Homemade cakes are usually pretty intimidating to me. Mine always fall or stick to the pan or are plagued with some other mishap. But a spice cake, especially one in a 9″x13″, seems to be more forgiving.
I picked up Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family in Cake by Odette Williams, mostly because the photography is stunning, but also because she makes cakes from scratch seem obtainable. The easiest one in the cookbook is the cinnamon spice cake. Topped off with ice cream and a drizzle of caramel, it was a hit!
Cinnamon Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups whole-grain spelt flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 eggs at room temp
- 1/2 cup mild-flavored extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
- 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9″x13″ rectangle pan with butter, line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper, and grease the paper.
- Place a large sifter or a sieve in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and sift.
- In another large bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, vanilla, applesauce, honey, milk, zest, and brown sugar until smooth.
- Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until there are no lumps and the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 28 to 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, and the cake bounces back when lightly pressed.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes. Run a butter knife around the cake to gently release. Invert the cake, peel off the parchment paper, and cool on a wire rack.
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