Spice Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Name: Spice Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 310 min
Ingredients: 2 1/4 Cups (298g) all purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp ground allspice; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg; 1/4 tsp ground cloves; 1 3/4 Cups (350g) packed brown sugar (light or dark); 3/4 Cup (180ml) vegetable oil; 1 Cup (240g) unsweetened applesauce; 4 large eggs, room temperature; 2 tsp pure vanilla extract; 1 Cup (240ml) buttermilk*, room temperature (DIY recipe in notes); 3/4 Cup (170g) unsalted butter; 12 Oz (339g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese, room temperature (NOT the spread); 6 Cups (720g) powdered sugar; 2 tsp pure vanilla extract; pinch of salt, or to taste; 1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar (light or dark); 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/8 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract; 1 tsp water; 1/2 Cup (2oz, 60g) pecans, coarsely chopped

September 7, 2025 · In: Cake, Fall, Featured, Recipes, Seasonal, Winter

Jump to Recipe

You all have been asking for a spice cake recipe for years, and after tons of recipe testing this might be my favorite Fall cake of all time! It’s flavored with five warming spices for the perfect autumnal flavor, is stick-to-your-fork moist, and is so easy to make by whisking the ingredients together (no electric mixer needed!). I paired this spice cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting that makes it NEXT LEVEL delicious, then topped it with easy homemade candied pecans. If you’re looking for the perfect Fall cake, this is it!

spice cake recipe with brown butter cream cheese frosting

spice cake recipe with brown butter frosting

Why You’ll Love This Spice Cake

Quick & Easy to Make. You can whisk this cake batter up by hand. As long as you follow the order of the ingredients, it’s nearly fail-proof!
Perfectly Spiced. This cake includes five of my favorite warm spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves. I did a lot of testing to find the perfect amount of each of these spices, so every bite tastes like Fall.
Stick-To-Your-Fork Moist. This cake pulls all the stops when it comes to moisture. The addition of oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, and applesauce make the texture absolutely perfect, and it stays moist for days (even in the refrigerator)!
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting. Need I say more? I was originally going to pair this spice cake with a double batch of my cream cheese frosting, but then I heard about brown butter cream cheese frosting and had to make that instead. The nutty caramel notes of the brown butter amplify the Fall flavors in this cake so well!

Spice Cake Ingredients

This spice cake uses simple ingredients you should be able to find at your local grocery store, but I’ve included some substitutions below if you need them. Here are the key ingredients:

All-purpose flour. Also known as plain flour, all-purpose flour will give this spice cake the best structure.
Baking powder & baking soda. The leavening agents that help make the cake rise in the baking process.
Spices. The spices used to flavor this cake are cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves. There’s also a little salt in there for good measure. If you want to add or substitute another warming spice like cardamom, feel free to experiment!
Vegetable oil. This is an oil-based cake which makes it plenty moist. I like to use plain vegetable oil you’re used to baking with will do the job.
Brown sugar. I use all brown sugar in this cake to sweeten it, soften the crumb, and provide more moisture.
Applesauce. I learned that unsweetened applesauce is often added to spice cake recipes to compliment the spices, bind the ingredients together with its pectin content, and help retain moisture. I didn’t test this cake recipe with any applesauce substitutes, but research tells me that any other fruit puree (including canned pumpkin) works as a good substitute.
Eggs. For structure and binding the ingredients together.
Vanilla. A little vanilla makes the flavor of this spice cake more complex.
Buttermilk. The high fat content of buttermilk takes the moisture level of this cake beyond! I don’t always have store bought buttermilk on hand and have tested this recipe with homemade buttermilk (1 Cup of whole milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice). It works great! Another good substitute that I have tested is sour cream.

from scratch spice cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting

How to Make a Spice Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Here’s how to make this spice cake from start to finish, including making and decorating with the brown butter cream cheese frosting.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Set this bowl aside.

what spices are used in a spice cake recipe

Combine the rest of the ingredients. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, and applesauce. Then, whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk.

alternate adding the flour and buttermilk

Bake. Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans (either three 6-inch cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans) and bake at 350ºF (177ºC) for 35-40 minutes.

Brown the butter and candy the pecans. Brown the butter and candy the pecans (if using), then cool both to room temperature. You’ll know the brown butter is ready to use in the frosting recipe when it has solidified to the consistency of softened butter.

Make the frosting and decorate. Once the brown butter is cooled to room temperature, use it to make the brown butter cream cheese frosting. Then, assemble and decorate the spice cake. I filled and stacked the cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting, then added a rustic finish using a small icing spatula.

