These 3-Ingredient Cakes Are So Easy It's Scary

Since it first hit the scene back in the '80s, flourless chocolate cake has been a go-to Valentine's Day and anniversary dessert choice in fancy restaurants because it hits all the right notes — the creamy, dense texture and intense, bittersweet chocolate just feel fancy, festive, and grown-up, while offering the same chocolatey comfort as your favorite childhood brownie.

Because of its reputation as a special-occasion dessert, flourless chocolate cake isn't something a lot of people think to make at home — which is too bad, because it's a cinch to make. This three-ingredient version from Gimme Some Oven contains just chocolate (use the best you can find), butter, and eggs. All you have to do is beat the eggs, melt the butter and chocolate together, mix them into the eggs, and bake. The only cheffy technique you need is an easy one: you bake the cake in a water bath, which means you put the foil-wrapped cake tin in a larger pan and pour hot water into the pan until it comes halfway up the side. This will ensure your cake has the moist, luscious mouthfeel you know and love.

Chocolate and cherries are a classic combination — think cherry-filled ice cream bonbons, boozy chocolate-covered cherry cordials, and the old-school dessert trolley favorite Black Forest cake, a three-layer chocolate cake filled with cherries and whipped cream. Something about the rich earthiness of chocolate and the tart fruitiness of cherries just make them a perfect combo; like any great couple, each brings out the best in the other.

If you crave Black Forest cake but the idea of trying to engineer a three-layer cake makes you break out in hives, have no fear. Betty Crocker, the patron saint of time-pressed and technically challenged bakers everywhere, has devised a super-simple, but equally luscious alternative. This chocolate-cherry dump cake is dead easy. As its name implies, all you have to do is dump the ingredients — cherry pie filling, chocolate cake mix, and melted butter — into a greased pan and bake. You don't even have to stir them together. The result? A moist, pleasantly gooey treat that's even better a big dollop of whipped cream.

Ice cream and cake are a classic party combo, and for serious ice cream lovers, ice cream cakes are even better. But the food blog In Katrina's Kitchen takes the ice-cream-and-cake combo to the next level with this ingenious bundt cake recipe, which technically requires only two ingredients: softened ice cream and self-rising flour. (The third and optional ingredient is sprinkles, which add a welcome and festive touch.) Just mix them together, pour into a bundt pan, and bake for about half an hour.

This recipe sounds crazy, but it actually makes sense when you break down the ingredients. Self-rising flour contains the leavening needed to produce a light and airy cake; ice cream contains sugar, eggs, cream, and flavorings, all normal cake ingredients. So using ice cream basically saves you the time and trouble of finding and measuring out the four or five separate ingredients you'd otherwise need to get a flavorful cake with a good texture. And even better, you can switch up the flavor of your cake just by using different flavors of ice cream.

Mug cakes are perfect for those times when you need a little self-care. These single-serving, warm and spoonable treats aren't designed for sharing, so they give you a convenient excuse to take some time out to spoil yourself. And even better, they're easy to make — most recipes don't require any special techniques — and they cook up in a flash in the microwave.

This chocolate mug cake from Love in My Oven is a terrific example. Made with just cocoa, maple syrup, and an egg, this personal-sized treat is intensely chocolatey with a luscious texture somewhere between a cake and a pudding. You can make it as sweet or bittersweet as you like by adjusting the amount of maple syrup you use, or if you're feeling ambitious, you can jazz it up with whipped cream, chopped nuts, or fruit. As an extra bonus, this cake has no flour, so it's a great recipe if you're avoiding gluten or want to pamper a gluten-intolerant friend.

There's no doubt someone out there who doesn't love Nutella, but we haven't found that person yet. The beloved chocolate-hazelnut spread has been a breakfast and after-school snack staple for European kids for decades, but it's only in recent years that U.S. foodies have discovered and embraced it. Smeared across a piece of toast or a slice of apple, it just seems to make ordinary foodstuffs feel festive and special.

This decadent Nutella cake from Dinner Then Dessert is the ultimate flex for showcasing its distinctive flavor; Nutella isn't used just as an accent, but as the base for the cake itself. And because the recipe calls for a large quantity of Nutella (a cup and a half, or close to a normal-sized jar) and has only two other ingredients (eggs and flour), the flavor of the Nutella really pops. The final cake is moist, dense, and seriously rich — an elegant special treat to be enjoyed in small slices. And you don't have to tell anyone how easy it was to make.

If your favorite part of plane travel is reaching cruising altitude and finally getting your plastic-wrapped package of those crunchy, spicy gingerbread-like cookies that come with your drinks, you're in good company. They've grown so popular they've become a flavoring in their own right. Additionally, cookie butter is a sweet, creamy spread that basically lets you enjoy several cookies concentrated into a single bite. It's basically the closest you can get to mainlining cookies.

It's also the secret ingredient in this genius cake recipe from Fitwaffle Kitchen, which sounds too strange to actually work. All it contains is cookie butter, eggs, and baking powder. But if you look more closely, the recipe is pretty logical: because cookie butter is made from cookies (duh!) it contains flour, sugar, and fat, all standard cake ingredients, not to mention all those yummy spices. Eggs and baking powder are standard cake ingredients that add lift and texture and keep cakes from turning out like hockey pucks. The end result is a moist, dense-in-a-good way cake that will surprise your guests.

For novice bakers, the idea of baking a cake can seem like an intimidating prospect; nobody wants their friends and family to see them in the kitchen looking like an outtake from "Nailed It!". And traditionally, cake-baking was a complicated process with a steep learning curve. In standard from-scratch recipes, bakers need a gentle touch and a good eye for the right batter consistency to ensure a tender crumb, not to mention the skill to frost and decorate the finished cake.

But even master bakers have to start somewhere, and if you're new to the baking game, this pretty fruit cocktail cake from Fuss Free Flavours is a good place to start. It has only three ingredients (canned fruit cocktail, self-rising flour, and sugar), and requires no fancy techniques or special skills. The recipe includes lots of pictures and clear instructions, so you won't have to guess if you're doing things right. When you're done, you'll have a colorful, fruity dessert — basically, a streamlined upside-down cake. Even better, it's completely vegan, so it's cholesterol-free and a good treat for your vegan friends.