nice dessert from the past. My favorite aunt gave the recipe to me.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 1 to 2 – inch layer cake |
Ingredients
- ¾ cup shortening
- 1 ⅓ cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ¼ cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 (9 inch) pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with 1 1/2 buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. Stir in pecans. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- To make the frosting: In a large bowl, combine butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla and about 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar. Beat well, then gradually beat in the remaining confectioners’ sugar alternately with 1/4 cup buttermilk. Beat until smooth and creamy and spread on cake.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 481 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 75 g |
| Cholesterol | 44 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 354 mg |
| Sugars | 55 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this according to the recipe and to me it turned out very dry the flavor was good and so was the frosting. The next time I will add 1/2 cup sour cream to it for moistness.
I’m in the rockies so I added some extra buttermilk and it worked like a charm. Made it as a birthday cake and it was a hit. as much as the cake was great, the icing… omg the icing is incredible! Used the icing recipe for some chocolate cupcakes too.
I followed another reviewers suggestion and made these into cupcakes. I followed the directions with a couple exceptions. I don’t cook “white” so instead of making these with white sugar I used 2 cups of muscavado sugar (a more whole type of brown sugar) also used wheat flour in place of the white. Didn’t use nuts or allspice either. When I went to try the icing I ran some muscavado suger thru a grinder to make my own confectioners sugar. Used a stick of butter, a 8 oz package of cream cheese, a spash of vanilla, some buttermilk and then sweetened it till it suited me with the muscavado confectioners sugar. This recipe made as written made 30 cupcakes. They got totally devoured…there were 7 left and the pastor asked if he could have the rest! Other reviewers said the cake was dry and I didn’t find it that way-cooked em for about 25-30 minutes and they were perfect! Didn’t care for the icing as written but the cake gets 5 stars…Thanks Ginger for this recipe-it was awesome! The second time I made them they yielded 28 🙂
‘Not new at this – & I’m kinda a wild thing ;D, I changed just a little: Down to 1c brown; added 2T olive oil; reduced nutmeg & cloves to 1/2t. Smelling spices only,it seemed a little clove-y. In the batter, a little clove-y &/or nutmeg-y. :/ I’m not a big nutmeg fan anyway. It’s in the oven – in an 11×14 & it’s a little low – at least before baking. A beautiful batter – one you have to run a knife through. I’m anxious! 🙂 45 mins, 350. Definately too much cake for a 9.5×13.5, but could go a little smaller than 11×14. It’s not low, just not as full as usual. Only notice it because I’m looking. Sooo disappointed. This cake needs more butter/shortening/oil or one less egg or less baking powder/soda. I don’t know which. I’m not going to play with it. It’s very crumbly. It’s identifiable as a spice cake, but it isn’t all that spicy. If I hadn’t made cream cheese frosting to go with it, it’d be in the trash. ‘Don’t know where the “caramel” fits in the name. Sorry to the submitter for the bad review.
I can’t speak for this baked as a layer cake, nor can I speak for the frosting, which I didn’t make because, frankly, it didn’t appeal to me. But baked as cupcakes with my own flavored buttercream frosting, these were some “D” good cupcakes. I used a half recipe for 12 cupcakes, filled half full. A generous amount of both shortening and buttermilk should ensure moistness, but still be careful not to overbake. For this half recipe, I made this buttercream: 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup butter, a capful of Watkins caramel flavor, several good shakes of apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or pumpkin pie spice would have been good too) and enough buttermilk to get it to the consistency I wanted – didn’t measure, just added dribble by dribble. These are light and fluffy with a deliciously delicate caramel-spice flavor. This current Africa hot weather, and this recipe made me in the mood for fall and fall baking!
great from scratch taste.
love cake, frosting leaves a lot to be desired…
I cannot praise this cake enough! Spice cakes can have a tendency to be dry, but this is lovely and moist, not overly sweet or spicy. Instead of baking in two separate 9 in. pans, I baked the batter in a Bundt pan @ 325 for just over an hour. I did not use the glaze recipe posted here.
This reminds me of my grandmother’s spice cake. The frosting she used was a brown sugar penuche. This was and still is my favorite cake. I live in Denver, Co. so I used allrecipes suggestions for high altitude and it turned out perfect.
Baked this one after a looong hiatus from the baking world. I was really just looking for a pick-me up n oh-boy YES THIS IS IT!! Lovely cake! I baked this in two 9″ square pans and they took approx 23 minutes to bake. For the icing, I used 2 cups of confectionery sugar (instead of 3) and less than 1/4 cup of butter milk (to keep it to a spreadable consistency). I didn’t find this dry in the least. But I think not over baking this and keeping your buttermilk consistency a little thick is the trick!! Also, since the recipe for the icing doesn’t mention it, i added ‘only a pinch’ of nutmeg into the butter. I liked it, but add nutmeg only if you want a little extra spice otherwise skip it! Oh and by-the-way, the cake has a real Christmasy feel to this too … so it’s a good idea for a Christmas Platter! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe Ginger! 😀
Very good, simple to make cake. everyone had seconds! The frosting is excellent!
I doubled the icing recipe to make enough, but if I make this recipe again, I will only frost the top of the cake as the icing is very runny. It looked a mess after sitting out awhile (because of the butter). Also, use 3 cake pans. Two wasn’t enough. The cakes were overflowing. I think this cake would be good in a rectangular cake pan with one layer of the icing on top. The cake was a little dry. I may use some sour cream next time.
At the request of the recipe submitter, we have edited this recipe to list 2 teaspooons baking powder instead of 2 tablespoons. Happy Cooking!
Great flavor, cake needs to be in three 9 in pans, two overflowed. makes a great coffecake without the icing.
I used this recipe just for the frosting for my cinnamon raisin bread. It was spectacular!
This cake tasted great, but the texture was on the dry side. There was definitely not enough frosting for the entire cake–I would add another half a recipe of frosting.
I was put off by the 2 tablespoons of baking powder in the ingredients. I tried making it with 2 teaspoons and it rose nicely. I had some sticking, either use parchment or grease and flour. I liked the flavor. The frosting recipe wasn’t enough for the whole cake.
wonderful recipe I did it for 4-H and I’m only 11