Autumn Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
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Spice Cake with a decadent Cream Cheese Frosting! This is one of my all time favorite fall cakes! It’s perfectly moist and brimming with lots of those sweet autumn spices. It has a tender crumb and so much flavor in every bite. No one can resist a slice!
Spice Cake
Fall is that time of year where you have more excuses to make cake right? At least that’s how I feel about it.
It’s that time of year to break out all those delicious, sweet spices on a cold day and get baking!
One cake I’ve been wanting to try for years is just an old fashioned spice cake. I always loved the boxed spice cake growing up but I rarely cook with them anymore so I need a good homemade version. So here we are.
So Much Better than Box Mix!
It took a few attempts and a lot of contemplating on exactly what I wanted from this cake but let me tell you this cake is worlds better then anything you get from a box!
It is probably the most moist cake I’ve ever had and filled with the perfect amount of all those delicious autumn spices.
It uses brown sugar instead of white sugar which gives it a sweet caramel-y note and pairs so well with the spices.
Watch the Video!
It’s Perfect with Cream Cheese Frosting!
And of course if we are going to have cake we need to have cream cheese frosting right?
I know, I’m obsessed with cream cheese frosting, but it just goes so well with this cake. The slight tanginess of the frosting balances out the sweetness of the cake.
Then I chose to add nuts to the outside of the cake vs. swirling them into the batter. If I add nuts to a cake, the majority of the time I like to add them over the frosting layer.
I usually like the contrast through layers not between crumbs. But if you aren’t a fan of nuts of course you can just omit them here.
Ingredients You’ll Need in This Recipe
- Flour – base
- Baking powder, baking soda – leavening
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves – spiced flavor
- Brown sugar – sweetener
- Vegetable oil, unsweetened applesauce, buttermilk – tenderness and moisture
- Eggs – binding
- Vanilla, salt – additional flavor
- Pecans – textural contrast
Ingredients for the Frosting
- Powdered sugar – sweetener
- Cream cheese, vanilla – flavor
- Butter – moisture
How to Make Spice Cake
- Preheat oven, prepare baking pans.
- Whisk dry ingredients and spices.
- Mix brown sugar with vegetable oil and applesauce, then mix in eggs and vanilla.
- Mix in two additions of dry ingredients alternating with buttermilk.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake until set. Let cool.
- Prep cream cheese frosting and spread over cooled cake, sprinkle with pecans.
Now say hello to a new favorite cake! A good fall tradition, no?
Use Cake Strips if You Have Some
Not sure how, I’m still not so knowledgeable about all the science behind baking, but this cake does end up domed despite the fact that it has so much leavening, oil/applesauce and liquid.
With that said, you can either use cake strips (DIY version here) to help prevent that. Or you can just do what I did and cut the extra little portion off the top and eat it, no reason to waste good cake right?
Can I Add More Spices?
If you want a well spiced cake just up the spices. I want somewhere in the middle of mild and strong because I wanted it to be a kid friendly cake too.
This is one of my new favorite cakes and I’m already trying to think up another excuse to bake it again because we finished it off so quickly! I was literally scraping up the crumbs from the cake plate.
I created this cake to be much like one of my favorite kinds of cake – which is carrot cake and it is so much like it, but without the carrots and a more generous amount of spice.
It’s amazing to say the least and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Happy Fall!
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love
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Autumn Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (318g) all-purpose flour (scoop and level to measure)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon*
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 3/4 cups (370g) packed light-brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (175ml) vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup (185g) unsweetened applesauce
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk**
- 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 12 oz cream cheese, nearly at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, nearly at room temperature
- 3 1/2 cups (440g) (440g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round baking pans well with non-stick baking spray then lightly dust with flour and shake out excess.
- Wrap cake strips around pan if you have them (for a more level cake). Set pans aside.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves for 20 seconds, set aside.
- Pour brown sugar into the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Break up brown sugar with fingertips until no clumps remain.
- Pour in vegetable oil and applesauce, set mixer with paddle attachment and blend until well combined (occasionally stop and scrape bowl throughout mixing process).
- Mix in eggs and vanilla.
- Add in 1/2 of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined, then blend in buttermilk, then add remaining 1/2 of the flour mixture and mix until well combined.
- Divide mixture evenly among two prepared baking pans. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 28 - 32 minutes.
- Allow to cool in pans about 5 - 10 minutes then run a knife around edges to ensure cake is loose and invert upside down onto a wire rack to cool.
- Cool completely then level tops of cakes as needed. Frost with cream cheese frosting, sprinkle pecans around edges if desired.
- For the frosting: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until well blended***.
Notes
- *You can adjust the amount of spices used here to suit your taste. I'd say this has at amount of spice flavor, not too strong but not mild either.
- **If you don't have buttermilk you can make your own by mixing 1 Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar with enough milk to equal 1 cup. Whisk and let rest 5 minutes before using.
- ***At this point I like to freeze the frosting in 5 minute increments, then mix again with stand mixer, then freeze another 5 and more as needed until it's a stiffer yet creamy consistency.
- Store the cake in refrigerator in an airtight container. Let rest at room temperature before serving.
- Recipe source: Cooking Classy