This festive and traditional spice cake recipe is the perfect addition to any holiday gathering!
Homemade Spice Cake
Moist, soft, and flavorful, this might just become your new favorite cake recipe.
It’s like winter’s answer to carrot cake! And this spice cake in particular is super quick and easy to make, with ingredients you might already have in your kitchen – no stand mixer required.
The absolute best part about this old fashioned spice cake is that it will make your entire kitchen smell like a giant gingerbread house!
Cream Cheese Frosting
A basic cream cheese icing recipe is so versatile and always good to have on hand. Below is the one I used on the cake. For vegan cream cheese frosting, simply use vegan brands of cream cheese and butter, available in many regular grocery stores.
12 oz cream cheese
6 oz salted butter
3 cups powdered sugar (or sugar free powdered sugar)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
optional sprinkle of cinnamon or a few drops maple extract
Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature. Beat all ingredients with either an electric mixer or stand mixer (or by hand, which won’t be as whipped and fluffy but will still work).
If it’s too thick, very slowly add a little milk of choice; if too thin, add additional powdered sugar. The recipe makes about 3 cups of frosting.
How To Make Spice Cake From Scratch
Step One: Whisk wet ingredients, preheat oven to 350 F, and prepare your baking pans.
Step Two: Stir dry ingredients into wet, and pour into the pans to bake on the oven’s center rack.
Step Three: Let cool before inverting, then frost and serve.
Bring it to a fancy party, or eat it in your pajamas, curled up by the fire.
I know a lot of you find it helpful to see unedited iphone pictures of recipes, so here are some unedited photos of the cake when I made it for a brunch.
The recipe is incredibly versatile – You can make a three-layer cake, two-layer cake, or bake it in a 9×13 pan for a healthy snack cake that’s perfect for packing into lunchboxes or serving—either frosted or unadorned—as a light after-dinner dessert.
The moist and tender spice cake has incredible holiday flavor, packed with applesauce, pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. If you want to give the cake a healthy vitamin A boost, feel free to substitute carrot juice for the milk of choice – you won’t be able to tell at all!
Spice Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/2 cup sweet potato or pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup milk of choice or carrot juice
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tbsp white or cider vinegar
- 2 cups spelt or white flour
- 1 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp each: baking soda and baking powder
- 1 1/8 tsp salt
- optional 1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
- Whisk first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line pans with parchment – you can bake the cake in one 9×13, two 8-inch, or either two or three 6-inch pans. Stir all remaining ingredients in a second bowl, then stir into the wet ingredients to form a batter. Pour into the pans, and bake on the center rack 27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let cool completely. If desired, frost with coconut butter or your favorite frosting (such as the recipe included earlier in this post). You need about 2 1/2 to 3 cups.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Favorite Holiday Desserts:
Peanut Butter Pie – 5 Ingredients
You had me at that first photo alone! I love a good spice cake mix but have never made my own. This looks so good!
This has me feeling all warm and cozy :).
Looks delicious, Happy Holidays!
Alyssa,
Wine a Little, Cook a Lot
I made it! Delicious. I haven’t frosted it yet, but I had to sneak a taste. So good.
The cake is great. The frosting, total thumbs-down.
Hi Katie, does gluten free flour work for this recipe? I love spice cake, but am hesitant to make it if advised that it’s not a good fit for the recipe! Thank you!
Try Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour Blend. I have had great success in every traditional wheat flour recipe I have made.
For best results, in all of gluten free baking, weigh your flour going by how much a cup of flour weighs on the bag. For example, Bob’s Red Mill weighs 37 grams for 1 tablespoon, so for 1 cup of flour weigh out 16 TBSP. times 37 grams. So 1 cup of flour weighs 148 grams. For this recipe, (2 cups flour) you would weigh 296 grams of Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF.
OOOPS
Please correct the information that I just posted above. It NOT 1 TBSP. that weighs 37 grams, BUT IT IS 1/4 cup that weighs 37 grams of Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Four. The rest of what I wrote is correct: 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour blend weighs 148 grams and substitutes for 1 cup of flour in traditional wheat flour recipes.
Looks great! Can I sub maple syrup for sugar? And whole wheat flour instead of white?
Unfortunately we have never tried, and it would be a big experiment because you’re replacing a solid sugar with a liquid and using denser flour. Be sure to report back if you experiment!
Hi! I made this today with whole wheat flour and it turned out great.
Looks delicious! Might have to make this for christmas dinner this year. Do you know if I could make it into cupcakes instead, and if I did, how long would it need to bake for? Thanks!
I don’t see why you couldn’t, but you’ll have to experiment. I would look to this recipe as a guide! https://lett-trim.today/2018/10/15/pumpkin-cupcakes-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> Jason
Was this baked in a glass or metal dish?
Most cake pans are metal, but it would be fine if you want to use a glass 8×8 pan instead!
This is an awesome recipe. It’s probably the best spice cake I’ve ever made. I made it on Tuesday and after it cooled I could taste a sort of baking soda aftertaste. But after sitting a day, there was no taste at all. It’s absolutely yummy! I would recommend making it at least one day ahead, but maybe that’s just me. I served it with whipped cream instead of frosting and also added chopped pecans and raisins to the recipe. The best part is I just mixed it with a fork..no mixer required. I used skim milk to reduce the calories a bit.
I love your addition of pecans! I also think cakes and brownies usually taste better two days after being made. Not sure why that is!
I didn’t mean “no taste at all.” LOL I meant there was no baking soda aftertaste.