I love the caramely goodness of brown sugar. I think it gives such a richness and depth of flavor to baked goods, especially cakes. This Brown Sugar Spice Cake will not disappoint and is the perfect way to finish off a holiday meal plus it makes a really beautiful centerpiece on your table.
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The cake itself is a more dense texture that still remains moist. It’s got a nice hint of spices running through it along with the richness of the brown sugar. It’s then topped off with a thick coating of caramel cream cheese glaze.
You won’t be doing anything fancy with the mixing method on this one. It’s the average creaming method and then you’ll add in the dry and liquid ingredients alternately.
The cream cheese glaze gets its caramel flavor from melted caramel chips. Using the chips makes it much easier, but you could even make your own homemade caramel in place of that if you feel industrious.
I finished the cake off by adding in some sugared cranberries to the middle. I’ve provided the link to the super easy recipe I used to make them. I really like the tartness of the cranberries with the rich caramel flavor of the cake.
You can find the recipe I used for the sugared cranberries here: Sugared Cranberries
The cranberries are certainly optional, but I think they make the cake so pretty, right? Either way, I think you’re gonna love this cake.
Let’s get to the recipe:
Recipe:
Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter (room temperature)
- 2 cups packed brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
For the glaze:
- ½ cup unsalted butter (room temp)
- 1 8 oz. block of cream cheese (softened)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk (or cream)
- 1 cup melted caramel chips (or homemade caramel or jarred caramel sauce)
- 1 ½ cups sugared cranberries (optional)
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Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Grease and flour a bundt pan. (This recipe makes a lot of batter, so make sure your bundt pan is at least a 10″ bundt pan.)
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Whisk well and set aside.
- In another bowl, add the milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk well and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter and the brown sugar. Mix on medium to medium high for several minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs two at a time, mixing on medium after each addition, but only until just combined.
- Alternately add in the flour mixture and the milk mixture. Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix on medium just until combined. Add in ½ the milk mixture, mixing on medium just until combined. Add in another ⅓ of the flour mixture, mixing only until combined. Add in the last of the milk mixture, mixing only until combined, then the last of the flour mixture and mix until well combined. You only want to mix until well combined, about 20 seconds. Scrape down sides of the bowl and mix again only for several seconds. Mixing for several minutes is too long.
- Bake at 325 degrees for about 50 minutes.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a rack or a cake plate and cool completely.
For the glaze:
- If using caramel chips, melt the chips in the microwave. Just set the timer about 20 seconds at a time so they don’t scorch and mix between each time you heat. Stir until they’re smooth and melted and set aside while you mix up the glaze.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the softened butter and cream cheese. Mix on medium until smooth.
- Add in the salt, vanilla and confectioners sugar. Mix on low at first until incorporated, then on medium until its well mixed. Add in a tablespoon of milk or cream and mix well. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix again.
- Add in the caramel. (You can use either melted caramel chips, homemade caramel sauce, or jarred caramel sauce.) If you’re using melted caramel chips, add a small amount of the cream cheese mixture to the warm melted chips and mix together. Then add back to the glaze mixture. Now just mix until smooth. Depending on the type of caramel you used, you may not need to add any milk or cream to thin down your glaze. If it’s too thick, add a tablespoon of milk or cream at a time to get it to drizzling consistency.
- Drizzle or pour the glaze over the cooled cake. Chill in the fridge to set up just a bit. You can then add sugared cranberries to the middle of your bundt cake if desired. This is optional but it sure makes the cake pretty and the tartness of the cranberries really works well with the spices in the cake. (Here’s a link for the recipe I used to make the sugared cranberries.) Sugared Cranberries: https://damndelicious.net/2013/12/22/sugared-cranberries/
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Supplies Used for Brown Sugar Spice Cake:
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer (optional)
- FlexEdge Beater Attachment for stand mixer (optional)
- Bundt Pan
- Cooling Rack
- Caramel Bits
Other fall recipes you might like:
Don’t Forget to Pin it for Later!
Eunice
Thank you
Jamie McCormick
I LOVE your blog. I came across it a while ago and was immediately hooked. I feel at home when I read things like “pretending your in the GBBO” and this week, ” Pintrest for an hour and then exhausted and went to bed” haha! Thanks for the great content!
Kara Jane
Hey Jamie, thanks so much! I’m so glad you like it…that makes my day! Oh and my Pinterest comment…it MAY have been more than an hour, but that’s all I was really willing to admit. ?
Melissa
It’s now fall and I wanted to make something to fit the season. I love spice cake, so when I found this recipe last week, I made bundtinis. They turned out amazing!
The spices were a perfect blend and the cake was moist. The cranberries can be a bit tart but are balanced well with the sweetness of the frosting. I decorated each bundtini with a small edible leaf to give it that perfect Fall look.
This recipe is a keeper!!
Kara Jane
Yay! I love a good cake win! I’m so glad they turned out well for you and they sound so pretty! Thanks so mich for letting me know you liked the recipe. 🙂
Anthony Pizzella
Good Morning Kara Jean
I’d like to make your spice cake with cranberries. Do you need to cook the cranberries first before you sugar them? Also I would like to make you vanilla cake with cranberries in the cake. Again would the cranberries have to be boiled first or just add them directly to the batter?
Merry Christmas
Kara Jane
Hi Anthony. Merry Christmas to you! To make the sugared cranberries, you don’t have to cook them first. There’s a link in the recipe and in the post for the recipe/tutorial I used to sugar the cranberries. It’s really easy to do. As far as adding cranberries to the vanilla cake, that sounds really tasty. You don’t need to cook them first, but you might want to coarsely chop them a bit, so they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake batter. You don’t want to chop them into tiny pieces though. Once coarsely chopped, you can coat them in a bit of flour before you fold them into the batter. That’ll help them not sink as much. Hope this helps!
Kadi
I love the recipe. I’m wondering how I could turn this into an applesauce spice cake. Any suggestions?
Kara Jane
You might try replacing the oil with applesauce. Maybe just use 3/4 cup of applesauce instead of the 1/2 cup of oil. I haven’t tested that out, but it might work.
Jay
I know this recipe’s been posted for a while and this probably won’t even get read but I’m curious. I really like this cake but I don’t have a bundt pan. How would I alter the cook time and/or temperature for either 8 inch layers or a sheet cake?
Kara Jane
Hi Jay, I haven’t tested it in other pans, but it should work with either 2, 8-inch cake pans, or in a 13×9 inch pan. You’ll probably need to bake it for less time, so start checking at around 35 minutes or so. Still bake at 325. Hope this helps. 🙂
Jay
Thank you! My birthday is next month so I’ll be sure to post an update.