Spice cake is a three layer cake infused with the warm flavors of the festive season: cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, cardamon, allspice and cloves. Molasses and buttermilk add flavor and tenderness.
Jump to:
Spice Cake Details
Spice cake contains two of the best foods: spice and cake!
This is a fancy layer cake but don't let that intimidate you.
Just read through the recipe twice, gather and measure your ingredients and follow the directions step by step.
Important note: if you're making this sugar and spice cake for an event, prepare the cake the day before.
Wrap tightly and freeze until ready to frost the next day.
Most cakes need to be completely cooled before they are frosted, unless you're making a cake designed to have a glaze melt over the top like a poke cake.
If you like desserts with spice, .you might like Gingersnap Cookies or Speculaas Cookies or Creamy Pumpkin Pie. Also find out how to make your own pumpkin pie spice
More cake recipes you might enjoy include Butterscotch Cake, Lemon Poke Cake, Lemon Blackberry Cake, St. Louis Style Gooey Butter Cake and From Scratch Gooey Butter Cake.
Ingredients
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder (leavening so cake rises)
- Baking soda
- Cinnamon (I like Vietnamese)
- Nutmeg (Grate your own for best flavor. I have and love this nutmeg grater.)
- Allspice
- Cardamom
- Ground ginger
- Ground cloves
- Salt
- Butter, softened
- Sugar (adds sweetness)
- Brown sugar (adds sweetness)
- Eggs (adds structure)
- Molasses (flavor)
- Vanilla extract (flavor)
- Buttermilk (make your own with cup of milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar)
Eggnog Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup eggnog
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Sugared Cranberry Ingredients
- ½ cup cranberries
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar - plus more for dusting
How to Make Spiced Layer Cake
Gather your ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to large mixing bowl and stir.
In a separate large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat.
Add in the molasses and vanilla extract.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour until everything is well incorporated.
Baking Preparation
Line each cake pan with a parchment round.
Spray with Baker's Joy or non-stick spray.
Divide the cake batter equally between the pans.
Place the pans in the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
While the cakes are baking, make frosting and sugared cranberries if using.
Let the cakes rest in the pans for 10 minutes before turning them out onto cooling racks to come to room temperature.
Do not frost until cakes are completely cool.
Frost the cakes starting with a light crumb coat.
Recipe Tips
Spice cake offers several choices for frosting. I share a recipe for eggnog frosting but you could also top it with cream cheese frosting or a citrus scented frosting or chocolate frosting.
You can use ground nutmeg if you like but grating your own adds intense flavor.
A nutmeg grater is under $10 on Amazon and you can use it for other kitchen tasks like grating chocolate or parmesan.
Once you make cake batter, you've got to bake it immediately because the leavening that you've added has already been activated. You don't want to waste that activation.
Signs a cake is done baking?
The cakes will turn a light golden brown and the cakes will begin pulling away from the sides.
You can also do the toothpick test.
Stick a toothpick in the middle of a cake. If you pull the toothpick out and it's clean, then the cake is thoroughly baked.
Also remember a cake will continue baking for a few minutes after you've removed it from the oven.
You can also invest in a digital cooking thermometer. I have and love this easy to use digital thermometer--I use it every week.
Cake Storage and Make Ahead Tips
Freeze unfrosted cake layers for up to three months.
Store baked, frosted cake for three days at room temperature wrapped in plastic wrap or in a cake server.
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Kitchen Serf.
Recipe
Spice Cake
Warm, Sweet, and Spiced: Your New Favorite Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- For Cake:
- 2 ½ c flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ cardamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 c butter, softened
- ¾ c sugar
- ¾ c brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- ¼ c molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 c buttermilk
- For Frosting
- 1 c butter, softened
- 4 c powdered sugar
- ¼ c eggnog
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- Make Sugared Cranberries
- ½ c cranberries
- ¼ c water
- ¼ c sugar - plus more for dusting
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep 3 - 9” cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray containing flour. Set them aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamon, ground ginger, ground cloves and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat.
Add in the molasses and vanilla and beat.
Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour until everything is well incorporated.
Divide the cake batter equally between the pans. Place the pans in the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
Let the cake rest in the pans for 10 minutes before turning them out onto cooling racks to come to room temperature.
Make the frosting:
Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes. Butter should lighten in color. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add in the eggnog, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon and beat until smooth and creamy.
Make the sugared cranberries, boil the water and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.
Remove the pan from heat and let the simple syrup cool for about 5 minutes before adding the cranberries.
Stir the berries around, thoroughly coating them with the syrup and leave them to soak in the syrup for 5-10 minutes.
Remove the berries and lay them on a paper towel or flat surface spread out to dry for 2 hours. After the 2 hours are up, roll the berries in sugar until coated.
Assemble the cake,
Place the bottom layer on a cake stand with the bottom side up. Scoop about ½ c - ¾ c of frosting and spread in an even layer over the cake.
Repeat with the second layer.
Place the last layer with the top side facing up. Coat the top with frosting and using a spatula spread a very thin layer over the edges of the cake.
Scrape the majority of the frosting off to create a barely frosted cake. Smooth the top layer.
Frosting tips used #336 and 1M to create swirls and stars.
Decorate top as desired with sugared cranberries, rosemary, anise and cinnamon sticks.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Remove cake about 30 minutes before serving.
Recommended Products
This post and/or recipe may contain affiliate links, which means if you click through and make a purchase, I'll earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See Disclosure policy.
-
Baking Parchment Circles, Set of 100, 9 Inch Unbleached Baking Paper/Non Stick Baking Parchment/Greaseproof Paper Circles for Springform Cake Tin, Toaster Oven, Tortilla Press and so on -
Baker's Joy The Original No-Stick Baking Spray with Flour 5 oz. Can
-
OvenStuff HG368-AZ Nonstick Bakeware 9" Round Cake Pan, Set of 3
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 706Total Fat 34gSaturated Fat 20gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 147mgSodium 553mgCarbohydrates 98gFiber 1gSugar 75gProtein 6g
Comments
No Comments