Hey guys! I hope we’re all really settling in to winter by now, and getting ready to switch things up in a few weeks to warmer weather. BUT, for now, it’s still snow storms and cold weather, at least in Colorado. And that means warm spices and cozy flavors, like this spice cake.
I love the idea of baking a cake in a loaf pan, and then slicing it to create a layer-cake that is more unique, and nice and small. Sometimes you just don’t need a huge cake, right? This is the perfect solution. This amount of cake batter is equivalent to one 8-inch round cake, or 12 cupcakes.
When I think about warm, cozy desserts, spice cake always comes to mind for me. This one is full of cinnamon, nutmeg, and all the warm spices you know and love. I highly recommend you don’t cut down on any of the amounts- it seems like a lot, but you really want all those flavors to come through strong!
How to make High-Altitude Spice Cake
First, let’s whisk together all of the dry ingredients. That means the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, clove, baking powder, and salt.
You start off the liquid ingredients by beating together the softened butter, oil, and sugar until it’s combined and fluffy. The addition of oil is a great way to help keep a cake moist- this liquid form of fat will give you a great balance of flavor and texture when mixed with the butter.
Then, beat in your eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla extract. The mixture will be fairly thin at this point. Now, you want to mix in the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk. This process should start and end with the flour mixture. It also doesn’t have to be perfect- just add about 1/3 of the dry, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, and continue until everything has been added. The batter will be fairly thick and smooth.
Spread it into your prepared pan, and bake it on up.
While the cake is baking, you can work on your ermine frosting. This is a flour based frosting, and it turns into something super fluffy and beautiful. If you haven’t yet tried it, you might have heard me talking about it, and it’s seriously so good.
Once you’ve got the frosting ready and the cake cooled, remove the cake from the pan. Trim off the top of the cake to create a more flat surface, and then slice the whole cake in half across the equator so-to-speak. These are your two layers!
Frost and slice as you wish- no matter what it’s gonna be great!
Tips & Tricks For The Perfect Spice Cake
This is a simple cake, and I have some tips to help you make sure it will come out perfectly every time.
- The cake batter will be thick and it should be! Use an offset spatula to help spread the batter evenly into your cake pan.
- Use a straight-sided loaf pan if you have one. Many loaf pan sides are slightly angled, but since loaf pans aren’t exactly standard, you may have one with straight sides. Go for a straight sided one if you’ve got it to make for a more even, easy to frost cake.
- Be sure to let the flour cool for the frosting. It will not turn out and mix properly if you skip this step- the flour paste must be completely cool!
- What spices can I use in my spice cake? You can use any spices that you prefer here! I’ve got a pretty classic mix, but feel free to mix and match whatever you prefer.
- I’m at about 5,000 ft. above sea level and I find that most people who live between about 3,000-7,000 ft above sea level do not need to make any adjustments to my recipes.
Enjoy!
Spice Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp. ground clove
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk + 2 tbs.
For the frosting:
- 6 tbs. flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake:
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and generously grease a 9-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, and sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla extract. Add in the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk until all ingredients have been added. The batter will be thick and smooth. Pour into your prepared pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
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Cool the cake completely before slicing and frosting.
For the frosting:
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In a small saucepan, whisk together the flour, milk, salt, and cinnamon until combined. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking frequently, for about 5-10 minutes, or until the mixture becomes very thick and paste-like. Remove from heat, and place in a bowl to cool. Cool the mixture completely before moving on- this is very important!
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until it becomes very light in color- almost white- and very fluffy. This will take about 10 minutes on medium speed, using the paddle attachment.
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Once the flour mixture is cool, beat it into the butter mixture on high, and let the mixture beat for another 5 minutes or so. The frosting will become very light and fluffy and smooth. Add in the vanilla extract and beat to combine. Then, frost your cake as desired!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Just curious at what elevation are your recipes created/adapted at?
Hi Debbie- I'm at about 5,000 feet!
This was a wonderful tasting cake and the frosting was very good. This cake was refrigerated and served which made for a wonderful and chewy taste. I highly recommend this cake.
Thanks so much Danny, I'm so glad you liked it!!
Forgive my ignorance but when recipes call for milk are they asking for whole, 2%, low fat, or skim?
Hi there! If it's not specified, that usually means that any milk will work. ????
Can this cake be adapted to a 9 inch round cake pan?
Hi Abby- you can absolutely bake this in a 9 inch round cake pan! You'll want to watch the bake time, and I would start checking it at 25 minutes.
I am wanting to make a 3 layer spice cake for Christmas, and I love your recipes. They work so great for me here in NM at around 7000 feet. My question for this recipe: if I am going to triple it, it gives me 5 1/4 cups of flour and that seems like a lot. What do you suggest? Thank you, and Happy Holidays!
Hi there- So sorry I didn't see this sooner! Tripling the recipe would give you that amount of flour though, yes. I hope you had a wonderful holiday!
The batter is really tasty, but I'm at 5,000 feet and the cake was raw at 40 minutes- I had to bake it for over an hour to make sure it wasn't raw in the middle, so it doesn't appear to be a high-altitude friendly recipe.
I develop all my recipes at 5,000 ft as well, so any recipe you see on this website is high-altitude friendly from about 3,000-7,000 ft. I suspect that your oven may not be heating correctly, which is very normal. My own oven heats about 5-10 degrees under what it says, so I adjust for that as needed.