The Hungry MouseButtermilk Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This has to be one of my favorite cakes. It’s remarkably tender and spicy—and covered in gloriously tangy cream-cheese and butter frosting.
And the best part? It’s ridiculously easy to make. Combine the dry ingredients, beat in the wet ingredients, pop it in the oven and…voila! Slather it with rich frosting, slice off a big hunk and enjoy with a piping hot cup of coffee.
A note on ingredients
Use cake flour. Seriously.
You can totally make this cake with all-purpose flour. And it will be good. But make it with cake flour and it will have a super-tender crumb. (Cake flour is made from soft wheat, which has less protein and gluten—so it’ll produce a finer-textured cake.)
I usually use regular old Softasilk from the grocery store. King Arthur Flour’s Queen Guinevere Cake Flour is lovely, too.
For spices, I love Penzey’s spices.
OK. On to the cake!
Buttermilk Spice Cake
spray oil
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
2 Tbls. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
8 Tbls. butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
Old-Fashioned Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 pound cream cheese
12 Tbls. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 pound powdered sugar
Buttermilk Spice Cake: Prep your pan
Grab your pan. (I used an 8-inch x 8-inch pan.)
Give the entire inside a quick, light spray with oil.
Cut a square of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan. Don’t make yourself nuts�it doesn’t have to be exactly square. You just want to cover the bottom.
Press the parchment to the bottom of the pan. The oil will make it stick.
Give the paper a quick spritz with spray oil.
Set the pan aside while you make the cake batter.
Buttermilk Spice Cake: Make the cake batter
Before you start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Toss all of your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt, and brown sugar) in the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.
With a whisk, stir the dry ingredients thoroughly until you have a uniform mixture.
It should be an even light-brown color, about like this:
Add the butter and buttermilk to the flour mixture.
Beat to incorporate with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer (or with a hand-held mixer if you’re using a regular mixing bowl).
Mix like this for a minute or two, until the wet ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the mixture starts to get fluffy.
It will be really thick. You want it to look about like this:
Add the eggs to the batter.
Beat for a minute or two to combine the eggs and whip some air into the batter.
It’ll be kind of like the texture of homemade whipped cream. You want it to look about like this:
Pour the batter out into your prepared pan.
Sometimes, cake batter looks so good that I want to jump in the pan and swim around a little. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
With a spatula, smooth down the surface of the batter a little.
You want it to look about like this:
Buttermilk Spice Cake: Bake the cake!
Pop the pan into your preheated oven. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.
Baking Tip
While the cake is baking, avoid slamming anything around in your kitchen (i.e. close cabinets gently, don’t breakdance in front of the oven, etc). Big vibrations can cause a cake to flop before it’s completely set.
If you use a different size pan, adjust your time up or down accordingly and keep a close eye on it near the end of the baking time.
When your cake is done, it should be golden brown on top and firm to the touch.
When you press on the top with a finger, the indentation should spring back nicely.
Your cake might develop a few cracks on the top like this. That’s just fine.
Set the cake aside to cool completely in the pan.
Old-Fashioned Cream Cheese Frosting: Make the frosting.
Notes
+The cream cheese and butter need to be at room temperature to make this frosting.
+Make the frosting in a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl with a hand-held mixer.
+The sugar measurement is approximate and produces a fairly stiff frosting. Adjust the frosting thickness by adding more or less powdered sugar.
+The pictures below show a double recipe of frosting (as I had a great need for frosting).
Grab your powdered sugar. Place a sieve over a bowl. Put the sugar in the sieve and shake gently to sift.
This will only take a minute, but is important because it’ll help ensure your frosting isn’t lumpy.
When your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature, put them in the bowl of your mixer.
Add the vanilla. Beat to mix combine well.
Add the sugar in batches to the butter and cream cheese mixture. (This is to further ensure there are no lumps, and also to keep the mixer from making a giant mess from dealing with too much sugar at once.)
Beat well between each batch.