Then, I topped the cake with the candied pecans in a crescent shape.

spice cake recipe from scratch with brown butter frosting

Regardless of how you decorate, this spice cake is absolutely delicious! Between the ultra-moist, perfectly spiced cake and the nutty caramel notes of the brown butter cream cheese frosting, it will be a true hit at any gathering.

spice cake with brown butter cream cheese buttercream

Tips for Working with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese frosting is notoriously soft and can be frustrating to work with if you don’t know how to troubleshoot. Here are my best tips for making it the perfect consistency for filling and frosting this cake:

Use full-fat brick style cream cheese. I use Philadelphia brand, but any brick-style cream cheese that’s not low fat will do. Other kinds of cream cheese (low fat or the spreadable kind in the tub) contain too much water content and will always result in a soupy frosting that’s too thin for filling and frosting a cake. If you don’t have access to brick-style cream cheese, make a double batch of my brown butter frosting to pair with this cake instead.
Make sure the brown butter is solidified. Before you start mixing up the buttercream, it’s super important that the brown butter has solidified to room temperature. It should be the consistency of a butter that’s been left out of the refrigerator for an hour or so. Not so creamy that it’s almost melted, but room temperature and solid.
Refrigerate to thicken the consistency. If you make the brown butter cream cheese frosting and find that it’s not thick enough for your liking or your kitchen environment is super warm, pop the frosting in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to let the butter solidify a bit. Then, re-mix it on low speed with your stand mixer to make it smooth and uniform. The trip to the refrigerator will thicken the entire buttercream to a workable consistency.

brown butter cream cheese frosting on spice cake

More Fall Cake Recipes You’ll Love

If you’re looking for more cakes to make this Fall, try these recipes from my blog:

spice layer cake recipe with brown butter frosting

I hope you love this spice cake recipe as much as I do! Let me know if you make it in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram if you post a pic. I love to see what you create with my recipes!

Ingredients

Spice Cake

2 1/4 Cups (298g) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 3/4 Cups (350g) packed brown sugar light or dark
3/4 Cup (180ml) vegetable oil
1 Cup (240g) unsweetened applesauce
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 Cup (240ml) buttermilk*, room temperature DIY recipe in notes

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

3/4 Cup (170g) unsalted butter
12 Oz (339g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese, room temperature NOT the spread
6 Cups (720g) powdered sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt, or to taste

Candied Pecans (Optional)

1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar light or dark
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp water
1/2 Cup (2oz, 60g) pecans, coarsely chopped

Instructions

Make the Spice Cake

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Prepare three 6-inch cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with baking spray and lining the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add the brown sugar, vegetable oil, and unsweetened applesauce. Whisk together until uniform, then whisk in the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla.
Whisk in half of the dry ingredients, followed by all of the buttermilk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. The batter will be fairly thin.
Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 32-36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling.

Make the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Brown the Butter: Add the butter into a large frying pan and cook over medium heat until the butter melts, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes while stirring constantly. The melted butter will start to foam on top, then will turn light brown in color and smell deliciously nutty. Remove from heat at this point and transfer to a glass container. Allow it to re-solidify for about 2 hours at room temperature or place it into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. It should be completely room temperature and solidified (but easy to press a spatula into) before continuing on with the buttercream recipe.
When the brown butter has cooled to the ideal consistency, place it into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a large bowl and hand mixer) and add the cream cheese. Mix on medium-high until fluffy and light in color, about 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed.
Turn the mixer to low speed and add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time, scraping down the bowl and paddle after mixing in each addition. Add the vanilla and salt and continue mixing on low speed until smooth and uniform.

Make the Candied Pecans

In a small saucepan, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and water. Mix together while you cook over medium heat until the mixture starts to bubble slightly. Reduce the heat slightly and add the pecans. Stir to coat them while you continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes, until the pecans are nicely coated and smell fragrant.
Place the candied pecans onto a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer to cool.

Assembly

Once the cake layers have cooled completely, level them to your desired height. Fill and stack the cake layers with brown butter cream cheese frosting, then crumb coat the cake with more of the frosting. Refrigerate the crumb coated cake for at least 30 minutes to let the frosting firm up.
To create the design pictured, use the rest of the brown butter cream cheese frosting to frost the cake and create rustic texture using a small icing spatula. Top with the candied pecans in a crescent shape.

Notes

*DIY Buttermilk Recipe: add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar to a jar and top it with 1 Cup of whole milk. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes before using in the recipe.

Make Ahead Tips:

The spice cake layers can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered tightly in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months before thawing to room temperature.
The brown butter can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature. It should be slightly creamy before using in this recipe.
The brown butter cream cheese frosting can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip with your stand mixer on low for one minute to bring it back to frosting consistency.
The candied pecans can be made ahead of time and (once cooled) stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week, or in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.
The final assembled cake must be stored in the refrigerator because of the cream cheese frosting. I like to take the cake out of the refrigerator an hour or two before serving to bring it back to room temperature.