There’s something about a spice cake that feels like it’s letting you in on a secret. Underneath the warm hit of cinnamon and cloves, this buttermilk version has a crumb so soft and tender it practically dissolves — the buttermilk keeps every bite moist for days (not that it’ll last that long).
And then there’s the frosting: a thick, tangy layer of cream cheese icing that cuts right through the sweetness and makes the whole thing taste a little bit like fall, no matter what month it actually is. It’s the kind of cake that shows up at a potluck and quietly disappears first, no fanfare required. Simple ingredients, a few pantry spices, and about an hour and a half of your time — that’s really all it takes.
Buttermilk Spice Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground cloves
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp. ground allspice
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- â…› tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. heavy cream
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice in a bowl until well combined.
- Cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract. Add in half of the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Pour in buttermilk, and mix until just combined. Add in remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the middle of the cake springs back lightly when touched, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, cream butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until thoroughly combined. Mix in confectioners’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, and beat until smooth after each addition. Mix in vanilla and salt. Add in heavy cream and beat until frosting is smooth, about 2 minutes. Frost cooled cake as desired.
Here’s the recipe scaled down for an 8×8 pan. A 9×13 pan has about 117 sq in of surface area vs. 64 sq in for an 8×8, so this uses a scale factor of about 0.55 (roughly a bit over half the original).
Buttermilk Spice Cake — 8×8 pan
- 1 cup + 1½ Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. ground cloves
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. ground allspice
- ½ cup + 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup + 1 Tbsp. firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup + 1 tsp. white sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature (see note)
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ¾ cup + 1 Tbsp. buttermilk, at room temperature
Notes for 8×8 pan:
- Eggs: 3 eggs × 0.55 ≈ 1.6 eggs. Rather than guessing with a partial egg, use 1 whole egg + 1 yolk — this gets you close to the right amount of both structure and moisture. Save the extra white for another use.
- Baking time: Since the batter will be a bit deeper in an 8×8 than in the original 9×13, start checking for doneness around the same time as the original recipe calls for, but expect it may need a few extra minutes. Test with a toothpick in the center.
- All the small-quantity spices (cloves, nutmeg, allspice) rounded to ¼ teaspoon since anything smaller is hard to measure accurately — this keeps the flavor balance intact without fussy fractions.