When the frosting is done, it should hold up in soft peaks, like this:
Buttermilk Spice Cake: Frost the cake
Notes
In terms of timing, you want your cake to be cool and your frosting to be at room temperature.
Run a knife in between the cake and the pan to loosen it.
Place one hand on the top of the cake.
With your other hand, lift the pan up and flip it over, so the cake is resting on your palm. Because you lined the pan with parchment, then ran a knife around it just now, it should slip right out.
Place the cake on your serving platter.
Since this isn’t a super fancy cake, I like to frost it on the platter I’m going to use to serve it. In my book, it’s easier to clean the plate up than to move a fully frosted cake.
Drop a couple of big spoonfuls of frosting in the center of the cake.
With a spatula, spread the frosting around. I like to do the top and let it run down the sides a bit. You could totally frost the whole cake, as well. You could make a double batch of frosting, slice the cake in half, fill it with frosting�and then frost the whole cake.
When you put the cake in the fridge, the frosting will stiffen up considerably.
Slice and serve!
Enjoy!
Oh, oh, oh!
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Copyright 2008-2009 The Hungry Mouse�/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.
58 Comments on “Buttermilk Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting”
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Oh wow – does that look yummy! Defintely going to give this a try Jessie – looks really good!
that looks so so yummy… could you lop off a huge chunk and send it down this way? please?
You know, I’m kind of a fiend for cream cheese frosting, and it makes me sad that my low-carby ways prevent me from eating it. But it occurs to me that switching out the sugar for Splenda (although less of it, as it’s so much sweeter) might produce something not-bad that would satisfy the craving.
Ponderings. I may have to come borrow your mixer.
Or you could try truvia, its a great sweetener that is less harsh on the intestines, that comes from a plant instead as an offshoot from sugar. =) It works best for some of my family and hopefully you’ll like it too! =)
This must be really delicious!!!
I’ll have some please! The cream cheese frosting look so good!
I love spice cake! This looks amazing!
Looks delicious! Love this recipe!
Thank you, thank you!
I swear, cake flour never fails to amaze me. Hehehe…And my dear Lady Otter, you can come make a bowl of frosting here anytime.
+Jessie
I have never used cake flour, but must admit that this cake looks mouth-watering!
I think I would have eaten the frosting before it goes on the cake…heheh…now, can I have a slice or three please?
C’mon…I said please….
~Foong~
Ohhh…..cream cheese frosting! I could eat just that! LOL Reminds me of carrot cake!
Regards,
CCR =:~)
Wow. that batter DOES look really good. I’d go for a swim in that
This looks wonderful – I would love to have a piece for breakfast with my coffee right now!
Jessie! This looks fabulous! I always pick recipes for cake that use buttermilk. There’s something about it that, to me, just makes a richer moister cake. This one’s a keeper! Thanks for sharing it.
Looks yummy. Was that an 8×8 pan you used?
thanks
Thanks, guys!
Alisa–Definitely grab some cake flour the next time you’re at the store. At the risk of sounding dramatic, it’ll change your life.
Leana–Yep, yep. 8×8 pan. Just updated the post with that info, too. Thanks!
+Jessie
I looooove spice cake! I need to make some soon. That looks mad good!
I would definitely want to swim in that, too. I got that feeling from my chardonnay cupcake batter.
OMG; this is one butterific recipe!!! Pictures have me hyperventilating! YUMMMMMM
Total awesome goodness.
Nope. It is not wrong to want to swim in that butter. In fact, I don’t think there could be anything more right. May I swim too?
Cake looks delicious and very easy to make. Sounds perfect.
I became a pastry chef because I love to eat the batter. Your batter is absolute perfection! I’m not sure I’d have enough left over to actually bake the cake!
I love a good spice cake. This one looks great. Very tender. Can’t wait to make it. Great pictures, btw! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hanaa
I added coffee liquer soaked currents to the batter. Topped it with fresh whipped cream and laddled current/liquer on top of that. No cream cheese frosting at all. So spicey and moist. Will try rum next time. Thanks for the recipe, Jessie!
