Cake Flavor Combinations - How to Combine Filling and Frosting
Pairing the right cake flavors with the right filling and frosting can be critical to the success of recipes. These Cake Flavor Combinations are a great guide to have on hand when you are wondering what to bake or what is the best flavor combination for a particular cake.
Have you ever wondered about the endless possibilities of cake flavor combinations or cake flavor ideas?
- Which flavors go well together?
- Also, what cake flavor goes with buttercream frosting?
- What flavor and filling go well with lemon cake?
- Or even what flavor goes with a red velvet cake? And what filling should I use for red velvet cake?
- What goes with a chocolate cake? Which filling should I use in my chocolate cake?
- Which are the best cake combinations? What is the best cake filling combinations?
- Vanilla cake flavor combinations
- Best flavor and filling combinations
- And what are the best cake flavor combination for decorated cakes?
When I started my little cake business one of my challenges was to figure out what cake flavor combinations would go well together. I'd have all these questions in my head and spent hours trying small batches of recipes and seeing whether I really liked them or not. I've given away a lot of free cakes just to get feedback and inputs from family and friends.
Can you use the same combinations for business?
In truth what may be a family favorite does not necessarily work in the business given the time needed to decorate, travel, etc. For example:
- Red velvet cake - I love my red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, in fact, I prefer it with my no-butter cream cheese frosting but when I make it for an order with fondant I usually use Swiss Meringue Buttercream - it's easier to work with and can stay out longer than cream cheese.
- Cake flavor that goes with lemon cake - I love lemon cake with lemon curd and lemon buttercream. But here the weather is so hot that in summer I don't offer that flavor with fondant cakes. It has to be a buttercream cake with lemon curd and it has to be eaten within 3 days.
I love cakes and I love baking new flavors as much as eating them. Over the years I've lost count of the many experiments I've done with flavor ideas. I must admit that some have not made it to my books as keepers. And yet, I still enjoyed the process.
When I started cake decorating professionally, I started putting together a list of popular flavors and combinations and my list keeps getting longer and longer.
1. Cake Flavors and Filling Combinations
So what are some creative cake flavors to try? Here's a small part of that list, I think you will love very much. (Save/Pin)
- Almond cake with almond cream and white chocolate buttercream
Use my Vanilla Cream Cake recipe and add some almond flavoring - layer it with my White Chocolate buttercream - Champagne cake with strawberry mousse and champagne buttercream
For the champagne, cake using my champagne cupcake recipe (just use the recipe cards at the bottom of each post to change serving size and it will calculate the recipe for you) - Ginger-spiced cake with vanilla & honey buttercream -
For the ginger-spiced cake use my gingerbread spice cake and add grated ginger for extra flavor. For honey buttercream- substitute some of the sugar in my vanilla buttercream with honey and omit the liquid. - Earl Grey cake with lavender flavored buttercream - add lavender flavoring to my vanilla buttercream to make a lavender flavored buttercream.
- Vanilla Kahlua cake with Kahlua chocolate buttercream
- Vanilla cafe latte cake with coffee buttercream
- Chai latte cake with vanilla buttercream frosting
- Brown butter cake with whipped cream buttercream
2. Flavors that go with Coconut Cakes
(coconut is one of my favorite flavors)
- Coconut cake with rum-flavored chocolate buttercream - add rum instead of cream in my Chocolate buttercream frosting
- or Coconut cake with lemon/lime curd and maple buttercream
- Coconut Cake with pineapple cream and Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- and Coconut cake with dark chocolate fudge filling and Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Coconut cake with dulce de leche filling and chocolate fudge buttercream
- even Coconut cake with coconut cream filling and brown butter buttercream
- Toasted Coconut Cream Cake with coconut cream filling and Whipped Cream Buttercream
- Coconut cake with lemon curd and coconut cream buttercream
3. Flavors that go with Banana Cakes
- Easy Banana Caramel Cake
- Banana cake with salted caramel frosting
- Banana cake with caramel cream cheese frosting (add caramel to my no-butter cream cheese frosting)
- or Chocolate Banana Cake with Nutella Buttercream
- Banana cake with coconut cream and Almond Buttercream
- Tropical Banana cake with pineapple cream and whipped cream buttercream.
- Chocolate Chip Banana Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Banana Maple Cake with pecan praline filling and caramel buttercream.
