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!
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.
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.
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177ºC, then grease and line three 6-inch cake pans (like what’s pictured here) or two 8-inch cake pans.
Step 2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. This includes the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and all five spices. Set this bowl aside.
Step 3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, and applesauce.
Step 4. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Step 5. Add the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk.
Step 6. Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Step 7. 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.
Step 8. Make the brown butter cream cheese frosting.
Step 9. Once the cake layers are cooled to room temperature, 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.
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.
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.
More Fall Cake Recipes You’ll Love
If you’re looking for more cakes to make this Fall, try these recipes from my blog:
- Perfect Pumpkin Layer Cake
- Spiced Chai Pumpkin Cake
- Apple Spice Cake
- London Fog Cake
- Banana Cake 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!
Spice Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
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
- The spice cake 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.
If I wanted enough batter for three 8 inch cake pans, should I multiply the ingredients by 1.5?
Hi Daniel! Yes, 1.5x the recipe will be the perfect amount of batter for three 8-inch pans. Enjoy!
Hi, this cake looks so amazing! And I was just wondering if there’s any other substitute for Applesauce.
Thanks so much, Maria! I haven’t tried this recipe with any applesauce substitutes but the main purpose of that ingredient is to add moisture and tenderness to the texture. You could try replacing it with sour cream or plain yogurt, but it would be an experiment. Hope that helps!
Could I halve this to fit three 4″ cakes?
Do you know how I could convert this recipe to fit in a 10×14 cake pan?
Hi Aleigha! You should be good to go with this recipe as-is. Bake at 325F (slightly lower temp) and check for doneness at 30-35 minutes. Hope that helps!
Overall great cake! Came out moist and directions were easy to follow. The brown butter cream cheese frosting was delicious! My only complaint is that this is not a spice cake. I couldn’t taste any of the spices come through. Overall, delicious cake, just doesn’t give the spice cake flavor.
Hi Sarah! I’m happy you liked this recipe! Feel free to up the spices next time 🙂
This cake was delicious and the brown butter cream cheese frosting was heavenly! I made mine GF with a 1:1 substitute and turned out light as air and no one could tell the difference. It was a big hit for a family get together. Thanks for your cake recipes! They are the best I have found so far to convert into gluten free!
That’s amazing, Jen! Thanks for letting me know it worked so well with GF flour!
Can the APF be substituted with Gluten Free flour? Looking forward to trying out the recipe
Hi Stef! I haven’t tried it myself but I do have lots of GF readers who use a 1:1 substitute of GF AP flour with my recipes (even the ones that call for cake flour!). It should work to do that in this recipe!
Can you pipe this frosting, or is it too soft?
Hi Janet! It is a little softer than a standard American buttercream but still pipeable!
Hi was just reading the ingredients I live in the uk we don’t have blocks of cream cheese just packs which is spreadable I always use this for cheesecakes and cream cheese frosting. Hope that is ok to use on my cake.
Hi Butch! If you’re used to using it for frostings and cheesecakes I think it will work well for this frosting. Enjoy!
hi Whitney, you make such beautiful cakes!
can this recipe be baked in a 9×13 pan?
Thanks so much, Gabby! This recipe should bake well in a 9×13 pan but I haven’t tried it yet. If you want to try, I recommend baking at 325ºF and checking for doneness around 30-35 minutes. Hope that helps!
Thank you Whitney for your prompt response. I love watching your cake videos and this is one of my favorite instagram pages. Admire your work 🙂
Hi! Do you have a small batch recipe for this?
Hi Kayla! I don’t have an official small batch recipe for this but if you scale the recipe down to 1/3 it will make the perfect amount of batter for three 4 inch pans or one 6 inch pan. You’ll just divide all of the ingredients by 3 to get the right amount. Hope that helps!
Can these be made into muffins?
Hi Lisa! They can be made as cupcakes if that’s what you mean. Fill the tins no more than 2/3 full and bake at 350F for 14-18 minutes.