This month, I’ve been baking so many fantastic cakes that are just perfect for fall. Our kitchen has been filled with the scent of brown sugar and spices, each cake better than the last one. Today’s high altitude Spice Cake is no exception. This is a brown sugar spice cake full of flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, but also cardamom, along with subtle hints of cocoa and coffee. All the spices complement each other so beautifully, with sweet cream cheese buttercream as the perfect finish.
Looking for more high altitude cake recipes? You’ll love this honey biscoff chai tea spice cake, brown butter carrot cake, and pumpkin bundt cake with espresso icing.
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Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- Flour. All-purpose flour provides the structure that the cake needs to rise.
- Cocoa Powder. I use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for all my baking, and if a recipe calls for Dutch-processed, be sure to use it, and not a “natural” cocoa powder. Their chemical properties are different, and affect how the cake rises. The small amount of cocoa powder in this cake adds a subtle hint of chocolate to complement the flavor of the spices, but this is not a chocolate cake.
- Spices. You really could use so many different spices in a spice cake. I love to bake with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, and they work together so beautifully. For this cake, I also added cardamom, which adds such a rich flavor.
- Espresso Powder. The espresso powder, dissolved in water, is what gives this cake its deep color. Of course, it also adds subtle notes of coffee.
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder. These leaveners react with the acidic ingredients in the cake (the cocoa powder, espresso powder and brown sugar) to help it rise.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Dark Brown Sugar. Sweetens the cake and adds moisture and a hint of molasses.
Liquid Ingredients
- Water. For moisture. The espresso powder is dissolved in the water, so that essentially, you’re adding brewed coffee to the spice cake batter.
- Vegetable Oil. Oil not only adds moisture to cakes, but keeps them very light and fluffy. On the other hand, butter-based cakes tend to be a bit more dense.
- Eggs. Add structure, fat and richness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor. Use a good-quality vanilla extract. I love Rodelle and Nielsen-Massey.
Buttercream
- Cream Cheese + Unsalted Butter. When frosting a layer cake with cream cheese frosting, you should always use half butter and half cream cheese. Adding the butter stabilizes the frosting, whereas only cream cheese tends to be too soft and can slip and slide all over a layer cake.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream to the proper consistency.
- Meringue Powder. Helps to stabilize the buttercream.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the brown sugar.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the water and espresso powder until dissolved. Whisk in the oil, eggs and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until combined; the batter will be thin.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on cooling racks, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until light and fluffy.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Stack, fill and frost the cakes with the buttercream.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make a more stable cream cheese frosting?
For layer cakes, you need to use half cream cheese and half butter for a more stable frosting. In warmer months, I use half cream cheese and half vegetable shortening.
What piping tip did you use?
Wilton Tip 1M.
Does this cake need to be refrigerated?
Yes, cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated. Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier, in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days. Let the cake come to room temperature for several hours before serving.
Can I use natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch-processed?
No, the two are not interchangeable, as their different levels of acidity react differently with the leavening, affecting the cake’s rise and texture.
Is this a high altitude recipe?
Yes, I test all of my recipes at Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet.
What size pans should I use if I cut this recipe in half?
For a smaller cake, you can cut the recipe in half and bake the batter in three 6-inch pans.
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Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (such as Rodelle)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the brown sugar.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the water and espresso powder until dissolved. Whisk in the oil, eggs and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until combined; the batter will be thin.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on cooling racks, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until light and fluffy.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Stack, fill and frost the cakes with the buttercream.
Hi! I really appreciate you including HOW you measure your flour in your FAQ – spoon and sweep – super helpful!
Do you weigh your flour? If so, do you know how many grams or ounces a cup is? For example, King Arthur states that a cup of their all purpose flour weighs 120g. I bake GF and having the weight helps with converting recipes. Thanks!
Noey,
After I measured and weighed a cup of flour a bunch of times, I read that King Arthur Baking article. I averaged 125g per cup, which is 4.4 ounces. Pretty close to their average! It’s possible that different brands of flour compact differently as well, which leads to many different conclusions on how much a cup of flour weighs.
Do I usually weigh my flour/ingredients when baking? No. I’m very consistent with how I measure, so personally I don’t find it necessary to weigh them out, unless I’m making something very finicky and precise, like macarons. But I will often include weights for things like chopped fruit or chocolate, since those are difficult to measure accurately, depending on how big or small someone chops them.
Hi Heather,
I made this cake today & it was a total hit with the family. I just halved the amount of cream cheese butter cream because my parents are not to fond of the sugar rush. Thank you for sharing such perfect recipes! Big kiss from Bahrain 🇧🇭
Can this same recipe be made at a normal altitude? Or what adjustments would have to be made please?
I have some info about this in my FAQs: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
What piping tip did you use for this decoration?
I used tip 1M.
Is it ok to leave out the meringue powder?
The meringue powder improves the texture and stability of buttercream, but you can leave it out.
Wow – excellent cake! The flavors were perfectly balanced and the texture was tender and moist. Superb buttercream. Neither the cake nor the frosting was overly sweet. Everyone loved it. This one’s a keeper. Thank you!
Sounds delicious. If you don’t have the dutch coco, can you supplement with regular coco powder and something else?
Ashley, Dutch-processed cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder are not interchangeable, due to the difference in their acidity. If you swap one for the other, the change in acidity reacts with the leavening, and your cake might not rise correctly, or might rise too fast and sink in the middle.
I live in the Denver area and love baking cakes. This cake was absolutely wonderful. I made it for my 50th birthday and took a photo but am unsure how to post it. Thank you for these recipes and tips! I’m excited to try many more of your cakes.
I’m so glad you loved it, and happy 50th birthday! If you use Instagram, you can tag me in a post so I can see it, or there’s a high altitude baking group on Facebook that a lot of people share successful recipes to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/highaltitudebakingandcooking
Can I use instant coffee instead of espresso powder? And I’m a little higher than you – about 6900’. Should I make any adjustments?
Instant coffee will work just fine. You might need to make a slight adjustment of a few tablespoons more flour and slightly less leavening. I have some helpful guidelines in my FAQs: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
I went with 3/4 teaspoon of the leavenings and I didn’t add any extra flour. I didn’t have cardamom so I added an extra 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and I subbed instant coffee for the espresso powder. Fantastic! So moist and flavorful! Great texture! Thank you so much for the recipe and for your advice. This is definitely a keeper.