You haven’t lived till you’ve tried this delicious spice cake with brown sugar frosting. Easy and delicious, made super moist with apple sauce and fresh apple, this cake is the perfect Fall dessert!
For more dessert ideas, head on over to my popular posts for Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Zucchini Sheet Cake. For a while I’ll fight the inevitable change of the seasons from summer to fall.
I’ll balk at the Halloween candy appearing in the grocery in July, cringe when I see fall clothes on sale, and insist we can still go to the pool even if our teeth are chattering. But then, eventually, all these things wear at me and I give in. I mean REALLY give in – all the fall deco goes up and all the warm, cozy foods come out. Like this delicious spice cake with brown sugar frosting.
Why This Recipe Works
Brown sugar frosting – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…once you’ve made brown sugar frosting you’re going to want it on ALL THE THINGS for eternity. There just isn’t a better icing and when you add it on top of this spice cake? Tears, my friends, tears of joy.
Perfect for fall – potlucks and bake sales and family gatherings don’t stop just because there is a little chill in the air. When you need to bring something to the party, make it this spice cake. It will be the star of the show.
Simple ingredients – Don’t let the list of ingredients scare you off. You probably have many of the spices and other ingredients right in your fridge, pantry, or spice drawer right now.
Apples – The addition of both applesauce and grated apples makes this spice cake moist and sweet without having to add too much additional sugar. Plus, the slightly tart apple flavor really shines through.
Here’s How You Make It
Pull out all the fall spices and get cooking – this spice cake can be yours in just an hour.
Making the cake
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then grease and lightly flour a 9-inch round or square cake pan. (not pictured)
- Next, whisk together the dry ingredients and spices in a medium size bowl. (photo 1)
- Then, in another bowl, combine the brown sugar, apple sauce, oil, grated apple, eggs, and vanilla and stir together. (photos 2-3)
- Add dry ingredients to wet and mix til thoroughly incorporated. (photo 4)
- Pour the batter into the greased pan and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (photos 5-6)
- Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to cool at least 20 minutes before gently turning out onto a plate to cool completely. Once it’s completely cooled, frost with the brown sugar frosting and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar (optional), cut, and serve OR cover and store at room temperature up to three days or in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 1 week. (photo 12)
Making the brown sugar frosting
- Now to make that frosting. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir in the brown sugar, continuing to cook and stir for 1 minute. (photos 7-9)
- Add in the heavy cream and stir for 2 minutes longer or until the sauce mixture is smooth like caramel. Remove butter/sugar mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour it into a heat-safe bowl and then add in the powdered sugar and mix. (photo 10)
- Stir in the milk 1-2 tablespoons at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition until the frosting is light, fluffy, and easily spreadable. Spread the brown sugar frosting all over the cooled spice cake. (photos 11-12)
- Enjoy!
Ideas for Customizing this Cake
Want to mix this spice cake up a little? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- For a little bit of texture and chew, consider adding in a half a cup of raisins into the batter before baking.
- Feeling nutty? Add a ¼ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the cake batter before baking. Sprinkle more nuts on top of the icing for extra crunch and texture.
- If you find nutmeg, allspice, or cloves overpowering, it’s perfectly fine to skip one. It will still taste just as delicious!
- If you want to skip the brown sugar icing or are running out of time, simply use a vanilla or buttercream icing in a can. I won’t tell!
- Instead of grating the whole apple, grate only half of it and dice the rest for to get some apple pieces in every bite.
Expert Tips
- This cake can easily be doubled to fit in a 9×13 pan to feed a crowd. Bake 5-10 minutes longer until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Be sure to allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before turning it onto a pan to cool the rest of the way and frost. This helps the cake to contract and pull away from the edges so you can better turn it out without breaking into pieces.
- In that same vein, wait till the cake is totally cooled off before icing or your brown sugar frosting will melt and slide off the cake.
