Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This moist spice cake brings together warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves with a tender crumb and rich cream cheese frosting. Perfect for holidays, birthdays, or cozy weekend baking, it’s a timeless favorite with old-fashioned flavor and a no-applesauce option everyone will love.

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Course: baking, Dessert

Cuisine: American, Holiday Baking

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 35

Cooling Time: 1

Total Time: 2

Servings: slices

Calories: 420kcal

Cost: $6

Equipment

2 9-inch cake pans Or 1 large 9×13-inch pan
1 Mixing bowl (large) For batter preparation
1 Mixing bowl (medium) For dry ingredients
1 Electric mixer Hand or stand mixer
1 Rubber spatula For scraping and folding
1 Wire cooling rack To cool cake before frosting
1 Offset spatula Optional, for spreading frosting

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2½ cups All-purpose flour
2 teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Baking soda
½ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground ginger
½ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Ground cloves
¼ teaspoon Allspice Optional
¼ teaspoon Cardamom Optional, for complexity

Wet Ingredients

1 cup Unsalted butter Softened
1 cup Brown sugar Light or dark
½ cup Granulated sugar
4 Eggs Room temperature
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 tablespoon Molasses Optional, for deeper flavor
1 cup Sour cream Or buttermilk

Frosting

8 oz Cream cheese Softened
½ cup Unsalted butter Softened
4 cups Powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 pinch Salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease pans.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
Cream butter and both sugars until fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla and molasses.
Add dry mix in thirds, alternating with sour cream. Mix until combined.
Pour batter into pans and bake 30–35 minutes.
Cool cake completely before frosting.
Beat frosting ingredients until fluffy and frost cooled cake.

Notes

Nutrition facts are estimated using automated tools and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes.

Nutrition