This spice cake is the ultimate comfort food. Paired with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and cinnamon streusel for some crunch.
Aside from myself, Ryan is the only person I bake a birthday cake for every year. Friends and family will certainly get slices of a cake I happen to make around their birthday (though I do take their flavour preferences into consideration), but Ryan is the only one who can actually request a specific cake for his birthday, and I will happily make it. I actually bug him for flavour ideas repeatedly leading up to the day.
Last year, he requested a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cake because it’s one of his favourite cereals. You really can’t go wrong there, amiright? This year, his request was for a Spice Cake with cinnamon frosting. I guess he has a thing for cinnamon!
Though arguably more of a Fall flavour, I feel like spice cake can (and should) be eaten all year round. There is something so comforting about the smell of all those delicious spices. It’s the perfect warm hug on a cool spring day.
This Spice Cake is fairly dense and fudgy (if you can call a non-chocolate cake fudgy) due to the applesauce in the cake batter (vs something like buttermilk). The applesauce adds both moisture and flavour, and is the perfect addition to this cake. Apples and spices go hand in hand in my opinion.
I am really loving cream cheese frostings lately. I don’t like cream cheese on its own, or even cream cheese based cheesecakes, but there is something about it in frostings that has me all like <3 <3 <3. I think it’s the combo of sweet/tart without being overpoweringly cheesy. The cake isn’t overly sweet either, and I think it’s just the perfect balance.
My cream cheese frosting has more butter in it than most, to help balance out the cream cheese and create more of a workable texture. Cream cheese frostings can be soft and difficult to work with, but this one is perfectly light and fluffy, and goes particularly well with this spice cake.
I added some cinnamon streusel for some crunch, because I love the additional texture and flavour it gives to a cake. You can skip this if you’d like, but it’s so easy to make and really adds more dimension to this Spice Cake.
I promise you this cake is SO good. Coming from someone who isn’t exactly a cinnamon lover, I think this speaks volumes. You will not be disappointed!
Tips for this Spice Cake:
- If you don’t have applesauce, you can substitute buttermilk or regular milk.
- The cinnamon streusel is optional, but easy. It’s really delicious!
- If you like this recipe be sure to check out my Apple Pie Cake, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cake, and Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake!
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.
Spice Cake With Cinnamon Streusel
Ingredients
Spice Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar packed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup applesauce unsweetened
Cinnamon Streusel:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 Tbsp light brown sugar packed
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- pinch salt
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese full fat, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Spice Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 6" cake rounds and line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, spices, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and dark brown sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and applesauce, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of applesauce). Fully incorporating after each addition.
- Bake for 30-35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Cinnamon Streusel:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl until clumps form. Spread on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 5-7mins.
- Cool completely on baking sheet. Break up any larger chunks if needed.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy (2 mins). Add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add vanilla & cinnamon and beat until fluffy (3 mins).
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Top with 2/3 cup of frosting and 1/4 cup streusel (or more if desired). Repeat with remaining layers and apply a thin coat of frosting all over the cake. Chill for 20mins.
- Use the remaining frosting to frost the cake with rustic swoops. Use extra streusel to decorate bottom and top of cake if desired.
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Sheryl says
Great cake! My daughter-in-law asked for spice cake with cream cheese icing. I used your cake recipe, my cream cheese frosting, and tried an orange curd filling.between layers. The cake was a hit… the flavoring really works. With the dense texture of the cake, the curd was little too heavy, IMO, but tasty. One of the other commenters mentioned freezing the cake layers. I did that too. I iced and decorated it straight from the freezer and a few hours later it was the perfect temperature for serving. I will definitely make this again with your streusel or other combos.
Olivia says
Hi Sheryl! So happy you liked this one and thank you for all your tips 🙂
Alison says
We have a family friend. Nobody has had a birthday for him since he was a child. I offered to make him a cake and he likes spice cake so I wanted to make him something special. This cake is amazing. I had only nine inch round pans and of course the first two ended up to be very small because the cake is so dense. I just made an extra and filled up the nine inch round and out all the layers together. It was a beautiful cake. Everyone there said I should be selling the cakes I bake. The birthday boy nearly cried. Thank you for an amazing recipe.
Olivia says
Hi Alison! What a wonderful way to make his day special! I’m so glad you chose one of my recipes to do so and that everyone loved it 🙂
Elizabeth May says
Delicious! The streusel was a great addition… love that crunch. The icing really made it…seriously one of the favorite icings I’ve made.
Olivia says
Hi Elizabeth! So happy you loved it! The streusel is my favourite part 🙂
Holly says
How long before the streusel gets soggy between the layers. I may have to bake and stack a few days before the party. Other obligations cause me not to be able to put it altogether and eat the same day.
Olivia says
Hi Holly! It should stay pretty crunchy for a couple days. I don’t find the streusel ever to get soggy, maybe a bit chewy eventually.
