We had the first heavy frost of the season last night and it was so beautiful that I was outside in my pyjamas taking photos before the beauty disappeared. It was 4 degrees Celsius at 7:30 am, but it was so worth it. I hope you enjoy my frosted nature.
So after getting a little chilled this morning, a warm satisfying dessert in the form of Spice Cake was calling my name. By the time I had the cake batter mixed and in the oven the sun had come out and all of the frost was melting, but I was still craving that spicy cake. All of the autumn spices – cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg with a little molasses bring the warmth to this simple but beautiful dessert. Looking at my photos of the frost, the maple leaf was the inspiration to add maple extract to the frosting. Maple goes so well with those autumn spices.
I made this cake in a springform pan and left it in a single layer. If you prefer to have a sweeter dessert you could slice the cake horizontally and double the icing recipe and ice the entire cake. I found that this was just the perfect amount of sweetness to pair with the spices. After a satisfying meal of chicken stew with dumplings, this Spice Cake with Maple Frosting was the perfect ending to a perfect fall day.
- Cake:
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1½ cup milk
- ¾ cup butter,room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ½ cup golden raisins
- Frosting:
- ¼ cup salted butter, room temp
- 2 tsp milk
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1 cup sifted icing sugar
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease and flour a 9" springform pan.
- Combine vinegar and milk in measuring cup and let stand for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in molasses and vanilla until combined. Beat in eggs.
- In separate bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients except the raisins.
- Add the flour and milk mixture alternately to the butter mixture in 3 additions.
- Stir in the raisins.
- Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and remove the ring and slide cake onto rack to cool completely.
- Frosting:
- In medium bowl, beat butter with ½ cup icing sugar until fluffy.
- Add milk and maple extract and beat until incorporated.
- Beat in remaining sugar.
- Spread on the top of the cooled cake.