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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.

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Smoked Pecans

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

40 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Carbs: Carbs: 63.0

Calories per serving: 460

Fat per serving: 30.0

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.

http://www.restlesschipotle.com/2010/12/spice-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-and-smoked-pecans/

Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 10 minutes

10 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Carbs: Carbs: 20.6

Calories per serving: 290

Fat per serving: 20.7

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.

http://www.restlesschipotle.com/2010/12/spice-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-and-smoked-pecans/

Smoked Pecans

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

10 minutes

Yield: Carbs: 1.9

Calories per serving: 108

Fat per serving: 11.4

Smokey and salty pecans that make this spice cake awesome. They make a great snack, too.

Ingredients