Katie says
Hey Liv! So my friend asked me to make her wedding cake (eek!) and she wanted some sort of autumnal spice cake. Found your recipe and made a taste test cake and my friend said it’s exactly what she wants! So now to prepare for the main event..! How much batter do you think I’d need for 2x 10in pans? And do you have any advice for freezing cakes – how do I freeze them? How long do they keep frozen? When should I take them out? Would they keep at room temp once thawed? Sorry for so many questions, can you tell I’ve not frozen a cake before?! Thank you in advance 🙂
princess waring says
I would like to try this Cake my pans are 8’3 and 9’3 deep. So should I double this recipe.
Also to get the high should the leveling agent be increased?
Olivia says
Hi there! You can either 1.5x the recipe for three 8″ pans or 2x the recipe for three 9″ pans.
Courtney says
I made this cake for a friend’s birthday and it was absolutely FANTASTIC! Every element of this cake is great on it’s own and even better when assembled. I was able to make the cakes in a advance and freeze them and they thawed beautifully, the applesauce kept everything moist without adding apple flavor. The streusel was super easy to make and added a great texture to the rest of the cake. And the frosting was so good, I had to stop myself from eating too much of it while the cake was chilling after the crumb coat. The best compliment I got was from a friend who had the cake for the first time after it was in the fridge for two days and texted me to say how delicious it was!
The only issue I ran into was that all 3 layers sunk in the middle during baking, which rarely happens for me. But when I levelled the cakes I used some of the tops to fill in the craters and it worked out great!
This recipe absolutely deserved 5 stars!
Olivia says
Hi Courtney! I am thrilled to hear that you loved this recipe! Thanks so much for all your tips and feedback 🙂
Kim C says
I love this recipe! It screams fall! I’m making this recipe for family this weekend as cupcakes. I changed it only slightly so I could get a dome on the cupcakes. I did 1/1 of baking soda and powder. They rose perfectly. I add more cinnamon but that’s my preference on a spice cake. I use marscapone in the frosting and love the richness it gives since I’m not a cream cheese fan. The streusel is what completes the trifecta of flavor for me. Everybody loved it! I love that your recipes are always consistent in texture and that the flavor is always there. Thank you!
Olivia says
Hi Kim! So glad you loved it 🙂 Thanks so much for all your tips!
Molly Fitzpatrick says
Love the idea of putting applesauce in this! Do you think you could swap all-purpose flour for pastry flour when making this cake? Thank you!
Olivia says
Hi Molly! I haven’t tried it myself, but I think it would work fine.
Tony says
How can I make the frosting just cinnamon buttercream? How much extra of the ingredients would you recommend I add?
Olivia says
Hi Tony! I would use 2 1/2 cups butter and leave the cream cheese out. You might want to add another cup of powdered sugar as well, but just taste the frosting and see if you’d like it sweeter.
Debra says
Hi. My husband asked for spice cake for his birthday so, naturally, my goal is to succeed with your beautiful recipe. Unfortunately I do not own three 6” pans. Would I need to adjust the recipe and cook time for two 9” rounds? What would you reccommenf for bake time? Thanks so much for posting all of these stunning cakes. I’m new to your blog but I’ll be working my way through lots of your recipes.
Olivia says
Hi Debra! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here’s a site I use as a guideline: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html I would try 1.5x the recipe for two 9″ pans. Let me know how it turns out!
Afreen Memon says
While I was making this cake, it seemed extremely thick and it was a struggle putting it in the pan. I think the flour was too much for this cake and it made it super dense. My cake did not rise at all and it seemed dry when I took it out of the pan. I decided to make a buttercream frosting instead of the cream cheese one and it did not stick on the cake at all. The frosting was not spreading and I couldn’t cover the cake at all. I don’t know if I did something wrong but I was pretty disappointed with this recipe because it was also too dense and thick to eat. I have made many of your cakes before and they all turned out great except for this one.
Olivia says
Hi Afreen It sounds like something was off in the measurements. The batter is thick, but easily spreadable. How do you measure your flour? It’s best to spoon and level rather than scoop as it can account for a significant difference.
Diane says
I had the same problem and followed the instructions. It turned out like a biscuit
Courtney B says
Just made this for my mom’s birthday cake. I only had 2 6″ x 3″ pans, so I split the batter between them thinking I could cut them into four layers. Well… the resulting layers are kinda little. They’re 6″ around, but only 1.5″ high. Could this be the leavener? I used the baking powder and applesauce combo recommended. In the meantime, wondering how to fix this so she doesn’t think I’m trying to stiff her on her birthday cake. Bake another recipe or cut them in half and try to pick up some height on the frosting/streusel combo?
Olivia says
Hi Courtney! They should have been taller since you only baked in two pans. My layers were 1.5 to 2″ tall. Is your baking powder fresh? Are the cakes super dense?
Stacey says
I made this yesterday for my wife’s birthday and I’ll be daydreaming all day about getting home and having another slice.
I’d never made a layer cake before and it all worked beautifully. The cake baked up in nice dense fudgey flat layers and it was so easy to assemble and frost.
Some changes I made: I don’t have 6″ pans so I made two layers of 9″. I added more of all the spices since my wife likes it heavily spiced. Also after reading the comments about the streusel I made a 1 1/2 sized batch to have enough for “testing” it which I obviously had to do several times. That left plenty to generously fill between layers, coating the top, and decorating around the rim, as well as nibbling the extra.
