It’s delicious, spiced to perfection, and topped with a smooth brown butter cream cheese frosting. It’s a true show-stopper that never fails to dazzle. Add candied nuts to the top as a finishing touch…both for decoration and munching!
Ingredients
Spice Cake
- 2 3/4 cups (350g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 2 cups (380g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup (200ml) vegetable or canola oil
- 1 cup (235g) unsweetened apple sauce
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (200g) sour cream, room temperature
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter
- 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 5 cups (600g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Decorations
- Cinnamon sticks
- Candied nuts (half the recipe)
Instructions
Spice Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare two 8-inch round cake pans. Apply a small amount of nonstick spray to the bottoms and line them with a circular sheet of parchment paper. If you have damp cake strips, wrap them around the meat. Remove from the equation.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium mixing basin. Remove from the equation.
- Mix the sugar, oil, and apple sauce in a large mixing basin until the sugar is uniformly soaked, either by hand with a whisk or with an electric mixer.
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract.
- After the mixture is smooth, stir in half of the dry ingredients until well incorporated. After that, add the sour cream and the remainder of the dry ingredients.
- The batter should be light and airy. Fill the two cake pans about 2/3 full with the batter.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Make the brown butter while the cake is baking.
Brown Butter
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the brown butter. Melt it down and keep stirring until it foams, bubbles, and gets a deep amber color (for more details on how to brown butter, click here). While the cakes bake, pour the brown butter onto a shallow glass dish and refrigerate.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 20 minutes after baking. After that, turn out onto a cooling rack. Transfer the cakes to the refrigerator uncovered to chill fully before frosting if you wish to decorate the cake the same day. Allow the cakes to cool fully at room temperature before decorating the next day. Wrap each layer in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Make the icing once the cakes have chilled. But first, make sure the butter is good. It should be opaque and stiff, but not hard at this point. It should have the consistency of softened butter and be simple to cut into using a butter knife. Continue to relax if it isn’t there yet.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese once it’s ready. Using a hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, blend until smooth.
- 1 cup of powered sugar at a time, then the vanilla extract. If it’s still too thin, thicken with 1/2 cup powdered sugar at a time. Alternatively, if your house is a little warm, refrigerate the frosting for around 30 minutes to thicken.
Assemble
- After the cakes have cooled fully, level the tops and cut each layer in half to produce four thin layers. You don’t have to do this, but I appreciate how uniformly the icing is distributed throughout the cake.
- Between each layer, spread a thin layer of icing. Once all of the layers have been piled, apply a thin layer of icing to the cake to seal in the crumbs. To enable the icing to set, place the cake in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
- Cover the cake with the leftover frosting after it has chilled. Decorate with cinnamon sticks, crumbled cake crumbs, or handmade candied nuts if desired.
- Return the cake to the refrigerator to cool until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Source: Butternut Bakery
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