you like yours a little less sweet (or don't want your kiddos bouncing off the walls after one bite), you can reduce the sugar in the frosting recipe with good results.

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Ingredients:
Cupcake Batter:
3 C. flour
2 C. granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2/3 C. cocoa powder
1 C. vegetable oil
2 C. water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. white vinegar

Frosting:
1 C. butter, softened
3 1/2 C. confectioners sugar
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
Green food coloring (or other desired color), as needed

Decorating:
1 pkg. Candy eggs (Whopper eggs work well)
32 Chocolate Twizzlers (for handles)
Shredded dry coconut, colored as desired with food coloring (optional)
Jelly beans, Marshmallow Peeps, and other candies (optional)

Instructions for cupcakes: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients with a fork. Add oil, water, vanilla, and vinegar. Blend well.

3. Divide mixture evenly between prepared, paper-lined cupcake tins (about 32).

4. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Let cool completely on wire racks before frosting and decorating.

Instructions for frosting:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and salt. Blend well.

2. Add milk and vanilla. Beat several minutes over medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy.

Instructions for decorating:

Frost and decorate as desired with colored coconut (learn how to do this here), jelly beans or chocolate eggs. When frosted and decorated, insert each end of one Twizzler (chocolate looks best, but you can use any flavor) firmly into the cupcake to make a basket. This is one of the best Easter dessert recipes to make with the kids!

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