Because one of the guests was lactose intolerant, I substituted a cinnamon buttercream for the cream cheese frosting, and it worked with it just fine. It was essentially the same recipe with more butter in place of the cream cheese and a little lactose-free milk to thin it.
Definitely saving this to make again.
Olivia says
Hi Stacey! Thanks for the great feedback, I’m so happy you both liked it!!
Barbara says
Looks and sounds terrific! Can it be done in a 9X13 pan? Can’t wait to try it!
Olivia says
Hi Barbara! Yes, you may need to adjust the baking time though!
Lin says
Olivia, I made this cake for a dinner party last week and can honestly say it was the most beautiful and most delicious cake I’ve ever served! I used 3 6″ x 2″ pans and wrapped them with the soaked cake strips. They did turn out flat, but didn’t rise to the top of the pans as I expected – the layers were only about 1-1/2″ thick. Did I do something wrong? It was honestly “fudgy” as you say, so maybe that is normal. Regardless, it looked beautiful and the taste was out of this world!
Lin
Olivia says
Hi Lin! Thanks so much for the great feedback! I’m so glad you liked it! The layers should bake up to be 1.5″ or so in height once baked 🙂
Laura says
I made this cake for my mother’s birthday my brother in law said it needed more frosting
Amelia says
Would using sweetened apple sauce make much of a difference? They don’t sell unweetened where im from. Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Amelia! I think it would be fine, you can reduce the sugar by a couple Tbsp if you like 🙂
Meg says
Thank you so much!! I can’t wait to try it. Btw, I made your milk and cookies cake for my son’s last birthday and it has been requested three more times since. We love it!! I have high hopes this will be just as big a hit. Thank you!!
Olivia says
I hope you like this one just as much! Thanks Meg 🙂
Meg says
Looks delish!! My son is requesting a chocolate cake with apple filling for his birthday. Do you think I could turn this into a chocolate spiced cake with apple filling and the cream cheese frosting between layers? If so, would I alternate the frosting then apples or apples then frosting between each layer?
Olivia says
Hi Meg! Yes, I think that would work fine. What I would do is put apples and frosting in each layer, kinda like I did with this cake:
https://livforcake.com/ombre-peach-layer-cake/
Stephanie says
This was a pretty solid recipe. I didn’t find it very spiced, so I added more ginger and a teaspoon of allspice. That helped, but I probably could have added more to be honest. I liked this recipe and was satisfied to serve it at a party, but I will probably try another recipe next time I’m looking to make this sort of cake.
Unrelated, but please don’t be one of those people who rates a recipe “5 stars” because it looks good. It’s incredibly misleading. PSA over.
Rachael says
My husband loves Spice Cake. I’ve never been a fan of the flavor of cloves.
I will say, this recipe sounds amazing. So…. this is what I’ll be baking to bring to the in-laws for Thanksgiving this year. Thanks for the great recipe!
Olivia says
Yay! Happy to hear that. I hope everyone likes it 🙂 Let me know how it goes!
Sandy says
I just made this and my house smells amazing! I used half applesauce and half buttermilk. I needed another layer (because I used 9″ pans and wanted 3 layers) so I did that batch with just applesauce. both versions turned beautiful! Now I need to keep my hands out of the stresuel so I have enough for the cake! 😋
Olivia says
Haha, I know what you mean about the streusel! I hope you like the cake 🙂
Sabrina says
Can you convert this into cupcakes instead ? Just adjust the timing ?
Olivia says
Hi Sabrina! Yep, check them at 15mins or so to see how they’re coming along.
Tammy says
Hi there! Could this be made in a large bundt pan? Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Tammy! I’ve never tried it myself, but I don’t see why not. You’d need to adjust the baking time though.
Chris says
I Did 40min at 350. Came out so moist!
Olivia says
Awesome, glad you liked it!
Natasha says
I followed the directions but my cakes don’t seem to be as thick as yours are. Not sure what I might have done wrong?
Olivia says
Hi Natasha! How much thinner did they seem to be? Did you use the same pan size?
Kylie says
I’m making this now and it all smells amazing. Thank you for this recipe!
Olivia says
Hi Kylie! Yay! I hope you like it 🙂
Cindy Rodriguez says
This is such a gorgeous cake! I am loving the log cake stand. It sounds delicious!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Cindy! <3
Naveed says
This is amazing. Love it even though I reduced the amount of fat and substituted oil in place of applesauce but turned out yum. thankyou
Olivia says
Hi Naveed! So glad you liked it 🙂
Elizabeth Vlug says
This one sounds delicious, thank you for sharing yet another great cake with a fabulous icing. Will definitely make the crunch topping too. When I make this, could I just use two 8 inch cake pans? I just might have to buy some smaller cake pans in the near future because I love the idea of three layers.
Olivia says
Hi Elizabeth! So nice to hear from you 🙂 You could totally make this in two 8″ cakes without having to adjust the recipe. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables says
Wow that looks delicious!! What a gorgeous cake! I’ll need to find an excuse to try making this! 🙂
Olivia says
Thanks so much Liz. I hope you try it! 🙂