25 Ridiculously Easy Baking Ideas For Beginners

OK, I’ll admit it. Baking can be a bit intimidating for first-timers out there. If you didn’t grow up baking cookies from scratch, I’ve got some ridiculously easy baking recipes for all the beginners out there.

Baking is a precise science. If you add too much flour or too little baking powder, you can throw off the entire recipe. Not to mention there are other factors to consider, like altitude, variations in oven hot spots, and whether you can remember to properly grease that pan before pouring batter into it. For many people, it’s a headache that they’d rather avoid. For some, even the boxed cakes are too much to handle. But, I can promise you, even if you feel like a Greek tragedy every time you turn the oven on, there are recipes out there to get you started off easy.

I personally love to bake, primarily because everything is so dang delicious and warm. So I hate to hear beginners giving up on their baking dreams after being stumped by a particularly difficult recipe. The key to becoming a great baker is practice and starting off with the right baking recipes. These 25 easy things to bake from scratch can be thrown together by anyone, and will get you more comfortable with your own baking prowess. You’ll be a baking champion in no time, I swear.

1. Summer Cake with Fruit & Cream

This simple one-bowl butter cake from the Kitchn comes together quick and easy. You literally just throw everything in there, bake it, and top with whipped cream and fruit. So easy, right?

2. Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These may sound super fancy, but cookie bar recipes like this one from Brown Eyed Baker are notoriously simple to throw together. Usually they only require one bowl.

3. Peach Cake

You are a mere four steps away from this peachy keen cake from Natasha’s Kitchen. It’s the ideal summer dessert recipe to have on hand for picnics or random drop-bys.

4. Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Monkey bread is a personal easy baking recipe favorite of mine. This version from Something Swanky requires very little effort, and that gooey mess you end up with is finger-licking amazing.

5. Drop Biscuit Cobbler

Cobbler is the easy baking route that anyone can master. Tori Avey makes a drop biscuit version that comes together in a few steps, and everyone will think you spent hours on it.

6. Cinnamon Roll Cake

Cover a cake in sweet, dripping icing, and you’ve got my heart. It’s hard to believe such a gorgeous cake from Cookies & Cups could be as easy as it is.

7. Individual Mixed Berry Clafoutis

Don’t let the fancy name intimidate you. This baking recipe from the Kitchn takes very little attention, and it looks super classy. Your friends won’t know what to do with themselves.

8. Blueberry Crumb Bars

Now is the time to get into baking with fruits, and Brown Eyed Baker makes it easy with this crumb bar recipe. You don’t even have to cook down the berries; just toss them with a bit of sugar and cornstarch, and they’ll bake up on their own in the oven.

9. Flourless Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Think you can’t master something as simple as an incredible chocolate chip cookie? Think again. Table for Two has a foolproof recipe for you, so have your milk ready when these bad boys get out of the oven.

10. Four-Ingredient Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

It’s hard to mess up a cookie recipe when there are only four ingredients. These soft and chewy peanut butter cookies from Averie Cooks are so simple; you’ll never need another cookie recipe for the rest of your life.

11. Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies

If you love sprinkles like I do, funfetti cake mix cookies from Mom on Timeout are going to be your new go-to. This recipe is so easy; it even uses cake mix as the base so you don’t have to measure out a bunch of ingredients.

12. Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies

Two ingredients are all that stand between you and these indulgent pumpkin cookies from Cookies & Cups. If you really want to up your game, throw in some milk or white chocolate chips. Hey now, expert baker status is within reach with that move.

13. Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies

As Averie Cooks says, this recipe is “goofproof.” With a selling line like that and all that chocolate packed in there, I don’t know why you aren’t running to the kitchen already.

14. Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Crinkle cookies are perfect for the beginner baker because you don’t need any skill to get that awesome crinkle effect. This recipe from My Baking Addiction will look delicious even if you think you messed up along the way.

15. Samoas Cookie Pie

I know this looks intimidatingly delicious, but Averie Cooks makes this pie recipe so simple, you’ll be chowing down on a slice before you know it. Don’t worry; you don’t even have to make the caramel sauce yourself.

16. Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Baked by Rachel's recipe for a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting makes it easy to enjoy a classic and share with your entire family. (Seriously, the recipe feeds anywhere from eight to 16 people).

17. Softbatch Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft is the keyword here with these softbatch cream cheese chocolate chip cookies from Averie Cooks. As with all of Averie's recipes, these cookies are easy to make and super delicious.

18. Cheesecake

If cheesecake is one of those things on your "impossible-to-make" list, you can cross it off now. Cookies and Cups has a great easy cheesecake recipe that'll fill your craving and make you feel like an expert.

19. Lazy Day Blondie Bites

This recipe by Bakerella gives you a quick and low-effort way to create a yummy dessert. Plus, you only need a handful of ingredients to whip them up.

20. Snowball Cookies

It doesn't need to be wintertime to bake these snowball cookies by My Baking Addiction. These cookies are as simple to make as they look, with only a few ingredients necessary. Plus, they taste a whole lot better than snow.

21. Easy Baked Churros

You may be off put by the fact that churros are usually fried, and I can’t blame you, that doesn’t sound like an easy recipe to make as a beginner. That’s why you’ll be glad to know these churros from Crazy For Crust aren’t fried, and they’re a lot healthier than other alternatives. Bonus: The chocolate ganache you can dip the churros in is to die for.

22. Chocolate Mug Cake

If you were in college and had a sweet tooth craving, chances are you tried the “cookie in the mug” hack. Well, this chocolate mug cake by Olive Magazine is just as easy to make, but I promise it’s a whole lot tastier. The dark chocolate will cure any and all chocolate cravings, and the sea salt will bring the flavor out even more.

23. Classic Millionaire’s Shortbread

Buttery shortbread, sweet caramel, and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate make up this tasty treat. The classic millionaire’s shortbread by Olive Magazine gets you by the name, makes you bake it for how incredibly easy it is, and after biting in to the dessert, you won’t be able to get enough!

24. Nutella Cake

This seems to good to be real — seriously. I mean, all that is needed for this recipe is Nutella and eggs, so I can understand why you may not put the Nutella cake on the top of your to-do baking list. But I promise — and I repeat, promise — this recipe by Kid Spot is actually incredible. You’re going to have to taste it to believe it.

25. Five-Ingredient Funfetti Shortbread Bites

Now, this recipe may not be only two ingredients, but five is pretty much the same thing, right?! These Funfetti shortbread bites by Cooking Classy are the perfect snack to cure any sweet tooth. The sprinkles make them visually pleasing, and won’t be able to stop snacking after you taste the buttery shortbread.

Now head into that kitchen with all the confidence of a professional pastry chef.