Tender cake laced with warming spices of cinnamon, clove, and ginger, coated in fluffy eggnog buttercream and white chocolate ganache drip. Christmas Spice Cake with Eggnog Buttercream is a delicious and beautiful cake to serve this holiday!
Well, it's here. Ready or not. The big guy in the red suit is checking his list, loading up his sleigh and getting ready for a busy ride around the world. Meanwhile, we're over here in Boston checking our shopping lists, twice, because facing that crowd twice is not on anyone's nice list.
What's on my shopping list? Ingredients for christmas spice cake and creamy eggnog frosting. The happy to my holidays.
I've made this spice cake, hmmm, roughly 5 times this month. Trust me, my pants aren't happy about it, but my mouth is doing just spectacularly. Luckily my coworkers are very willing to test the samples. Aren't they just the best?
Let's talk about the Christmas Spice Cake
There are a few cake that my hands always just seem to make. My very favorite chocolate cake in salted caramel pretzel cake or pumpkin buttercream cake. And then this summer these red velvet cupcakes got added to the list. But now, you guys, we have a third cake that's a must make for the holidays. Christmas Spice Cake.
We're calling it christmas spice cake because it's got all those warming spices that make us think of cozy slippers and falling snow, but really it can be whenever-you-want spice cake. Let's be honest, whenever cakes are always the best cakes.
The tricky awesome part about spice cake is the wonderful combination of spices that perk up your tongue. When you read the ingredients, your eyebrows will raise at the black pepper.
But trust me. It provides just the subtlest kick of warm heat without even giving off that there is black pepper in the cake. All you're tasting is sweet cinnamon, spicy ginger, roasty clove and fluffy, moist cake. All the wins.
But just waaaait....a present's not a present until it's wrapped right? Well, here's the most festive wrapping evah.
Fluffy Eggnog Buttercream
If you've been tuning in on the Instastories, you'll know the first attempt at this did not go so well. Second attempt, we did things much different. Results? Creamy, dreamy eggnog buttercream.
TIPS FOR MAKING EGGNOG BUTTERCREAM
- whip the buttercream until pale and fluffy
- incorporate the confectioners sugar
- add the eggnog one tablespoon at a time
- adjust the texture with heavy cream
Be sure to refrigerate this cake if you're not serving it right away. You can take it out of the fridge - or if you're in cold climates and you store holiday food in the garage. It's a thing we do, it's odd but useful when the fridge is full.
After refrigeration, the cake will need about 45 minutes to an hour at room temp before serving.
And then if you're extra, like me (I'm totally aware and unafraid) you add a white chocolate ganache drip to the top. Hey, it's Christmas. Calories don't count on Christmas. Or Christmas Spice Cake for that matter.
From Henry, Shea, Charley Brown and myself we wish you the happiest of holidays. Whether you celebrate Christmas or another holiday, embrace religion or just for the love of it. We hope your holidays are magical.
Christmas Spice Cake with Eggnog Buttercream
Ingredients
Christmas Spice Cake
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- ¼ teaspoon pure ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsulphered molasses
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 1 ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
Eggnog Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups 3 sticks unsalted butter
- 4 ½ cups confectioner's sugar
- 7 tablespoons eggnog
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup heavy cream
White Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Christmas Spice Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch cake pans, set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices (cinnamon through black pepper). Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, or using a large bowl with a hand held mixer, add light brown sugar, vegetable oil, molasses and apple sauce. Cream together on medium speed, making sure there are no lumps left from the brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, mix on low speed 1 to 2 minutes until incorporated.
- Working in three batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients on low speed. Mix to combine ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the three pans. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cake cool and prepare the frosting. Once cake is completely cool, frost each layer and top and sides of the cake. Once frosted, lightly drip the cooled ganache over the sides of the cake. Pour ganache over the top and lightly smooth. Optional: Once ganache has set, lightly sprinkle top with spices.
Eggnog Buttercream
- Cream the butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, slowly adding confectioners sugar one cup at a time.
- Add eggnog one tablespoon at a time, raising speed to medium. Add ground nutmeg and beat for 2 minutes to incorporate. Reduce speed to add heavy cream without splashing, slowly increase speed medium-high to whip the cream into the frosting. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes until frosting is light and fluffy.
