Moist Spice Cake
Print Pin VideoThis spice cake is so incredibly moist and packed with that warm, cozy spice flavour! Your house will smell AMAZING after making this cake.
IMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Spice Cake
- 2¼ cups (270 g) flour - regular, all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ¼ cup (25 g) 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 (300 g) soft brown sugar - firmly packed (see note 2)
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1 cup (240 g) unsweetened applesauce - or apple puree
- 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
- ½ cup (125 g) Greek yoghurt - room temperature, full-fat
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 1 batch of my cream cheese buttercream frosting recipe - see note 5
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 6 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl combine your soft brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, vanilla and Greek yoghurt. Mix until well combined.
- Pour your wet ingredients into your premixed dry ingredients and gently fold together with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix the batter (see note 3).
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow them to cool in the cake tins for about 15 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with my cream cheese buttercream frosting.
Video
Notes
Note 1. You can use cake flour in replacement of the all purpose flour and cornstarch in this recipe (295g total required).
Note 2. If using measuring cups for this recipe, then you want to firmly pack your soft brown sugar. To do this, pack your measuring cup with sugar and using the back of a spoon, press the sugar into the cup with a little bit of pressure (not too much) and then fill the remaining cup with more sugar.
Note 3. By gently folding in the ingredients, it prevents too much gluten from forming, thus giving us a softer cake. Only mix until the strands of flour have disappeared and the batter is uniform
Note 4. This cake has what I would consider a 'medium' level of spice. It's more than what you might consider 'lightly' spiced, but it isn't overwhelmingly spiced. If you prefer to have a real spice hit coming through, then you can add more spice :)
Note 5. 1 batch of my cream cheese buttercream will be enough to completely cover an 8 inch 2 layer cake (top and sides). If you would like to decorate your cake how I did without covering the sides, then 3/4's or even half of the buttercream recipe (if you prefer not to have a thick layer of frosting) will be enough :)
Note 6. In this recipe I use an oven with the fan function turned on. The fan forced function cooks cakes/cupcakes faster, so if your oven doesn't have a fan option, then you will need to increase the baking temperature to 175°C (347°F) so that the cake/cupcake bakes at the same rate as mine 🙂
Nutrition
Calories: 2522kcal | Carbohydrates: 327g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 124g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 68g | Monounsaturated Fat: 29g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 281mg | Sodium: 1373mg | Potassium: 674mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 190g | Vitamin A: 451IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 423mg | Iron: 10mg
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
Tried this recipe?I love hearing from you! Tag me @cakesbymk.nz on instagram so I can see your amazing creations :)