Cake by Courtney 3rd Annual Cake March Madness

by Courtney Rich

Last updated on

You know my love of cake runs deep, but did you also know my love of basketball does too? Two years ago, I decided to pair the two together and create a Cake March Madness Bracket.

My Better Than Anything Cake has been the back-to-back champ, but it’s time for a new winner! In fact, Better Than Anything isn’t even in the bracket this year! If you’ve played before, you’ll also see that we switched up the divisions. Instead of splitting it up by flavor categories, we drew cakes at random.

I’m excited to see how it goes this year!

How to Play

  • Download the bracket below.
  • Look through each division and pick a winner from each pairing. You’ll then move those winners to the next round and pick a winner from that pairing. Keep going until you have a champion.
  • You’ll fill out the entire bracket – GUESSING which cake will win each pairing and which cake you think will win overall. (The winner of each matchup is decided by voting in my Instagram stories – so you’re guessing which cake most people will vote for).
  • Once you make your guess for the winning cake, COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR WINNER. This gives us a time stamp to make sure you entered before the competition starts on March 18th – which means we won’t count entries posted after that date.
Cake-March-Madness-BracketDownload

How It Works

  • Starting next week (March 18th), I’ll post the cake pairings in my Instagram stories for everyone to vote on.
  • Winning cakes will be chosen from that voting process (BY YOU) and I’ll announce in IG stories and here on the blog the updates so you can make sure to check out how you’re doing on your bracket.
  • Once we get to the final winner, I’ll take a look at your guesses below and from those who guessed correctly, I’ll RANDOMLY SELECT ONE WINNER.

What Does the Winner Get?

  • The randomly selected winner will receive BOTH of my cookbooks, access to my 3-Month Cake Camp, a cake tee, and a set of my icing spatulas from Shop.CakebyCourtney.com.

Reminder:

  • Print the bracket
  • Make your selections
  • Comment below with what you cake you think will be the overall winner BEFORE MARCH 18th.
  • Check out stories next week to start the voting process
  • Have fun!

Round 1 West Winners

  • Chocolate Caramel Coconut Cake
  • Creme Brulee Cake
  • 7 Layer Bar Cake
  • Peach Crisp Cake
  • Strawberry Lemonade Cake
  • Twix Cookies and Cream Cake
  • Chocolate Cheesecake Cake
  • Peanut Butter Poke Cake

Round 1 East Winners

  • Golden Oreo Cake
  • Toffee Caramel Graham Cake
  • Grasshopper Pie Cake
  • Brooklyn Light Show Cake
  • Strawberry Biscoff Cake
  • Tonight Show Cake
  • Cookies and Cream Cake
  • Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cake

Round 1 South Winners

  • Ultimate S’mores Cake
  • White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
  • Lemon Biscoff Cake
  • Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cake
  • Churro Cake
  • Strawberry Shortcake Cake
  • Pumpkin Poke Cake
  • Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cake

Round 1 Midwest Winners

  • S’moreo Cake
  • Coconut Lemon Raspberry Cake
  • Caramel Apple Cheesecake Cake
  • Biscoff Brownie Cake
  • Tuxedo Cake
  • Peanut Butter Oreo Cake
  • Magnolia Cookie Cake
  • Red Velvet Cookie Cake

ROUND 2 WINNERS

West

  • Chocolate Coconut Cake
  • Seven Layer Bar Cake
  • Twix Cookies and Cream Cake
  • Chocolate Cheesecake Cake

East

  • Toffee Caramel Graham Cake
  • Brooklyn Light Show Cake
  • Tonight Show Cake
  • Cookies and Cream Cake

South

  • S’mores
  • Lemon Biscoff
  • Strawberry Shortcake
  • Chocolate Dulce de Leche

Midwest

  • S’moreo
  • Coconut Lemon Raspberry
  • Peanut Butter Oreo
  • Magnolia Cookie

Sweet 16 Winners (the Elite 8)

  • Seven Layer Bar
  • Twix Cookies and Cream
  • Toffee Caramel Graham
  • Tonight Show
  • S’mores
  • Chocolate Dulce de Leche
  • S’moreo
  • PB Oreo

The Final Four

  • Twix Cookies and Cream
  • Tonight Show
  • S’mores
  • PB Oreo

IN THE FINALS

  • Tonight Show Cake
  • S’mores Cake

WINNER: ULTIMATE S’MORES CAKE

Courtney Rich

I’m a self-taught baker, obsessed with cake.