- and Banana Blueberry Cake with blueberry filling and Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4. Flavors that go well with Lemon Cake or Strawberry Cake
- Lemon cake with almond buttercream
- or Lemon cake with raspberry frosting and lemon buttercream
- Strawberry cake with banana mousse and strawberry buttercream
- Lemon cake with lemon curd and lemon buttercream
- Vanilla cake, raspberry filling, and white chocolate buttercream
- Orange cake with vanilla chai buttercream (infuse chai in the cream before adding to the buttercream)
- Try my Strawberry Cake with Velvet American Buttercream
- Strawberry Red Velvet Cake with Strawberry Filling and Whipped Cream
5. Flavors that go with Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate pecan cake with mascarpone cream cheese frosting(use mascarpone for the cream cheese in the recipe)
- Dark chocolate cake with peanut butter frostings
- or Dark chocolate cake with mint buttercream
- Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache
- Cherry Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream*
- Chocolate Fudge cake with raspberry or white chocolate mousse and vanilla buttercream
- and Chocolate fudge cake with crushed Oreo buttercream
- Dark chocolate cake with orange, strawberry or raspberry buttercream
- German chocolate cake with pecan praline cream and dark chocolate ganache
- Death by chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache
- Devil's Food Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Chocolate Birthday cake with Chocolate Frosting
More chocolate layer cakes
- One bowl chocolate cake
- Devil's food chocolate cake
- Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Death by chocolate cake
- Classic, chocolate cake
- Chocolate birthday cake
- chocolate ganache cake
- chocolate mud cake,
- Simple Moist Chocolate Cake
- chocolate chiffon cake
- Chocolate cake with whipped cream
- Gluten-free Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Coffee Cake
6. Matcha Flavor Combinations
- Matcha cake with coconut cream and matcha buttercream
- or Match pound cake with blueberry filling and Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Match chiffon cake with cream cheese frosting
- and matcha genoise with strawberry and whipped cream
- White chocolate matcha cake with matcha ganache.
7. Cake Flavor Ideas for Fall
- Pumpkin Coconut Cake with coconut cream caramel
- or Pumpkin spice cake with chai latte buttercream
- Pumpkin maple cake with pecan filling and maple buttercream
- Fall spice cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Apple spice cake with caramel filling and Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Pumpkin cake with pumpkin pie filling and no butter cream cheese frosting
- Pumpkin ginger cake with pumpkin spice buttercream
- Apple pear cake with apple pie filling and whipped cream buttercream
- Pumpkin white chocolate cake with pumpkin spice buttercream
(add 4 oz melted white chocolate to this pumpkin cream cake and add pumpkin spice to my vanilla buttercream frosting) - Apple Pie Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Cardamom cake with Mocha Buttercream
- Masala chai cake with chai spice buttercream (add chai spice to your buttercream)
8. Cake flavor ideas for Summer
- Mango Chiffon cake with mango jam and stabilized whipped cream
- Orange Chiffon cake with orange marmalade and Swiss meringue buttercream
- Orange cake with orange curd and orange Swiss meringue buttercream
- Strawberry chiffon cake with strawberry jam and stabilized whipped cream
- Pineapple white chocolate cake with pineapple whipped cream
How many different types of buttercream frosting are there?
The number of frosting recipes can be overwhelming and sometimes confusing. In general, we can categories these as
- Butter-based buttercream - simple all-purpose buttercreams like my velvet American buttercream, Vanilla buttercream (eggless)
- Decorators buttercream - often with all or some vegetable shortening to prevent the frosting from melting easily like my Bakery style frostings - Vanilla and Chocolate frosting
- Cream Cheese based - made with cream cheese often with or without butter like my classic cream cheese is made with butter which adds more stability and my no-butter cream cheese frosting when you want a more luxurious dessert type frosting.
- Meringue buttercream - made with the addition of whipped egg whites. Less sweet than the classic butter-based buttercream like my Swiss Meringue or Italian Meringue
- Egg-based buttercream - like the French Buttercream and German buttercream made with egg yolks then whipped to make a light and fluffy frosting with the addition of butter.
- Whipped Cream Frosting - the lightest of them all is, of course, simple whipped cream. I shared 5 different methods to make whipped cream at home. As well as a whipped cream buttercream frosting.
