Thanksgiving cake when pie is already on the menu

For Thanksgiving cake, start with the space you can give it. Sally's pumpkin sheet cake serves a crowd from one pan. Ree's apple cake wants a warm finish. Jessica's pumpkin icebox cake claims the refrigerator instead of the oven.

These six choices are cakes, not pie decorations. Each opens its maker's complete recipe and has a different job on the holiday table. H&P has not baked or tested them. Our AI-assisted scenes interpret the written recipes; they are not photographs of the makers' results.

Sally McKenney's pumpkin cake fills a 9-by-13-inch pan and serves 12. Pumpkin purée and warm spices sit under cream-cheese frosting. Its rectangular shape is easy to portion without cutting through stacked layers.

It can travel in its pan, with no layers to protect. The catch is cooling before frosting. Sally also offers a make-ahead route for the unfrosted cake.

Lindsay Conchar builds three 8-inch cinnamon and brown-sugar cake layers around a cooked pecan filling, then finishes them with cinnamon buttercream. The filling chills until thick before assembly. Her recipe serves 12 to 14.

Give this one the centerpiece position only if someone can enjoy the assembly. The filling, cooled cake layers and frosting each need their turn before the cake is ready to show off. Lindsay says to cut it at room temperature because the filling is sticky.

Ree Drummond adapted this cake from one she saw Sara Moulton make. Sugared Granny Smith wedges cook in a 9- to 10-inch ovenproof skillet below an apple-studded sour-cream batter. The cake serves eight to ten and rests briefly before it turns out.

The payoff is the turn-out: apples that cooked against the skillet become the top. Ree serves it warm with vanilla ice cream. It suits a smaller dinner if the oven and burner are still free at dessert.

Jocelyn Delk Adams makes this generous pound cake in a 12-cup Bundt pan. Mashed sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg and sour cream go into the cake, while browned butter, honey and cinnamon make its glaze. She lists 16 servings.

The mashed sweet potato adds prep before the bake, while the glaze waits for a fully cooled Bundt. That separation suits a host who wants dessert mostly finished before the oven fills with dinner.

PJ Hamel's King Arthur recipe places chopped cranberries and walnuts beneath thick cake batter, with sparkling sugar above. The maker calls it Nantucket Cranberry Cake, although similar desserts are often named pie. This version has no pastry crust.

If pumpkin and pecan pies are already coming, this is the cake I would add. Tart cranberry gives the spread another flavor, and the sugared top stands on its own without frosting. King Arthur serves it warm or at room temperature, so it needs no last-minute reveal.

Jessica Segarra's no-bake cake layers graham crackers with a pumpkin, cream-cheese and whipped-topping mixture in a 9-by-13-inch dish. The recipe yields 12 cold slices after a long refrigerator rest.

It trades oven space for refrigerator shelf space. Clear a spot early; graham layers need time to soften before this cold cake will cut into neat slices.