White Chocolate Ganache
- In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Pour hot cream over white chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Stir with a spatula until smooth. Let sit for 10-20 minutes until cool but still liquid. The warmer the chocolate ganache is, the longer your drips will be. How long you cool it is a matter of preference and patience.
Melissa says
How would I adjust this recipe to use it for 6 inch cake pans? Thank you!
Lauren says
I haven't made this cake as a 6-inch cake before, my estimate is that you would end up with double the number of layers (6).
Lauren says
Hi Lauren,
How many cupcakes do you think this recipe might yield? Thanks!
Lauren
Lauren says
Hi Lauren 🙂
This will make about 24 cupcakes. Thanks!
Jill stewart says
The cake made my whole house smell amazing, but the buttercream was a nightmare to work with. No matter how many tablespoons of milks I added it was the consistency of playdough. 😩
Lauren says
Jill! I'm so sorry this recipe didn't work out for you! Is there a chance the butter hadn't softened enough yet? That tends to be my problem when a frosting texture isn't working out. It also helps to add the confectioner's sugar in increments so you can taste for preferred sweetness and texture as you go.
Katie F says
Can this be made with a substitution for Molasses and vegetable oil?
Lauren says
What did you want to substitute? Vegetable oil is commonly substituted with apple sauce, so I would imagine that would work in this case. If you don't have molasses, I don't think it will greatly affect the texture of the cake just a loss of caramelized sweetness in taste.
Melanie says
This was great! I adjusted the buttercream recipe by using all eggnog instead of the heavy cream/eggnog mix and it was delicious. Big hit after Christmas dinner!
Molly says
Can the cake layers (unfrosted) be left out at room temperature? Or does it need to refrigerated As well?
Lauren says
absolutely, just wrap them after they've cooled so they don't get stale!
Jen says
I’m wondering if it would be possible to incorporate the eggnog into the cake itself ? I was thinking to use half the amount of apple sauce and substitute the other half with the eggnog? We’re not a huge fan of frosting on my house but don’t want to miss out on the eggnoggy goodness!
Lauren says
TBH, I'm not 100% sure. There's more liquid in eggnog than in applesauce so maybe cut the amount of eggnog you end up using in half? If you try it, be sure to let us know how it works out!
Elizabeth says
Could this be used for cupcakes? We got a Christmas tree cupcake silicone thingy (I’m SO EXCITED) and I’m thinking this might be delicious in little portions!
Lauren says
Sure! You'd just have to adjust the bake time. It depends on how deep the cupcake pan is, but maybe check them around 15-18 minutes. Also, depending on how many you want to make, you may want to cut the recipe in half.
Suzanne says
This looks delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Julie says
What spices did you sprinkle on top (measurements too) of the ganache?
Lauren says
Hi Julie! The top is just sprinkled with ground cinnamon. For the ganaches, after it cooles I usually transfer it to a squirt bottle and do it that way but you can also use a small piping bag.
Gina says
I made this cake for Christmas and it was a huge hit! The cake was extremely moist and flavorful. Even though the buttercream and white chocolate ganache were very sweet, the spices in the cake balanced it well. I’ll definitely keep this recipe in my collection for special occasions! Thank you for a unique and enjoyable dessert 🙂
Lauren says
Thanks Gina! So glad to hear you loved it!
Stardust says
Made this for Christmas dinner and it may have become our new traditional Christmas dessert! AMAZING!!!!
Lauren says
So glad you loved it! Merry Christmas!
Angela says
This is a keeper. I made it in two 9 inch pans, still took 25 minutes. Let the ganache cool about 12 minutes. Should have waited longer but it didn't impact taste. This came out perfect. Served it to a crowd and everyone liked it.
Lauren says
Glad it was a hit!! Thank you!
Barbara says
Cant wait to try.
Meesh says
Sorry to say this cake was a bit bland. Bought good eggnog but didn’t taste it at all in the icing.
Will use the icing recipe again and maybe adjust it a little. It was nice and fluffy.
Lauren says
I'm sorry to hear this recipe didn't meet your expectations! Is it just the buttercream you're referring to or the cake on the whole? Glad to hear the buttercream was nice and fluffy though!