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Warm, cozy, and irresistibly spiced! This moist Spice Cake is layered with dreamy cream cheese frosting—perfect for fall or any time of year 🎂🍂
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Spice Cake

Warm, cozy, and irresistibly spiced! This moist Spice Cake is layered with dreamy cream cheese frosting—perfect for fall or any time of year 🎂🍂
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Spice Cake
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Chill 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 12

Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour 360g
  • 2 cups packed light brown sugar 440g
  • 1 cup vegetable oil 240ml
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce 240ml
  • ½ cup buttermilk 120ml
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp ground cloves
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened 225g
  • 1 8-ounce/115g block cream cheese room temperature
  • 6 cups powdered sugar 720g
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Cake:

  • Start by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). Give two 9-inch cake pans a good spray with baking spray so nothing sticks later on.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. You’re building all that cozy spice flavor here!
  • In a separate medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar, oil, applesauce, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until everything’s nice and smooth. Pour this sweet and creamy mix into your dry ingredients and whisk just until it all comes together—don’t overmix!
  • Divide the batter evenly between your two prepared pans and pop them in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the centers bounce back when you lightly press them.
  • Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes, then flip them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Now you’ve got two fluffy, spice-filled layers ready for frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • In a large mixing bowl—or the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment—beat the butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until it’s smooth, creamy, and fluffy. This should take about 2 minutes and smell amazing already!
  • With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar a little at a time. Don’t forget to pause now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets mixed in nicely. Once it’s all combined, add the vanilla and give it another whirl on medium-low speed until it’s light, fluffy, and ready to spread—about 1 more minute.

For the Assembly:

  • Place one of your cake layers on a cake stand or serving plate—this is your base! Spread about 1 cup of frosting on top, nice and even. Gently place the second cake layer on top, then cover the whole cake with the rest of the frosting—don’t forget the sides!
  • Now for the fun part: decorate however you like!
  • If you’re not serving it right away, no worries! You can keep it in the Refrigerate , loosely covered, for up to 3 days and it’ll still taste amazing.

Notes

  • Use a kitchen scale for flour—it’s the most accurate and helps avoid dense cake. No scale? Spoon and level your flour to prevent overpacking.
  • Don’t overmix the batter! Mix just until everything comes together for a light, tender cake.
  • Bring ingredients to room temp. It helps everything mix smoothly and gives you lump-free frosting and better batter texture.
  • Soften butter by leaving it out for 1–2 hours. Avoid the microwave—it can melt the butter and ruin your frosting. In a rush? Cube it to speed things up!