Spice Cake Fundamentals
Spices are fickle when handled incorrectly. To build a cake that tastes of more than just dust, you must treat your cinnamon, cloves, and ginger as ingredients that require heat to release their character.
Temperature control is your primary variable.
Ensure your butter and eggs are at room temperature. Cold ingredients will cause the batter to break, leading to a dense, uneven crumb.
- 9-inch springform or round cake pan
- stand mixer or hand whisk
- sifter
- silicone spatula
What goes in.
- 2 1/4 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tbspground cinnamon
- 1 tspground ginger
- 1/2 tspground cloves
- 1/2 tspfreshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cupunsalted butter, softened
- 1 cuppacked dark brown sugar
- 3large eggs
- 1/2 cupstrong black coffee, hot
- 1 tspbaking powder
Awakening the Aromatics
Whisk your dry spices into the hot coffee and let it sit for two minutes. This extraction process ensures the flavor permeates the entire crumb rather than leaving pockets of dry spice.
The method.
Bloom the spices
Whisk cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg into the hot coffee. Set aside to cool slightly.
Cream the base
Beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high until the mixture is pale and the sugar grains have largely dissolved.
Emulsify
Add eggs one at a time, beating fully after each addition. Do not rush this; the mixture should look smooth, not curdled.
Combine
Fold in the flour and baking powder alternately with the spiced coffee. Stop mixing as soon as the last streak of flour vanishes.
Bake
Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350°F (175°C). A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean, usually around 45 to 50 minutes.
Other turns to take.
Citrus Infusion
Add two tablespoons of finely grated orange zest to the sugar before creaming to cut through the heavy spice profile.
Dark Molasses
Replace one-quarter cup of the brown sugar with unsulphured molasses for a denser, more humid crumb.
When it doesn't go to plan.
Always grind your nutmeg fresh; pre-ground loses its volatile oils within weeks.
Do not overbake. Spice cakes lose moisture quickly once the internal temperature exceeds 205°F.
Let the cake rest in the pan for exactly ten minutes before turning it onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why did my spice cake sink in the middle?
Usually, this is a sign of either too much leavening or opening the oven door before the structure of the cake has set.
Can I use different spices?
Cardamom and allspice are excellent additions. Keep the total volume of spices around two tablespoons to maintain the structural integrity of the cake.
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