6 cool cakes for Easter that are actually easier than they look. No pastry degree required.

Most cakes for Easter are elaborately decorated beyond the point that I'm interested in or, um, able to take on. Tired of gawking at fabulous no-can-do cakes (you know what I'm talking about), I decided to find six easy but cool cakes for Easter with recipes that anyone can make. Even me and I'm no uber-bakerBonus: While these cakes make great Easter desserts, most are just plain pretty for any occasion, like a spring party or a fabulous baby shower. You're probably thinking that there's no way you can make a cake as pretty as the Pastel Swirl Cake (above) on Sweetapolita. That's what I was thinking but, as it turns out, Rosie gives a video tutorial that explains the mystery behind this pretty icing magic. Follow her lead and wow your guests.  

This super fun Surprise Dotty Cake from In Katrina's Kitchen is the easiest cake on this list to make. And talk about a surprise: the secret is store-bought pound cake and cake mix. Hop on over to Katrina's site to learn more about her trick.  

If you like the idea of something colorful, but want a traditional layer cake, try the way cool Vanilla Sour Cream Rainbow Cake at The Cake Merchant. Separate the cake batter into four equal portions, color each portion a different hue, bake, and put together as you would any other cake. Easy but still super impressive.  

I love this elegant Chocolate Easter Bunny Cake from The Cake Blog. Simple and pretty, the hardest part of making this is buying the edible grass. Well, it would be hard, except that we found some for you through our Amazon affiliate store. Carrie's recipe calls for 3-4 packages of edible grass. I'd get 4 so that there's room for error, though it's hard to make a mistake with this cake.

It's true that this is a cupcake recipe, but it's not Easter without Cadbury Eggs and these cool Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes from My Baking Addiction are such a fabulously simple way to feature the seasonal candy. Use your favorite chocolate cake recipe. Jamie doesn't provide one, focusing instead on giving decorating instructions that anyone can follow.

This Peeps Cake spied on No Biggie isn't actually a cake recipe, but the idea of using Peeps to make a festive cake banner is too cute not to share. Any old cake can be turned into a pretty Easter cake with nothing more than thread and a bunch of colorful Peeps, available through Amazon or you know, any store in the world anywhere these days.  

For even more brilliant ideas, check out the 8 gorgeous Easter cake ideas I found last year including this very cool Speckled Egg Easter Cake that I can't get out of my head. Because, apparently, cool and easy are my thing. At least when it comes to Easter cakes.