Spice Cake
Spice cake- you really cannot go wrong.
And you know it's good when your little brother -who never eats cake- has a slice.
Last night my family had two reasons to celebrate: my sister's job and my dad's birthday!
Katelynn has just been hired by Fairfax County Public Schools, which is a reason for spice cake in it of itself! Now that she's officially hired by FCPS, she is on the hunt for a school that is the perfect fit. I know that whatever school she ends up at, the kids are going to love her! Good luck Ms. McFarland!
My dad's birthday is coming up this sunday, and since he'll be riding with his bike buddies through the rockies on his actual b-day, we decided to celebrate it last night :)
Spice cake is a safe bet when you're trying to please an indecisive crowd. Especially when it comes to my family, everyone has different preferences. If you ask my sister what kind of cake she'd want, it'd be some sort of dark chocolate or mocha. Ask my mom and she'd say carrot, my brother... not a big cake fan but if you throw in some oreos he'll try it. And my dad... he'll eat anything. This left me with no choice but to try a spice cake, which I really can't complain about since it's one of my favorites :).
I amended a recipe I stumbled upon online, and I think it turned out pretty good.. just check out the picture below!
Happy Baking!
Spice Cake
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. all-spice
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 tsp. grated orange peel (or 1 squirt lemon juice if you have no oranges)
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk (I used skim and it worked just fine!)
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 stick butter, unsalted
~6 cups powdered sugar
1 generous tsp of vanilla extract
some milk or half and half
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.
Sift flour, spices and salt into a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter and orange peel with an electric mixer until fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time.
Stir flour mixture into butter mixture, alternating with sour cream and milk.
Divide batter into prepared pans
Bake for about 25 minutes.
Transfer cake pans to cooling racks and allow to cool completely before frosting.
To prepare frosting, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
Add in four cups of powdered sugar and vanilla; mix.
If mixture is a bit clumpy, slowly add ~1 tbsp. of milk or half and half (or however much is needed).
If too soupy, add in some more powdered sugar. This process is not an exact science, but the best guideline is to think of canned frosting- that's what the look you want to aim for!
When you've reached the desired consistency and sheen, frost cake!
Cake recipe amended from One Cake Two Cake
