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Magic Spice Cake

This is a mid-century recipe from my own grandmother's recipe book and family favorite. The magic of this spice cake is the smell it emits while baking. Perfect fall birthday cake.
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Equipment

  • Stand Mixer
  • Small saucepan

Ingredients
  

For Spice Cake

  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour or 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour and 2 T cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup shortening or soft, unsalted butter
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temp
  • 3 medium eggs

For Creamy Raisin Nut Icing

  • 2 1/2 T all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup shortening, or soft unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup raisins, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup nuts, finely chopped
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar

Instructions
 

For Spice Cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cake pans you're using (see note below) and line with parchment rounds.
  • In bowl of stand mixer, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and granulated sugar.
  • Once evenly mixed, use paddle attachment to add brown sugar, then butter, then follow with buttermilk.
  • Beat for 2 minutes.
  • Add eggs.
  • Beat for 2 minutes. Batter will be quite thick.
  • Spread batter evenly into prepared pans, and bake in oven until lightly brown and springy to the touch, about 25 minutes, rotating halfway through.
  • Remove cakes from oven, and let rest about 10 minutes. Use an offset spatula or table knife to loosen edges, then flip cakes out onto cooling rack and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.

For Frosting:

  • In small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together flour and milk. Cook for 3-5 minutes, making a thick paste. Cool to lukewarm.
  • While cooling, use stand mixer to cream shortening (or butter), with sugar, salt and cinnamon.
  • Add lukewarm flour/milk paste, then beat until slightly fluffy.
  • Mix in vanilla, raisins and nuts.
  • If making a layer cake, remove 1/3 of mix from bowl. This will be used as the filling for your cakes. If making a sheet cake, skip this step.
  • To the rest of the mix, add the confectioners sugar. This will be what you use for top and sides of cake, or if making sheet cake, just the top.
  • This recipe will make enough to frost your layer cake lightly. If you desire a slightly thicker frosting, try making a 1.5x batch of this recipe.
  • Once cakes are cool, assemble cake with frosting and filling as desired.

Notes

This recipe bakes up well in two 9" rounds, which can then be left whole for a 2-layer cake, or you can torte the cakes and make a 4-layer cake.
I think a 4-layer cake is my favorite, and spreads the frosting around quite nicely. 
This cake can also be baked as a sheet cake in a 9x13 pan.