How to Create Simple Cake Fillings from Basic Recipes
Well, not all are straightforward but often creating these can be as simple as tweaking your basic vanilla buttercream recipe just a little. For example:
- Almond buttercream is just your vanilla buttercream with almond flavoring
- Mint buttercream - just a mint flavoring
- Lemon buttercream - replace the liquid in the recipe with some lemon juice when making vanilla buttercream
- Nutella buttercream is just Nutella added to your vanilla buttercream too
Check out my post where I share how to make different buttercream flavors with one basic buttercream recipe. As well as, my post; One Vanilla cake with many different flavors and One Chocolate cake with many different flavors.
Different Buttercream Flavors from One Buttercream Recipe
Why have just one buttercream flavor when you can try so many more. These simple, easy and effortless variations to create different buttercream flavors from one recipe will open new and wonderful possibilities for your future projects from strawberry to caramel, marzipan or kahula. You can use a basic American buttercream, meringue-based buttercream.
Cake Decorating Recipes for Every Cake Decorator
Here is a collection of cake decorating recipes that every cake decorator needs to have in her collection. Whether you are looking for simple cake recipes, calculated cake recipes, homemade fondant recipes from scratch, homemade frosting, or in-trend products such as homemade edible sugar lace, sugar fabric, or homemade bean paste for sugar flowers.
SAVE THIS RECIPE ON PINTEREST FOR LATER. TRIED MY RECIPE? SHARE IT WITH ME, PLEASE.
Share a picture of your work with me by uploading an image here below my image on this board. You can also find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.
And there's more....
- Best Chocolate Fudge Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- Vanilla Kahlua Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
- Espresso Cake with Whipped Espresso Ganache
- Pumpkin Spice-latte cake with Maple Buttercream
- Brown Butter Cake with Whipped Cream Buttercream
- Vanilla Cafe Latte Cake with Coffee Buttercream
- Chai Latte Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Pumpkin Cream Cake with Whipped Cream Buttercream
- Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Caramel Apple Cake with Caramel Buttercream
- Mango Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Best Red Velvet Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream (Butter-based cake)
- Best Butterscotch Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Moist Strawberry Cake with Velvet American Buttercream (oil-based cake)
- Raspberry White Chocolate cake (white chocolate buttercream)
- Mango cake with SMBC
- One Bowl Vanilla Cake - Naked Cake
- One Bowl Chocolate Cake - Naked Cake
- Earl Grey Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Simple Moist Chocolate Cake with American Buttercream
- Moist Strawberry Cream Cake with Whipped Cream
- Fresh Strawberry Cake with Swiss meringue Buttercream (butter-based cake)
- Chocolate Ganache Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream
- Easy Rainbow Cake - 7 layer Rainbow Cake
- Lemon Cake with Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Classic Gingerbread Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Ganache
- Orange Cake with Orange Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Light and fluffy Vanilla Cake
- Vanilla Cream Cake Recipe made with Fresh Cream
- Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream
- Devil's Food Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Best Carrot Cake with Apricot Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Best Chocolate Mud Cake with Caramel Buttercream
- Classic White Wedding Cake with Italian meringue buttercream IMBC
- Classic Gingerbread Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Ganache
- Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (oil-based cake)
- Tips for baking a cake from scratch
- Coffee Chocolate Cake with chocolate fudge frosting
- Vanilla Bean Cake with vanilla buttercream frosting
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- 15 must-have tools for a home baker
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Alyssa
I’m usually to blogging and i actually appreciate your content. The article has genuinely peaks my interest. I’m going to bookmark your web page and maintain checking for new details. I am looking for some good blog sites for studying.
Wee Bin
Me too! Bookmarked it well copied it for reference!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you
Wee Bin Lian
What would you suggest for a filling for a coffee walnut cake?
Veena Azmanov
Hey Wee. Cream cheese, mascarpone cream, salted caramel, coffee, whipped ganache, whipped cream work great with walnut cakes.
saj
I have a question.... I'm wondering if having a blueberry and strawberry filling in the same cake, separate layer, would be okay and taste great! It will be for a baby shower..
Veena Azmanov
Hey Saj. They are both berries so it would be definitely tasty.
Usually, we do not mix them because they are both primary colors so the resulting color is not so appealing.
But since you are putting them in separate layers that should look pretty.
I hope this helps.
Laya
Hi,
I'm planning to do a butterscotch sponge layered with caramel sauce and praline & frosted with chocolate truffle buttercream. Will it be taste good? Please suggest.
