30+ Deliciously Fun Things To Bake (2024)

A lot of folks often struggle with finding stuff to bake. The good news is that there is a universe of fun things to bake out there. However, that’s also the problem. When it comes to figuring out what to bake, you must first consider what you’re in the mood for.

When we think of baking, we typically think of two things: bread and sweet treats such as cake or cookies. However, you can get super creative with your baking and create some wonderful meals or desserts. From cheesecake to baked casseroles, the possibilities are endless when it comes to baking good food.

Do you want something sweet? Or, how about something crispy and salty? Or maybe just a warm loaf of bread?

Baking is a beloved pastime that allows people to indulge their creativity while simultaneously creating delicious treats to share with loved ones. With an endless array of recipes and ingredients at one’s fingertips, the possibilities for concocting mouthwatering masterpieces are virtually limitless. From scrumptious sweet creations to savory delights, there is no shortage of inspiration for aspiring bakers and seasoned pros alike.

Some of the most fun things to bake include both classic favorites and innovative culinary experiments that challenge one’s skills in the kitchen. Whether it’s a tried-and-true cookie recipe or a daring foray into the world of artisan breads, there is immense satisfaction in witnessing friends and family take a bite of something made from scratch, using both time and care. Additionally, baking is an activity that can readily be enjoyed by all ages, making it an ideal bonding experience for family members and a gateway to fostering a lifelong love for the culinary arts.

Furthermore, baking can be tailored to accommodate various dietary restrictions and preferences, ensuring that everyone can partake in the delicious offerings. From gluten-free to vegan, and even keto-friendly options, there is an abundance of resources and recipes available to suit any culinary constraint. This adaptability makes baking an incredibly versatile and engaging pursuit, offering an immense sense of accomplishment and pleasure for those who immerse themselves in the craft.

Once you’ve decided on what you’re in the mood for, like something sweet made with chocolate, for example, we strongly recommend trying a new recipe. After all, baking the same old recipes can get a bit boring, and there are so many new, delicious, and easy things to bake out there.

With this in mind, we put together a list of some of our favorite things to bake, along with their fun baking recipes. Each recipe gives you step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow, and most take under an hour to finish!

Here are our top 31 things to bake at home.

Source: hungrypinner.com

1. Maple Vanilla Baked Pears

What should I bake? Well, why not try something totally different? Most recipes call for baking with flour, but have you ever considered baking fruit?

We once served this dish to our friends, and they were pleasantly surprised and very impressed. You see, there is a rumor out there that poached or baked pears are tough to make?

Now, granted, there is a trick to poached pears. You have to create a poaching liquid and ensure you don’t overwork your fruit.

But, these Baked Maple Vanilla Baked Pears are crazy-simple to make and have a phenomenal sweet flavor.

These are the perfect holiday deserts. You know “Partridge in a pear tree” and all that jazz?

Source: therecipecritic.com

2. Sheet Pan Nachos

When it comes to cool things to bake that are savory and crunchy, you can’t beat a fresh, hot pan of loaded nachos!

You’ll savor the crunch tortilla chips, melty cheese, and all of the toppings that make loaded nachos so amazing.

Please don’t waste money at overpriced restaurants on nachos when you can take them home for a fraction of the price, less waiting time, and more flavor!

Pile your chips high and create a “mountain of nachos” looked or keep them spread out for easy access.

Also, you’re not bound by the recipe’s ingredients. For instance, you can load your nachos up with any meat or no meat at all.

Plus, you can use any cheese such as pepper jack or Monterey Jack or create your blend!

Source: houseofnasheats.com

3. Triple Chocolate Scones

Scones are a fantastic breakfast pastry or sweet snack that are some of the best things to bake from scratch. Plus, you can flavor them any way you want. However, our favorite scones are chocolate, and this recipe for triple chocolate scones is absolutely the best we’ve had!

These scones are so tender and moist, and the chocolate melts and dances on your tongue, firing every up every pleasure nerve in your brain!

You can also add melted marshmallow, caramel, or peanut butter glaze for a ridiculously sweeter treat!

Source: shakentogetherlife.com

4. Do Nothing Cake

Now, don’t let the name fool you. While this is a relatively easy cake recipe, a few more steps are involved than “doing nothing.””

