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Spice cake. You know, there are fabulous spice cake recipes out there and terrible ones. Spice cake is admittedly not my favorite…it makes me think of the school lunch cafeteria in Jr. High school. Squares of stale boxed mix spice cake, with a decidedly artificial flavor and too sweet frosting….ick.
This cake is not that. It is to a boxed mix what Pavarotti is to singing in the shower. The cake is spicy, full of the flavors of cinnamon (Vietnamese please), freshly ground nutmeg, citrus scented cardamom, spicy cloves and ginger…and all spice just in case we don’t have all the bases covered with the other spices.
Then a whipped (yes I did say whipped) cream cheese frosting and filling adds richness and almost too much sweetness. What to do? How about some smoked and salted pecans to round out the flavors and make your mouth happy.
Here’s another thing. You DO know that you can create your own cake mixes right? I mean if you need that time saving factor (raises hand…) you can mix the dry ingredients and keep them in a tightly covered mason jar in your pantry for a couple of months. Some rainy weekend afternoon? Just call the kids in and makes a bunch of cake mixes! You can use dry milk if you like to make it where you only need to add water but I prefer just to leave the dry milk out and use real milk. When you are ready to bake just cream the butter and eggs, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk and vanilla (or other flavoring) and …Voila!
The texture will be a bit more coarse than a conventially mixed cake because the sugar isn’t creamed in with the butter but it will be a million times better than the boxed mix.
O.k…So …. on to the spice cake.
Old fashioned spice cake with a kicked up spice flavor. Top it with silky cream cheese frosting and smoked pecans.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups organic flour, or 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon
- 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp all spice
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Grease 2 8-inch layer cake pans, cover the bottoms with waxed paper, grease and flour
- Mix the dry ingredients
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs, one at a time
- Beat in vanilla
- Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour
- Pour evenly into the cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cakes test done
- Cool completely
- When Cooled fill between the layers with the frosting.
- Cover the top and sides with remaining frosting.
- Sprinkle with the pecans.
- Refrigerate to firm up.
- Remove from the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving.
Silky sweet cream cheese frosting. It's very loose so you may need to refrigerate it to firm it up before using. Keep it refrigerated until just before serving time.
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped with 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until well blended and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla,lemon, and salt.
- Fold in the whipped cream until smooth.
- If this starts to break up just whip it like crazy until it comes together again.
Smokey and salty pecans that make this spice cake awesome. They make a great snack, too.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
- 1 tablespoon bacon fat
- Coarse Sea salt
Instructions
- Saute the pecans in the combined oil and fat until toasted but not scorched.
- Sprinkle with about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sea salt.
- Saute another minute or so to bind the salt to the pecans
- Let cool
images: (c) marye audet
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I love spice cake, but haven’t made one in years. After reading the recipe, I am sure it is delicious!
Whoa!!! You’d probably like this one I did a few years back then: http://yummysmells.blogspot.com/2009/03/wired-in-more-ways-than-one.html
Holy moley! Your blog is absolutely amazing!! I love the recipes you have put together in here, and the pictures are mouthwatering! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Thank you! Glad to have you!