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.
Jessica T. says
I have made this cake for my birthday cake two years in a row and it’s always a hit. I absolutely love the spiced flavor with the eggnog paring and I look forward to making this cake every year. I actually try to find excuses to make it. Made it for Christmas party this year and everyone loved it! I don’t put the white chocolate drips on the cake. It actually doesn’t need it at all. I just decorated it with fresh rosemary and cranberries and just take it off when I’m about to eat it. Very good cake highly recommend. Definitely a Christmas/Birthday tradition every year!
July says
On my list to make for the upcoming holidays!
The Black pepper has me puzzled!?
Caroline Edom says
what size cake pan is needed?
Lauren says
You can use an 8 or 9-inch cake pan. I prefer the 8-inch pan with a 30 minute cook time.
Heather N says
Hi Lauren- I was thinking of making this as a bundt cake, but not sure about the baking time. Suggestions?
Shannon says
This sounds delicious and I'd like to make it for my son's birthday. I love ganache, but none of us like white chocolate. Can you think of a substitute that would go well with the rest of the flavors in this cake?
Lauren says
You could skip the ganache altogether! I recently tried making ganache with the sea salt caramel chips from Trader Joes and that was delicious!
Carla says
I made this on Christmas Eve. It’s a keeper. It was delicious with just the right amount of spices. Thanks for sharing it.
Susybaker says
I baked this cake for my friend’s birthday. I used three 6” pans. The cake and frosting came out amazing. The frosting goes perfectly with the cake and the cake is perfectly spiced. Great recipe
Ashley says
I made this cake today and was so disappointed. I followed the recipe exactly as is (except I skipped the white chocolate ganache). The spice cake was a great consistency but the spice flavor was underwhelming. The frosting was WAY too sweet and I couldn’t taste the eggnog at all. Maybe I should’ve known that 4.5 cups of powdered sugar was too much for a batch of frosting.
Lauren says
Sorry the cake didn't meet your expectations, thanks for the feedback!
Allegra says
Would this recipe work as a Bundt cake? I’m thinking, Yes, but wouldn’t want to end up with too much batter. Thank you for inspiring me.
Lauren says
You may end up with a little extra batter if using a standard 10-1/2 cup bundt pan, but could bake off the extra as cupcakes! This recipe yields 3 8-inch cakes, while a standard bundt cake batter would typically yield 2 8 or 9-inch cakes.
Allegra says
Thank you! Looking forward to making this.
Carol says
This recipe easily gets my 5 star nod. Made it for Christmas this year and it did not dissapoint. I made it in square 8 inch pans, cut it down the middle legnthwise( so I ended up with 2 longer cakes) and fosted both halves . Looed like a professional did it, I was so proud! Decorating is not one of my strong values. But the taste!!!! This is definitely a recipe I am going to be pulling out again and again. I was sorry when I ptinted it out that the credits did not appear so I made sure to find this recipe online again and make sure I never lose it! Tanks so much for this deliciousness!