However, once you finish, you’ll have the most tender, sweet, and moist cake you’ve ever tasted, complete with delicious toppings that’ll make your taste buds cry with joy!

We found this cake so tasty. We finished the entire pan in ten minutes! This is a great cake to have with vanilla ice cream or with your morning coffee.

Now, as for the icing, it’s pretty simple. You have to remember to warm through until it turns thick. Then you pour it over your baked cake and allow it to cool.

For nothing, this cake’s really something!

Source: ifeshehas.com

5. Pineapple Angel Food Cake

For a light, creamy, and fruity cake, there’s nothing quite like Pineapple Angel Food Cake. This delicious cake has a sweet taste with a creamy, airy texture that melts in your mouth.

The cake tastes terrific on its own, but it’s outrageously delicious when you dress it up a bit. Plus, you can make multiple layers filled with cream and fruit.

We also love adding shredded coconut for a more pina colada flavor.

Source: biggerbolderbaking.com

6. Easy Homemade Soft Pretzels

You can now enjoy this favorite concession item in the comfort of your own home without going out to a game or bar.

This soft, unique, salty, warm twisted bread is just the thing you need on cold nights.

And here’s an even bigger treat.

This recipe doesn’t require kneading or any machines! So you get delicious pretzels with way less work!

How can you beat that?

Now, with pretzels, there is a step that involves boiling them in water with baking soda. However, once you’ve got that down, it’s smooth sailing from there.

Grab yourself some warm mustard or cheese sauce, sit back and enjoy!

Source: thestayathomechef.com

7. Decadent S’mores Brownies

Take your campfire smores to a new level with this recipe for S’mores Brownies.

You’ve got a base of sweet and crunchy graham crackers with a toasty marshmallow top and rich, chocolaty, chewy brownie in between to make this desert live up to its decadent title!

Here’s a tip, you want to make your graham cracker crust as you would make it for cheesecake.

We’ve found that this works much better than just layering your graham crackers beneath your brownie.

Source: biggerbolderbaking.com

8. Best-Ever Baked Donuts

You don’t need a fancy and dangerous deep fryer to make your homemade donuts.

This recipe shows you just how to make this delicious treat in your oven. Plus, you can pick any icing you want and go crazy with your toppings!

With this recipe, you’ll start with a vanilla base and branch out from there. You can enhance your donuts with everything from sprinkles to mini-chocolate chips or fresh fruit.

We are huge fans of topping our donuts with fresh fruits and sweet custard cream.

However, you can never go wrong with melted chocolate, peanut butter, or caramel!

Source: cookingclassy.com

9. Rainbow Shortbread Bites

You can’t deny, these tiny Rainbow Shortbread Bites are just the cutest! Not only are they adorable, but they’re also crazy-delicious. It took a lot of willpower not to eat the entire batch ourselves!

The main thing you want to remember with this recipe is that you’ll need to press your dough in the pan and let it chill for a bit – this is the secret to getting them even.

Now, you’ll just cut them up before baking, and you’ll want them to be nice and cold when you pop them into your oven. This way, they don’t spread on you.

Source: justsotasty.com

10. slu*tty Brownies Recipe

Come on, the name alone is enough to make you want to try this recipe, isn’t it? The thought of announcing this dessert to your guests has to bring a naughty smile to your face.

These brownies are chewy, thick, with a chocolate chip cookie dough topping along with a layer of double stuff Oreo cookies, then topped off with sinfully chocolaty fudge brownies.

You can also top this dessert with your favorite candies like snickers and M&Ms.

This naughty little dessert will get all the attention at parties.

Source: crayonsandcravings.com

11. Unicorn Banana Bread

While unicorns are imaginary creatures you may only see in your dreams, you won’t have to pinch yourself when you try this delicious recipe for Unicorn Banana Bread.

The colors for this dish are so bright and vibrant, and as if those colorful sprinkles inside weren’t cute enough, the bread has a sweet glaze topping with more sprinkles over the top.

And how about the moist, warm, and soft inside? Just look at those colors! Wow!

Source: loveandoliveoil.com

12. Funfetti Brownies

Cupcakes and cakes are not the only pastries you can give the funfetti treatment to. This recipe for funfetti brownies brings this colorful look to one of our favorite chocolate desserts.