I long ago ditched box mixes in pursuit of melt-in-your-mouth, to-die-for flavor combinations, fillings and textures. I believe cake must be decadent, life-changing and worthy of celebration! And I believe anyone should be able to bake that kind of cake – and I’m here to teach you just that!

Get my free cake decorating guide
Everything you need to know about decorating a cake like a pro!

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Leave a Comment

Comments

    1. I don’t think my original comment posted…so commenting again to be safe. I’m hoping for 7 layer bar!

      Reply

  18. WOW ! tough pick .. Ultimate s’mores was up there… But the winner should be…. drum roll please….

    BANANA CREAM !!!

    Reply

  65. I have taken your Cake Camp and am looking at your Beginners Cake Class and The Next Level Class. Do I need the beginners or can I just take the Next Level?

    Thank you!

    Reply

  69. This was SUCH a hard choice. I feel like I’m betraying the Tonight Show cake but I’m going with the Chocolate Coconut Caramel cake as my winner. 🤞

    Reply

  83. For me the Chocolate Coconut Carmel cake wins!

    As a family we have spent lots of wonderful time together viewing all the scrumptious looking cakes and deciding which is our favorites!

    Reply

  85. This was a brutal decision – it came down to Biscoff Chocolate v. Coconut Lemon Raspberry. I hope the coconut lemon raspberry cake will forgive me (and I’ll have to bake it soon to make amends 😉), but Biscoff Chocolate is the winner in my bracket!

    Reply

  88. Oh mylanta!!! So many really, really good contenders…ugh! Firstly…I’m a sucker for Biscoff anything so not picking one of those was really difficult. I’m really torn but I think S’Moreo is going to take the cake this year 🙂

    Reply

  91. Had my kiddo help me fill out the bracket and Dole Whip ended up as the winner for us! Now I need to make this cake for real!

    Reply

  113. I think it’s the year for the Ultimate Smores cake! Everything but the kitchen sink looks amazing though and I may be trying that one out for that sweet and salty combo!

    Reply

  121. I’m going with Cookies and Cream as the winning cake!!! I have made about 30 of your cakes. So many absolutely delicious cakes! As much as I love the Biscoff, the Peach Crisp, and the Olive Oil Ricotta cakes, Cookies and Cream still ranks at the top. My family LOVES the Cookies and Cream flavor.

    Reply

  127. I loved so many of these cakes.. nearly impossible to guess. But Cookies and Cream for the championship win!!

    Reply

  128. Lawd Hamercy! This was so difficult. But I have finally narrowed it down to the CHOCOLATE COCONUT CARAMEL CAKE. And now I’m off to the store to buy the ingredients to make it for myself.

    Reply

  137. My pick for the Cake March Madness Winner is 7 Layer Bar Cake. It was hard not to pick the Lemon Bar cake since it originates from your mom’s delicious lemon bars I’ve had so many times. (They were the shower favorite in old mill). But I’m going with 7 Layer Bar…. what’s not to like?
    Love you, Coatney. You’re a light.

    Reply

  139. I’ve got Biscoff and ultimate S’mores in the final two but I think ultimate S’mores will take the win!

    Reply

  156. Biscoff Brownie! Haven’t tried it yet, but I think I’d have my husband drooling just by suggesting it😅

    Reply

  177. Peanut butter poke! It looks simple, but the flavors are on point! (It’s the underdog that everyone who has tasted it will be cheering for).

    Reply

  186. I loved the mixup this year! It made it easier in some ways and harder in others but ultimately the “Tonight Show” cake is the winner in my bracket. Love that you do this. Here we GO!!

    Reply

  289. I’ve got Chocolate cheesecake (my family’s fave) and Biscoff Brownie in the Championship…and Biscoff Brownie winning it all!

