Hello friends! I love all things fall, including the delectable flavors of the season. Besides the apples, pumpkins, squashes, pears and more, I absolutely love all the wonderful spices like nutmeg and allspice and cloves. Don’t you? There’s nothing better than a spice cake that envelopes all these special Fall flavored spices.
To make the spice cake even more special, I created stacks with layers of cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting pairs beautifully with all the spices, contrasting with a silky tartness. Let me show you how you can make these yourself at home. I am not a professional baker by any means, this is a very cozy fall dessert.
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a little back story to my love affair with spice cake
I was first introduced to spice cake somewhere around the 6th grade. I was living in Venezuela at the time and I was playing at my friend Karen’s house. Her mom made a spice cake, and I was immediately smitten. I had never heard of spice cake before. I had never tasted spice cake before. That was the beginning of the love affair.
To me spice cake is a very “American” treat. Let me explain. I was born in Uruguay and lived throughout South America during my youth. I always attended the American schools everywhere we lived, since the American curriculum is standardized from country to country. So hence, most of my friends were Americans from either diplomatic or military or expat families. Cue in Karen.
Karen’s mom made a basic cake, which evoked all the Fall feels for me. Keep in mind Venezuela is a tropical country so there really is no Autumn season, but that did not matter. The flavors and aromas of the spices immediately transported me to a New England town with trees full of leaves in all the rich colors of the season.
I try to make a spice cake every Autumn and although some years it escapes me, not this one. Let me show you how I am making it extra special this year by creating stacks between fluffy cream cheese frosting with some fun Fall sprinkles.
the recipe for spice cake
Ingredients
I’ve created this spice cake recipe based on a few different recipes I found, combining my favorite flavor combinations. Feel free to adjust anything to fit your flavor preferences.
- 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 T ground cinnamon
- 1 T ground nutmeg
- 1 T ground ginger
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1-3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup avocado oil
- 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 T molasses
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
I always recommend reading a recipe all the way through before starting anything. I actually read the entire recipe, then assemble all the ingredients and reread the entire recipe. This not only helps me assure I have all the ingredients necessary, but also any tools or special gadgets I might need.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease 10 x 15 baking pan
- In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves, allowing to sit for about 20 minutes.
- In electric mixer bowl mix brown sugar, oil, apple sauce and molasses with paddle attachment.
- When wet ingredients are well combined, mix in eggs and vanilla extract.
- When above is mixed well add 1/2 of dry mixture and integrate well plus scrape side of bowl.
- Add buttermilk and mix well.
- Add final 1/2 of dry mixture and mix well.
- Once everything is integrated well, pour mixture into baking. pan.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
the recipe for cream cheese frosting
Ingredients
You can double this recipe if you like a lot of frosting. We only frosted a portion of the cake, which were the stacks. The rest of the cake we preferred to eat naked.
- 8 oz block cream cheese soften to room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter soften to room temperature
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
I made these with Miss M and we both frosted the stacks using different techniques. Neither is better than the other, we were just having fun. I think a frosting technique workshop might be a good bonding experience for us over the summer.
- In an electric mixer bowl beat together cream and butter on medium-high until smooth and creamy.
- Add sugar, vanilla and salt.
- Beat on low first to integrate ingredients and then beat on medium-high for about 2 minutes.
tips & techniques for the spice cake stacks
Once the cake has cooled cut it into even squarish sections. Do not stress over this step, they do not have to be perfect. I just eyeballed the first row and then used the first square to guide the rest of the sections.
I cut off all the edges before starting to cut the rows of squares since the edges dip down towards the sides of the pans. All these edge pieces are fabulous with a cup of coffee, just saying.
I also sliced the squares in half horizontally so the stacks wouldn’t be crazy tall. Three cake sections create each stack with cream cheese frosting between all layers and obviously on the top.
I decorated the stacks with fall inspired sprinkles to give them that seasonal oomph, but it certainly is not necessary. To be honest these type of decorations always look good but they don’t taste all that great, so proceed accordingly.
One last note, this is the first time I substituted the vegetable oil with avocado oil. I was very happy with the results and this will be my go to strategy for baking from now on. Every little bit counts, making baked goods a little bit healthier.
more dessert inspiration
make your own spice cake stacks
“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”
Ernestine Ulmer
sharing @ between naps on the porch