Fall's sweet indulgence, spice cake. At Cake Muse we love fall and what better way to celebrate the cooler weather than with a cup of tea and a slice of homemade warm spice cake. We sourced this recipe from bon apétit and baked it in house to be sure it was tasty!
In addition, we added Soft Gel Food Color in Warm Brown to the frosting which gave the cake a warm spice look, along with Dutch Status to the top as décor.
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
CAKE
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder*
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1/3 cup whole milk
FROSTING
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Preparation
CAKE
Step 1
Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Spray two 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2-inch sides with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment; spray parchment.
Step 2
Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until smooth. Beat in brown sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beating to blend between additions. Divide batter between pans.
Step 3
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in pans on rack 15 minutes. Run knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto racks. Remove parchment. Using tart pan bottom as aid, turn cakes over onto racks, top sides up, and cool completely.
**Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap cakes in plastic and store at room temperature.
FROSTING
Step 4
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add cream cheese and orange peel; beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until smooth.
Step 5
Place 1 cake layer on large platter. Spoon frosting atop cake in dollops; spread to edges. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.
**Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.
For more expert tips on buttercream and frostings read our blog post The Ultimate Guide to Buttercream Perfection