Now, full disclosure, folks, these are not really brownies. However, they do have a fudge, soft texture that’s chewy and irresistibly sweet.

You won’t’ be able to resist digging right into a warm an of these sweet little delights!

Best of all, the recipes are pretty straightforward, and the results speak for themselves.

Source: inkatrinaskitchen.com

13. Gumdrop Cookies

If you’ve never had gumdrop cookies, you might find the concept a little hard to swallow.

But, once you’ve had one bite of these fruity, chewy, colorful treats, you’ll become hooked!

The cookie has an almond-flavored base that’s very light and slightly crumbly with crispy edges, but it’s the gumdrops that really give them that extra something, something!

Source: homemadeitaliancooking.com

14. Italian Rainbow Cookies

Now, if you really want to find a colorful treat that most folks have never seen before, this recipe for Italian Rainbow Cookies is an excellent bet.

Now, while people call them “cookies,” as you can probably tell, they’re really little mini-cakes layered with a fruit jam between the colored layers.

However, the almond paste does give this dessert more of a cookie-like texture.

Source: smalltownwoman.com

15. Cowboy Cookies

If you have trouble deciding between baking a batch of warm, melty, chocolate chip cookies or sweet, moist, oatmeal cookies, this recipe for Cowboy Cookies is the perfect compromise.

However, there’s nothing compromising about their amazing flavor!

These cookies have a crispy outside with a soft and tender inside and are packed with delicious oats and chocolate.

For this recipe, you’ll need some baking soda and baking powder along with both brown and white sugar.

Trust us, these ingredients all work together to create some seriously tasty cookies!

Source: andreaaronica.com/recipes

16. Vegan Baked Savory Donuts

If you read this recipe and rolled your eyes at the thought of “vegan donuts.” We advise that you hold your horses there.

While not all vegan desserts are as good as their non-vegan counterparts, this dessert is something special.

Not only are they cute, but each of these deliciously moist donuts also has a rich flavor that’s like nothing you’ve ever tasted!

Don’t miss out. Give them a try!

Source: hugsandcookiesxoxo.com

17. White Chocolate Brownie Dessert Pizza

This sweet, creamy, melty dessert pizza almost reminds me of the real thing. But, instead of melty mozzarella cheese, we’ve got delicious white chocolate spread with crumbles of Oreo cookies over the top of a chocolatey, chewy fudge brownie.

Come on, look at that picture, tell us you’re not falling in love with this dessert already?

Source: cantstayoutofthekitchen.com

18. Earthquake Cake

Earthquake Cake is a delicious sweet treat from Germany that features a super-moist chocolate cake filled with sweet coconut and pecan frosting.

If you love German chocolate cake, then this cake’s right up your alley!

Plus, this cake has some creamy cheesecake swirls working their magic to put this dessert over the top!

Source: taste.com.au

19. Butterfly Cupcakes

Our friends in the UK call these “fairy cakes.” These are simple cupcakes have a light vanilla flavor with a creamy buttercream frosting.

Now, the fairy part’s created when you slice the top of the cake and cut it in half.

Last, you pipe some buttercream frosting on, then place your “wings” at the top and dust the cupcakes with powdered sugar.

And voila!

Source: bakingamoment.com

20. Funfetti Cupcake Recipe

These cupcakes are favorites you’ll find at a lot of kid’s birthday parties. But, they are great desserts for any occasion.

These cupcakes are baked with sprinkles on the inside to create those gorgeous colors we all love.

However, you want to make sure you only add your sprinkles right at the baking step, or else you’ll have a big, runny, colorful mess!

Source: fromscratchfast.com

21. Baked French Fries

Another fried food that’s getting the baked treatment is a staple of most fast-food restaurants.

French fries are usually made in vats of hot oil with a lot of grease and salt, but this recipe eliminates that while giving you crispy delicious french fries without the oily, greasy mess and flavor.

Now, one thing you want to do is make sure you soak your fries beforehand for about 30 minutes or more to help remove a lot of the starch – this makes them extra-crispy!

You can even make a batch ahead of time, storing it in water inside of an air-tight container.

Once they’ve soaked, you want to give them time to dry out this way. They won’t create a lot of steam in your oven.

Source: spoonforkbacon.com

22. Kitchen Sink Cookies

When it comes to desserts that really earn their name, Kitchen Sink Cookies take the cake!

