Spice Cake

Moist, fluffy, and full of cozy spices, this Spice Cake recipe comes together quickly and easy. Coated in a rich cream cheese frosting, this cake is perfect for any occasion. It's way better than a box mix!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Chill Time 40

Total Time 1 30

Servings servings

Calories 892kcal

Author John Kanell

Equipment

9" round cake pans
Mixing Bowls
Wire cooling rack
Electric hand or stand mixer

Ingredients

For the Cake:

3 cups all-purpose flour (360g)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups packed light brown sugar (440g)
1 cup vegetable oil (240ml)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (240ml)
½ cup buttermilk (120ml)
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter softened (227g)
1 (8-ounce/113g) block cream cheese room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar (720g)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch baking pans with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil, applesauce, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Add the sugar mixture to the flour mixture and whisk together just until combined. Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the center springs back when gently pressed. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pans then invert on a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
With the mixer on low, gradually add in the powdered sugar stopping occasionally to scrape down the bowl. Once combined, add the vanilla, and beat on medium-low speed until fluffy, about 1 minute.

For the Assembly:

Place a cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread 1 cup of frosting over the top. Place the other cake layer on top and spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides of the cake. Decorate as desired.
Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes before slicing. The cake can be refrigerated, then loosely covered, and stored for up to 3 days before serving.

Video

Notes

I highly recommend using a scale to measure your flour as it’s the most accurate method and will prevent you from ending up with dense cake layers. If you don’t have a scale, fluff your flour with a spoon and spoon it into your cups before leveling it off with a knife. This method prevents you from overpacking the measuring cup.
Do not overmix the batter, or you’ll have a tough cake. Mix everything until just combined.
Always bring your ingredients to room temperature to help everything combine better. Bringing butter and cream cheese to room temperature helps prevent a lumpy frosting. Eggs at room temperature also make it easier to mix into the batter without overmixing.
The best way to let your butter come to room temperature is to bring it out of the fridge 1 to 2 hours beforehand and allow it to sit on your kitchen counter. If you soften the butter in the microwave, you risk it melting and making the cream cheese frosting runny. To speed up the process of the butter coming to room temperature, you can cube it.
Tap the cake pan on the counter a few times to pop any air bubbles and level out the batter in the pan for an even bake.
If the tops of the layers are domed, use a serrated knife to cut the top of the domes so you can stack them. You can use cake strips to help the cakes rise evenly in the oven. Cake strips work by keeping the outside edge of the pan cooler to ensure that the entire cake rises at the same rate, preventing a dome from forming in the middle. If you don’t want to purchase cake strips, see my guide on how to DIY cake strips.
Don’t rush the assembly of the cake. Make sure you allow the cake to cool fully before you frost it. If it is still warm, the frosting may melt off. The cake is also quite tender and moist, so be gentle when moving the cake layers to stack.
You could add ½ cup of finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the batter if desired or decorate by pressing them onto the sides of the frosted cake.

Nutrition

Thank You! https://financepost.live/spice-cake/%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-11594":{"type":"food","name":"Spice Cake","slug":"wprm-spice-cake","image_url":"https:\/\/preppykitchen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Spice-Cake-Recipe-Card.jpg","rating":{"count":98,"total":483,"average":4.93,"type":{"comment":8,"no_comment":0,"user":90},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"uid":1,"amount":"3","unit":"cups","name":"all-purpose flour","notes":"(360g)","unit_id":12053,"id":48,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"3","unit":"cups","unitParsed":"cups"}}},{"uid":2,"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","name":"baking powder","notes":"","unit_id":12076,"id":51,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","unitParsed":"teaspoons"}}},{"uid":3,"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"teaspoon","name":"baking 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