Earlier this year, I made a spice cake that had a simple glaze for a frosting. Since then, some have asked for a cream cheese frosting that isn’t overpowering. This is what we came up with, a sweet buttercream icing with a hint of tang from the cream cheese to compliment but not take over the spiciness of this wonderful cake.

As always, we bake most of our cakes in a 9×5 (23x13cm) bread pan to save money and time. They are designed to look like a traditional Madeira cake but using oil instead of butter. This helps you cut back on calories, saturated fats and price. The cost of an oil-based cake is much cheaper than a butter cake. Both have their merits, but I love this style as it’s easy to make by hand and can be in the oven within a few minutes. It’s absolutely perfect for a last minute dessert idea and makes a great cake to take along to parties as it’s very portable and easy to slice into small portions if needed.

Spice cakes are one of our favorite desserts as you can really cut back on the sugar and still get a pleasant tasting cake by adding the warmth of cinnamon, the heat of ginger and the nuttiness of allspice. Once you learn how to make this cake, you can also easily customize it to make anything you can think of creating. We find the loaf pan perfect for experimenting as well as it’s a cheap pan to afford and doesn’t take a lot of batter to make a generous cake to serve for a larger family. Let’s get to it.

Simple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The simplicity of this cake will surprise you as it shows well and is absolutely delicious. The spices can be modified to suit your taste once you learn how easy this recipe is to make.

Print Recipe

Prep Time10 minutes minutes

Cook Time50 minutes minutes

Total Time1 hour hour

Servings12 people

Calories 305.4

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups (225g) flour
• 4 large (200g) eggs
• ¾ cup (180mL) oil
• ¾ cup (150g) sugar
• 1 ½ tsp (6g) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla extract
• 1 ½ tsp (3g) cinnamon
• ½ tsp (2.5g) salt
• ½ tsp (1g) allspice
• ½ tsp (1g) ginger

For the Glaze

• 1 cup (125g) powdered sugar
• 2 tbs (28g) cream cheese or plain yogurt
• 2 tbs (28g) softened butter or margarine
• 1-2 tbs (15-30mL) milk

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F (180C.)
• Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf tin (23x13cm) or line with parchment paper.
• Combine flour, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Sit aside.
• In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, and vanilla until smooth.  Beat in sugar.  Add flour mixture and beat until you no longer see lumps, about 1 minute.  Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake 45 – 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Center should read between 200F (93C) and 210F (99C.)
• Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

For the Icing

• Beat together sugar, butter and cream cheese. Add milk, one teaspoon at a time until desired consistency.
• Spread over top of cake. Store any leftovers in fridge.

Notes

If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt.

Nutrition Facts

Simple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Serving Size

 

1 slice

Amount per Serving

Calories

305.4

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

18.3

g

28

%

Saturated Fat

 

4.2

g

26

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1.6

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

10.7

g

Sodium

 

186.5

mg

8

%

Carbohydrates

 

33.2

g

11

%

Protein

 

3.7

g

7

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

* Calories provided as a courtesy and not guaranteed.