If you can’t tell, I have been baking obsessed lately.  I blame it on the new show “The Great American Baking Show.”  I never watched “The Great British Baking Show” when it was on PBS and I hate myself for it now.  Especially since I can’t watch it on Netflix, Amazon or PBS.com and I’m not willing to pay $20 per season on iTunes.  Anyway, on to my baking obsession…  The fact that it is the holiday season is really just helpful so it doesn’t seem as weird to be making a couple of cakes a week.

Our family switches off holidays.  So, we spend Thanksgiving with one family, Christmas with the other and then flip flop the following year.  This year we are with my husband’s family for Christmas so we celebrated with my family this past Sunday.  The perfect opportunity to recipe test my newest creation: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Spice cake is one of my Dad’s favorite kinds of cake. The only one I ever made from scratch was ok but not as good as a box mix. So, since I couldn’t find a recipe I liked I set out on a mission to create my own recipe. I am happy to say this one is a winner!

It is good for anytime of year but it did make a beautiful addition to my 2016 Christmas Dessert Table. 

Here is how I make it…

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake Ingredients:
2 c All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
½ tsp Ground Ginger
½ tsp Ground Allspice
½ tsp Ground Cloves
1 c Vegetable Oil
1 c Brown Sugar
1 c White Sugar
4 Eggs (preferably at room temperature)
1 c Buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 325

Grease and flour two 9” round cake pans

In a medium bowl, sift together the first 9 ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, beat the oil, brown sugar and white sugar with an electric mixer until well blended
Beat the eggs in one at a time
Alternately mix in the buttermilk and dry ingredients, beginning and ending with the buttermilk

Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans; tap the pans on the counter a few times to get the bubbles out.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pan and leave on the rack until cooled completely (for a tip on this check out this previous post).

Frosting Ingredients:
12 oz Cream Cheese, softened
6 T Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
2 ¼ c Powdered Sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together
Beat in the vanilla extract
Beat in the powdered sugar until everything is well combined.

To Frost The Cake:

You can make a 2-layer cake and just frost as usual. But a 4-layer cake is very pretty.

If desired, use a cake knife to cut each cake layer in half horizontally so you end up with 4 equal layers of cake (putting it on wax paper is helpful so you can easily spin the cake around while cutting).
Divide the icing in the bowl into 4 equal portions; this is just so you have uniform layers of cake and icing
Place one layer of cake on your serving plate 
Frost only the top of the cake layer with one portion of icing
Put the next cake layer on top and ice only the top of that layer, and so on and so forth.
I leave the sides uniced for a “rustic” look.

If you want to decorate, you can sprinkle on some cinnamon or top with some pieces of candied ginger.

If decorating for the holidays, you can cut a shape (snowflake, snowman, star, Christmas tree etc.) out of a piece of parchment paper, gently lay on top of the cake and sprinkle cinnamon inside the “stencil.”

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Holiday season!

Print Recipe

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The perfect blend of spices for a cake that screams holiday celebration.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cake, Dessert, Holiday

Servings: 8 People

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 c All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Kosher Salt
• 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• ½ tsp Ground Ginger
• ½ tsp Ground Allspice
• ½ tsp Ground Cloves
• 1 c Vegetable Oil
• 1 c Brown Sugar
• 1 c White Sugar
• 4 Eggs preferably at room temperature
• 1 c Buttermilk

Frosting Ingredients:

• 12 oz Cream Cheese softened
• 6 T Unsalted Butter at room temperature
• 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 ¼ c Powdered Sugar

Instructions

The Spice Cake

• Preheat the oven to 325.  Grease and flour two 9” round cake pans.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the first 9 ingredients.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the oil, brown sugar and white sugar with an electric mixer until well blended.  Beat the eggs in one at a time.
• Alternately mix in the buttermilk and dry ingredients, beginning and ending with the buttermilk.
  
• Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans; tap the pans on the counter a few times to get the bubbles out.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pan and leave on the rack until cooled completely (for a tip on this check out this previous post).

The Cream Cheese Frosting

• Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Beat in the powdered sugar until everything is well combined.

To Frost The Cake:

• You can make a 2-layer cake and just frost as usual. But a 4-layer cake is very pretty.  If desired, use a cake knife to cut each cake layer in half horizontally so you end up with 4 equal layers of cake (putting it on wax paper is helpful so you can easily spin the cake around while cutting).
• Divide the icing in the bowl into 4 equal portions; this is just so you have uniform layers of cake and icing.
• Place one layer of cake on your serving plate.  Frost only the top of the cake layer with one portion of icing.  Put the next cake layer on top and ice only the top of that layer, and so on and so forth.  I leave the sides uniced for a “rustic” look.

Notes

If you want to decorate, you can sprinkle on some cinnamon or top with some pieces of candied ginger. If decorating for the holidays, you can cut a shape (snowflake, snowman, star, Christmas tree etc.) out of a piece of parchment paper, gently lay on top of the cake and sprinkle cinnamon inside the "stencil."