Just as the name implies, just about everything you can imagine is in these cookies with recipes using such ingredients as toffee, potato chips, pretzels, chocolate chips, sprinkles, nuts, candies, brownies, cake, and more!

Source: ladybehindthecurtain.com

23. Baked Potato Chips

Once you’ve had a couple of warm, salty, crunchy, baked potato chips, you won’t ever want to go back to those cold, greasy bagged chips.

These chips are super easy to make in the oven, which can also be a big problem because they tend to fly off the tray in no time.

Best to prepare a double batch to be on the safe side.

Source: theanthonykitchen.com

24. Mexican Wedding Cookies

These little treats have many names, such as Mexican wedding cookies, polvorones, snowballs, tea cakes, and butterballs.

Call them whatever you like. These sweet melt-in-your-mouth cookies are heavenly with a rich and buttery flavor.

This recipe does call for almonds in the dough, but you can also use a different type of nut if you like – make sure to cut them up into very fine pieces.

Source: bigoven.com

25. Death By Chocolate Recipe

This has to be the #1 answer people give when asked how they would like to go.

This Death by Chocolate recipe features individual trifles loaded with chocolate goodness.

Now, you can make your brownies from scratch or use store-bought brownies in this recipe.

While we love the chocolate on chocolate variety, you can also use a bit of vanilla pudding or whipped cream between the layers.

We also tried vanilla custard, and it was to die for!

Source: thriftyfun.com

26. Sprite Cake

It’s pretty crazy, but there are tons of desserts out there that use soda as their main ingredient.

The soda adds sugar and flavor in many cases while also giving it an airy, light texture.

However, in the case of this recipe, the double from the sprite helps the cake rise and adds a delicious citrus flavor that you’ll love tasting with every bite!

Source: lilvienna.com

27. Quick & Easy Focaccia Bread

Life’s hard enough. Why make things more complicated than they need to be?

For instance, did you know that the only reason to knead dough is to quicken the proofing process?

Instead of all of that arm and hand aching work, why not just mix your dough and let your refrigerator do the work for you overnight?

This means you’ll need to start your preparations a day in advance, but it’ll be well worth it.

Now, with this recipe, you can go the classic route with some herbs, olive oils, and sea salt, or get a little fancy and throw in some red onion, sun-dried tomatoes, and black olives. We’ve even used this recipe as a crust for our deep pan pizzas!

Source: savoryexperiments.com

28. Baked Brie with apricot Cranberry Jam and Pecans

The thing with this dish is that it’s not only gorgeous to look at, but it’s also stupid-easy to make, not to mention insanely delicious!

Now, baking your cheese will kick this dish’s flavor up a few notches and makes it easier to eat, especially when you add in some tasty extras.

The key is to bake with the rind on, which is also edible. Now, if you want the rind, you also have the option of cutting it off and wrapping everything in bacon or pastry.

Either way, you’ll need to have something wrapped around this dish to keep all that savory gooey filling from spilling out.

Source: foodlovinfamily.com

29. Peach Cobbler with Cake Mix

There are those recipes out there that make you shake your head in disbelief with amazement. These are dishes that we have to make ourselves before we can believe they are real.

And this Peach Cobbler with Cake Mix recipe fits that bill.

The only thing you’ll need to do is take a can of peaches and pour them into a baking dish. Then cover it with your cake mix, a little butter, and then bake it.

Seriously, it’s just that simple.

Give it a try and see for yourself. The taste of this cobbler with the cake mix is delightful and delicious!

Source: inspiredbycharm.com

30. Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie

Folks, this is another one of those recipe combinations that takes two classic desserts and merges them into something beyond all belief.

Seriously, if you heard someone talking about eating a cinnamon roll apple pie, you might be inclined to treat their claim as though it was them saying they saw bigfoot golfing.

However, we can assure you that this recipe is authentic and, yes, as you can see in the picture, delicious beyond all imagination!

Source: omgchocolatedesserts.com

31. Berry Cheesecake Chimichangas

Oh, come on now. Are you looking at this picture? Are you hearing the title of this recipe in your head: berries, cheesecake inside a golden crispy chimichanga crust.

This has to be illegal somewhere!

If you enjoyed these fantastic recipes, be sure to check out the video below for more fun baking recipes.