Spice Cake With Eggnog Frosting

This Spice Cake with Eggnog Frosting is made with moist layers of flavorful spice cake, topped with eggnog buttercream, and finished with homemade sugared cranberries.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 22

Total Time 42

Servings Slices

Calories 440kcal

Equipment

9 inch round cake pans
small bowl
large mixing bowl
Electric mixer
Saucepan
cake stand or cake plate
piping bag with tip - We used #336 and 1M

Ingredients

2 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cardamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
¼ cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:

1 cup butter softened
4 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Sugared cranberries:

½ cup cranberries
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar - plus more for dusting

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep 3 - 9” cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray containing flour. Set them aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamon, ground ginger, ground cloves and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat.
Add in the molasses and vanilla and beat.
Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour until everything is well incorporated.
Divide the cake batter equally between the pans.
Place the pans in the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
Let the cake rest in the pans for 10 minutes before turning them out onto cooling racks to come to room temperature.
To make the frosting, place the butter in a large bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes. Butter should lighten in color.
Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Add in the eggnog, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon and beat until smooth and creamy.
To make the sugared cranberries, boil the water and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.
Remove the pan from heat and let the simple syrup cool for about 5 minutes before adding the cranberries.
Stir the berries around, thoroughly coating them with the syrup and leave them to soak in the syrup for 5-10 minutes. Remove the berries and lay them on a paper towel or flat surface spread out to dry for 2 hours.
After the 2 hours are up, roll the berries in sugar until coated.
To assemble the cake, start by placing the bottom layer on a cake stand with the bottom side up.
Scoop about ½ c - ¾ c of frosting and spread in an even layer over the cake.
Repeat the same thing with the second layer.
For the last layer, place it with the top side facing up.
Coat the top with frosting and using a spatula spread a very thin layer over the edges of the cake.
Scrape the majority of the frosting off to create a barely frosted cake. Smooth the top layer.
Frosting tips used #336 and 1M to create swirls and stars.
Decorate top as desired with sugared cranberries, rosemary, anise and cinnamon sticks.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Remove cake about 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.

Nutrition