Name: Moist Spice Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 130 min
Ingredients: 2¼ cups flour (regular, all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)); ¼ cup cornstarch (also known as cornflour); 1½ tsp baking powder; ½ tsp baking soda; ½ tsp salt; 2½ tsp cinnamon (ground (see note 4 about this cakes 'spice' level)); 1¾ tsp ginger (ground, powdered); ½ tsp cloves (ground); ½ tsp nutmeg (ground); 1½ cups soft brown sugar (firmly packed (see note 2)); 3 large eggs (room temperature); 1 cup unflavoured vegetable oil (I use canola); 1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or apple puree); 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract; ½ cup Greek yoghurt (room temperature, full-fat); 1 batch of my cream cheese buttercream frosting recipe

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This spice cake is so incredibly moist, and packed with that ‘cozy’ spice flavour! Topped with a tangy cream cheese buttercream frosting, you’ll be coming back for seconds (and maybe even thirds)!

What is a spice cake?

A spice cake is very similar to a carrot or pumpkin spice cake, minus the carrots or pumpkins!

It’s a super moist, slightly dense cake packed with spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Some variations (like mine) also have applesauce mixed in, which adds an additional depth of flavour to the cake.

What makes this spice cake so soft?

There are a few key ingredients which make this cake SO SOFT!

This recipe uses a cake flour substitute (a mixture of all purpose flour and cornstarch – cake flour is actually banned here in New Zealand which is why I can’t just use regular cake flour!). Cake flour has a lower protein content than regular flour, which results in a more tender crumb. By replacing some of the regular flour with cornstarch, it helps to reduce the protein content of the flour and mimic cake flour.
Secondly, this recipe uses oil instead of butter. Because there is ample flavour coming through from the other ingredients (spices and applesauce), I decided to go without the butter. Oil is liquid at room temperature, resulting in a cake that stays moist for days!
Applesauce is another ingredient I decided to add in. Many spice cake recipes don’t use applesauce, but I found that adding it in added great flavour and made for a softer cake.
Lastly, this recipe uses Greek yoghurt to lighten the batter, add flavour, and help leaven the cake by activating the baking soda. I first used sour cream instead of Greek yoghurt, but found that the high fat content in sour cream resulted in a cake that was a little too dense for my liking.

Another factor is the mixing method. This recipe uses the ‘muffin method’ of mixing cake batter, where you combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then add the wet to the dry and gently fold them together. By hand mixing the batter and not overmixing it, you’re going to prevent too much gluten from forming (which is great for things like bread, but we don’t want TOO MUCH gluten in a cake!).

How spiced is this cake?

I’d say this recipe is in the middle, so more than what you would consider to be ‘lightly spiced’, but not overwhelmingly spiced either. You can always add more or less spice depending on your own taste preference.

Can I make my own applesauce?

If you can’t easily find applesauce in your local area, you can easily make your own! Applesauce is basically an apple puree, and the type we want for this recipe is unsweetened and unflavoured.

All you have to do is peel and core some apples, and place them in a pot with a little bit of water. About a third of the apples should be covered with water – you just want enough to create some steam. Then bring the water to a boil, and then turn down the heat and cover and leave to cook for about 15-20 minutes until the apples are soft.

Once soft, strain most of the water out, and then puree the apples. You’re then left with applesauce 🙂

How to make this spice cake

This cake is SO EASY to put together, and uses the ‘muffin method’ of making cake batter.

Begin by preheating your oven to 160°C fan forced, and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins. I like to grease my cake tins with my homemade cake release.

For the cake batter, start off by sifting together your dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg). By premixing your dry ingredients, it helps ensure that everything is mixed well, preventing you from overmixing the batter when it comes to combining your wet and dry ingredients.

Set your dry ingredients aside and in another bowl combine your wet ingredients (soft brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, Greek yoghurt and vanilla). Mix until well combined.

Now pour your wet ingredients into your premixed dry ingredients, and gently fold them together using a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix the batter.

It’s important to do this step by hand as this will prevent us from overmixing our batter and developing too much gluten.

Once the batter is done, evenly distribute it into the two 8 inch cake tins and cook for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to completely cool before frosting. I love using my cream cheese buttercream recipe for this cake!

How to decorate your spice cake

Here’s a quick run through on how I decorated my cake! I went for a super simple ‘rustic’ look.

Because my cake layers had a slight dome on the top, I began by trimming the tops with a serrated knife so that I had nice flat cake layers.

To decorate the cake I placed my first cake layer on my cake stand and placed a generous amount of frosting on top. I then used an offset spatula to neatly spread out the frosting.

I then placed my next cake layer on top, flipping it over so that the bottom of the cake was the top of my layer cake (so that we have a nice flat top).

I then placed a generous amount of frosting on my top layer and again used my offset spatula to neatly spread it out. I then finished off by placing some walnuts and pecans in a circle around the top edge of the cake.