Veena Azmanov
Sounds delicious, Laura. I think it will be very rich but delicious too. It will be sweet since butterscotch, caramel, praline and all high in sugar.
Harley
Thank you so much for these combinations - I love each and every one.. But when I have to make something I'm always stuck!!
Veena Azmanov
I know what you mean Harley. Exactly, the reason why I wrote this post.
Kara
Good day! I was asked to make a tiered Scottish DundeeNaked wedding cake. It will have liquor soaked sultanas. What flavor butter cream do. you suggest to go between the layers>
Thank you!
Veena Azmanov
Usually, I never add buttercream for my Scottish Dundee Cakes - I just sprinkle almonds for a tea cake or cover it with marzipan for a celebration cake. You can use apricot or orange marmalade too.
The last time I made a naked one I made a thick disc of marzipan in between.
Well, with buttercream I'd go with marzipan buttercream, orange marmalade spread - my personal favorite is apricot jam spread (literally add marzipan paste in the buttercream) and
I'd use Swiss Meringue Buttercream not American - Vanilla, orange or marzipan flavor.
Hope this helps.
Mcclimon
I love all the choices and flavors you have here. I was looking for inspiration, now I have so much I'm feeling greedy. Can't decide which to try fist.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you Mcclimon. So happy you hear you found this articles helpful. Thank you so much for coming back to write this feedback. Appreciate it very much. Have a wonderful week.
Yukti
Can I fill the cake with whipping cream and crumb coat it with buttercream?
Veena Azmanov
Yes you can Yukti.
JUBY AVINASH
Hi Veena
I want to try mirror glaze cake. Can u suggest me which flavour cake, filling for the cake if I wish to give white chocolate panache frosting . Can I go with vanilla buttercream filling?
Veena Azmanov
Many cakes will go with mirror glaze Juby. Mousse or even a chocolate or vanilla cake coated in buttercream. Just make sure the buttercream or ganache is really chilled well or frozen. You can use vanilla frosting too! Just chill it really well and pour the glaze before you have any condensation.
Ami
I am planning on doing a dark chocolate cake with lemon curd filling and a lemon buttercream but am wondering if the flavour profile will be liked by others? Suggestions?
Veena Azmanov
Ami. This is a tough one! I personally do not like chocolate and citrus fruits but many people do. If I was making it for someone specific I'd check first so it does not disappoint them. If I was making it for a group of people I'd go with a more acceptable yet exotic flavor - like chocolate coconut, chocolate vanilla, chocolate dulce de leche - you get the idea. Lemon and orange are great flavors but not everyone will enjoy the combination paired with chocolate. Again that's just me.
Helen
Greetings from Lagos Nigeria. This is a beautiful blog with lots of ideas. I have a question though.
Will peanut butter buttercream filling pair well with a coconut cake?
I intend making a coconut cake on Friday and frosting completely with cream cheese and coating with coconut.
Veena Azmanov
Helen. When it comes to combinations often you have to think as a group rather than individual. Personally I don't like peanut butter and coconut but I can bet there will be many who would love it. If this is the only cake at the even I recommend playing safe with flavors you know will be appreciated by everyone. If you have more than one cake then of course make one flavor you can take a chance on.
Freddy Kamirez
Thank you so much for this post. Thank you! You have no clue how lost I am at that last minute when I want to make a cake and have no clue what pairs together. Thank you
Veena Azmanov
Happy to be able to help. I know that feeling of being lost years back when I just started. I'd have all these wonderful ideas but at the endth moment I'd be blank.
Lesley
Hi
Can I ask if when you make a cake would you always use ganache to cover the cake no matter what flavour the cake is before you put the fondant on?
Thank you
Lesley
Veena Azmanov
No Lesley..!Not always ganache! Often meringue buttercream which can be Swiss or Italian. With kids cakes my most popular is my Velvet Buttercream. But in summer when the weather is too hot for buttercream all fondant covered cakes are with ganache..
Liz
Do you have the fillings recipes?. Thank you
Veena Azmanov
I have some filling recipes - look under recipes / fillings Thanks
shalu
Brilliant tips.. Thanks for sharing Veena! I’ve made your cakes few times and always turned out great, but it’s nice to get some different ideas of cake flavour combinations.I always make my sponge cakes this way and always get lots of compliments. Making cakes is easy with our cake baking tips..Worth trying if you never have.Cant wait for the next recipe:)