    Reply

  306. I didn’t see my March 11 entry either … My winning pick is Banana Cream !! These are impossible choices .. !!❤️This was fun ! Thanks Courtney

    Reply

  318. My daughter and i think white chocolate raspberry brownie ☺️ it was her birthday cake so we are bias a little.

    Reply

  336. My money is on the Ultimate S’mores cake!!

    This is my first year experiencing Cake March Madness and I’m so excited to follow along!

    Reply

  342. West- Chocolate Cheesecake

    East- Cookes n Cream

    Midwest- Stawberry Lemonade

    South- Butterscotch Chocolate Cake

    Reply

    1. I posted this at 9 p.m March 17th! Not sure why it said 2:00 a.m. on the 18th 😂🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

      Reply

  393. My pick is Biscoff. Husband: Churro. 6-year-old: White chocolate raspberry brownie. 4-year-old: Hot chocolate

    Reply

  396. This was a tough! So many delicious cakes. I’m going to have to go with Ultimate S’mores. 🤞🏻

    Reply

  411. Cookies and Cream!
    *Side note: As stressed out as I was about this bracket, I CANNOT imagine filling out an actual March Madness bracket. Lol!

    Reply

  429. I think Ultimate S’mores will win! With Chocolate Coconut Caramel coming in second…that one might be my favorite so far!

    Reply

  430. My 3-year-old miraculously chose (based off of pictures) the Biscoff Cake! He’s got great taste 😊

    Reply

  451. Well- I picked PEACH CRISP!
    But my taste buds clearly swayed the votes because I wouldn’t with Peach Crisp, Lemon Bar, Lemon Biscoff, and Peach Biscoff in the top four 😂

    Reply

  459. So hard to narrow down cakes on my bracket and took much longer than I thought it would haha!! My cake championship winner is White Chocolate Raspberry Brownie!!!

    Reply

    1. Not sure why my time says that. I’m
      In Utah and my time is 11:18pm on March 17. Hope I did it right 🩷🩷🩷

      Reply

  502. I honestly don’t know! My favorites are always the unique ones haha but let’s go with chocolate dulce de leche

    Reply

  506. TUXEDO all the wayyyy baby.

    Championship will be against Lemon Kit Kat. And it was really hard not to choose Mocha Banana Choc Chip as winner bc that’s my fave cake evah!!!

    Reply

  521. Twix Cookies and Cream

    To be clear, this would not be my top pick, but just like in actual March Madness, it isn’t always about our personal faves. We shall see. 😁 I will comment later on what mg actual faves are. 💜

    Reply

  547. My family did this with me, and we ended up choosing the Toffee Caramel Graham cake as our overall winner.

    Reply

  575. West
    PB Graham
    Creme Brule cake
    7 layer bar
    Peach crisp
    Lemon kit kat
    Twix cookies and cream
    Chocolate cheesecake
    Peanut butter poke

    East
    Golden oreo
    Toffee caramel Graham
    Cherry cheese pie
    Apple cider donuts
    Pina colada
    Lemon bar
    Cookies and cream
    Everything but the

    South
    Ultimate smore
    White chocolate coconut bundy
    Almond joy
    Butterscotch chocolate chip
    Churro
    Strawberry shortcake
    Pumpkin poke
    Chocolate dice de Leche

    Midwest
    Smore
    Biscoff brownie
    Coconut lemon raspberry
    Peach biscoff
    Tuxedo
    Peanut butter oreo
    Strawberry lemonade
    Carrot pretzel white chocolate

    Reply

  578. Toffee Caramel Graham –

    I would choose the German Chocolate but it wasn’t one of the choices:{

    Reply

  581. I had ALL OF MY BRACKET filled out in a comment and the website refreshed/crashed itself and lost everything.

    So as opposed to writing every bracket winner again…because I’ve spent a lot of time on this anyway… It was Crème Brulee vs Apple Cider and White Chocolate Coconut vs Strawberry Lemonade (which was on the brackets twice). The overall winner was Apple Cider which I have made several times and LOVE.

    Reply

  583. Courtney,

    Please be considerate to let us know if the LeHigh cake flour has been discontinued so that we don’t have to continue asking.

    Reply