More Fall Dessert Recipes
- Carrot Cake Muffins
- Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Best Easy Pumpkin Pie
- Best Baked Apples
- Super Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting
Did you make this amazing Spice Cake recipe with Brown Sugar Frosting? EXCELLENT! Please rate the recipe below!
Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour + 3 tablespoons
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup oil
- ⅓ cup apple sauce
- 1 apple - peeled and grated
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Brown Sugar Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-6 tablespoons milk - as needed
- cinnamon-sugar - optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch round or square cake pan.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves.
- In a second, larger bowl combine brown sugar, oil, apple sauce, grated apple, eggs, and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
- Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until incorporated.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool at least 20 minutes before gently turning out onto a plate to cool completely. Once completely cooled, frost, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar if desired. Cut, and serve or cover and store at room temperature up to three days or in the fridge in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Make the Frosting
- To prepare the frosting, melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and continue to stir for 1 minute.
- Stir in heavy cream and stir 2 minutes longer until sauce mixture is smooth like caramel. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into a heat-safe bowl and mix in powdered sugar.
- Stir in milk 1-2 tablespoons at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition until light, fluffy, and easily spreadable. Spread over cooled cake.
Notes
- Feeding a crowd: this cake can easily be doubled to fit in a 9×13 pan to feed a crowd. Bake 5-10 minutes longer until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Be sure to allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before turning it onto a pan to cool the rest of the way and frost. This helps the cake to contract and pull away from the edges so you can better turn it out without breaking into pieces.
- In that same vein, wait till the cake is totally cooled off before icing or your brown sugar frosting will melt and slide off the cake.
Can I use condensed milk instead of heavy. Cream
This recipe hasn’t been tested with condensed milk, but I’m sure it can be done!
I made your brown sugar frosting exactly as per your recipe. I let the spice cake completely cool. My question is after preparing the frosting exactly per your recipe, I found that it would not thicken when mixing in the powdered sugar was added. You make no mention of allowing the hot icing mix to cool either as or after adding the powdered sugar. I had to add at least another cup of powdered sugar and continue mixing. it wasn’t till I finally started pouring the frosting onto the cooled cake that it started to thicken. I was not able to spread it on the cake as much as just guide the flowing icing onto the top of the cake. Once the frosting was completely cooled it became the correct fluffy consistency. Question 1: should I use an electric mixer instead of a whisk? Question 2: should the frosting be allowed to cool to a spreadable consistency before applying to the cooled down cake?
This is a frosting that I really liked when I was younger and hope to be able to get it right going forward without adding extra powdered sugar.
I’m sorry it didn’t quite work out for you! The butter/sugar mixture doesn’t need to be cooled and it also doesn’t need to be super thick either. You just remove from heat and add the vanilla and powdered sugar. After that, you add milk, 1-2 tablespoons at a time until it’s spreadable. Both a whisk and electric mixer will work. Although, if you’re having an issue getting everything mixed and creamy, an electric mixer might be more helpful.
2 days ago I sent in a question about the brown sugar frosting and have not received a response of any kind. I would very much like to get an answer my question.. It is how do you make the frosting fluffy. I followed instructions to the letter and the icing was not spreadable on my very much cooled cake. When I started putting it on the cake and the frosting actually cooled it kind of became spreadable. I also had to put at least a cup to a cup and a half extra powdered sugar just to thicken it some. It is very irresponsible of you to not provide any kind of answer.
Thank you
A response was already made to your previous comment. I’m sorry you didn’t see it. It said; “I’m sorry it didn’t quite work out for you! The butter/sugar mixture doesn’t need to be cooled when you take it off the cook top and it also doesn’t need to be super thick either. You just remove from heat and add the vanilla and powdered sugar. After that, you add milk, 1-2 tablespoons at a time until it’s spreadable. If allowing the frosting to cool seems to help, however, then there’s no harm in allowing it to cool to help make things easier 🙂 Both a whisk and electric mixer will work. Although, if you’re having an issue getting everything mixed and creamy, an electric mixer might be more helpful.”