Wow! I’ll bet that was fantastic! Thanks so much for letting me know how it turned out!
Cheers!
+Jessie
I made this cake for my whole family, and everyone loved it! thanks so much for the awesome pictures! i will definitely make this again!
Hi,
What sugar is used in this recipe? i assume you are referring to white granulated I would like to make a darker looking cake, so would a light or dark soft brown sugar work well in this recipe?
Leone.
Hi Leone,
Thanks for stopping by!
The recipe as it stands includes a mixture of white sugar and brown sugar (a little further down).
You could definitely substitute dark brown sugar for some or all of the sugar if you like. It will change the flavor a bit (make it more mollasses-y), but it should still be good. It *might* make it a bit more moist and dense.
Let me know how it goes if you try it?
Cheers!
+Jessie
I was just searching for a spice cake and this one looks delicious
You made me crave it like mad 
This is a wonderful recipe..the best and you have made it so easy and desirable…the pictures are also fantastic…WELL DONE!!!!
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2 TABLESPOONS ground ginger? (dried or fresh?)
I want to make this cake – but have to check that!
This looks amazing. Have you ever made it in a 9×13 pan? Wondering if there is enough batter for that (obviously a thinner cake slice)
Good question Nicole!
way too much ginger. I halved the amount and it was still overpowering. If you tweak the spice amounts its a pretty good cake though.
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This looks fantastic. I was kind of hoping to convert this recipe into cupcakes, think that’ll work? Any idea on baking time? Definitely going to try it, thank you!
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My cake was a bit dry and i had to use like a whole pound of powdered sugar, but the flavor was tasty
Easy and delicious!
This recipe looked wonderful to me today when I was looking for a spice cake recipe. As I write, my cake pans (I doubled the recipe) are in the oven baking It smells wonderful! I will finish it with the cream cheese icing as well. If I wasn’t serving this to company tomorrow I would have ventured with the use of Splenda like one of your other readers had mentioned. I will write a review after this birthday cake is consumed! Yum!
My son requested a spice cake for his birthday so I tried this recipe. I’ve never been one to eat cake batter but this one smelled so delicious I just HAD to try it. OH MY GOODNESS, SOOOO GOOD! I followed the recipe exactly and baked it in 2 9″ rounds for 25 minutes. Everyone loved it. This is one recipe I will be adding to my recipe box!
So delicious!! Made it into cupcakes and baked them for 18-20 minutes, made 18 cupcakes. Yum!
It is baking right now! I added just a TAD bit more clove because I just LOVE clove. Yummy Yummy! I did try the batter, SOOO GOOD!!!! I will have to try Cupcakes next time though! Thanks for the idea Mary-Walker! I feel like I’m using way too many !!. LoL But really, seriously, awesome.
I just finished eating a slice of this cake and it’s wonderful! My only problem was my gas oven, the cake rose to high in the middle, and the edges were done too soon, maybe the heat was too high? But the flavor was immensely delicious. Thanks for posting it!
I’m looking forward to making this cake, but I’m wondering if I could add some raisins to the mix. If so, how much and when should I mix them in? Thanx for the awesome play by play photos, and the clear instructions. Well done!
Amazing cake, the frosting will also be my new go to recipe for cream cheese icing for everything else, rich and creamy and light, delicious. I wish I can print just the recipe without 10 pages of photos
I made this cake last night!!! FANTASTIC!! I used bread flour instead of cake flour and also added lemon juice to the milk since I did not have any buttermilk. Other than that, I followed the recipe closely and it was perfect. Thanks for the great recipe. This is a keeper. =)
Definitely am doing it tomorrow morning. Looks yummy, will give feed back soon
Amazing cake! Very moist and good blend of spices.
do you have a printer friendly version of this? thanks!
This was super easy to make and was a hit with the crowd. I love light, moist cakes that go well with tea / coffee, and this was certainly one of those. I didn’t have buttermilk on hand so substituted with milk/lemon juice + 1 tsp of buttermilk flavour. Thank you for a keeper!
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