This is a ridiculously easy cake to make, with a gorgeous chocolate flavor packed with warm spices and the fudgy texture we all want in a chocolate cake.
Use this recipe to bake an 8-inch two-layer round cake, a 9x13-inch sheet cake, or 24 cupcakes.
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This chocolate spice cake is the kind of crowd pleasing chocolate cake that everyone goes crazy for. It's rich and chocolaty with a warm, complex flavor that lingers in your mind and makes you want to go back for another slice.
This is also one of the easiest cakes I've ever baked - you won't even need an electric mixer.
Use this recipe to make a two layer round cake, a one layer sheet cake (the kind of cake I like to call a snack cake), or cupcakes.
Delicious frosting recipes for this cake
This is the kind of cake with plenty of delicious frosting options. These are my favorites.
- Maple miso brown butter frosting. This frosting makes everything more delicious (and I do mean everything), but maybe especially this cake.
- Cream cheese buttercream. For some reason, I feel that a thick swirl of cream cheese buttercream is exactly the right choice for chocolate spice cupcakes and my happy belly does not disagree.
- Mascarpone frosting. Mascarpone frosting is not as sweet as most kinds of frosting and the flavor and consistency are like a richer, thicker version of whipped cream. This is also one of the easiest and quickest kinds of frosting to whip up, taking only about 10 minutes to make.
- Milk chocolate buttercream. Because chocolate on chocolate is always a good idea.
- Chocolate ganache. Chocolate ganache can be poured over this cake while it's still warm, or whipped into a thick deeply chocolate frosting that can be spread or piped.
- White chocolate ganache buttercream. This tastes like the inside of a really good white chocolate truffle. It's impossibly rich, and so smooth and satiny that it literally melts on your tongue.
- Chocolate orange buttercream. The combination of chocolate, warm spices, and orange is impossible to beat, especially when topped with chopped roasted almonds and a sprinkle of orange zest.
If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Scroll down to rate this recipe and leave a comment for me.
Happy baking!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Spice Cake
Use this recipe to make an 8-inch round two layer cake, a 9x13-inch sheet pan cake, or 24 cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour (more for pan)
- 2 cups (426 grams) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (114 grams) buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks/ 226 grams) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup (21 grams) cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves OR ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (*See note)
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the inside of two 8-inch round cake pans, or a 9x13-inch baking pan, or line two cupcake pans with paper liners. (Here’s how to prepare a pan so your cake will not stick.)
- Add the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl and use a wire whisk to stir.
- In a small bowl or large measuring cup, add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Use a fork or a whisk to blend together.
- Cut the butter into 12 pieces and add it to a medium size saucepan along with the cocoa powder, water, cinnamon, allspice, cloves or nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. Set the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth and bubbling around edges of the pan.
- Remove the cocoa mixture from the heat and pour it into the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, stir just until everything is combined.
- Pour in the buttermilk and egg mixture and stir just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan or cupcake tin and place in the center of a preheated oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. If When done, a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake or one of the cupcakes will emerge without any raw batter on it.
- Remove the cake from oven, and set the pan(s) on a cooling rack. If you baked 8-inch round layers, allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then gently turn them out onto baking racks and allow them to cool completely before frosting. If you baked a 9x13-inch cake or cupcakes, allow the cake or cupcakes to cool completely in the pan before frosting.
Notes
A bit of nutmeg or cloves in this cake gives it that distinctive warm flavor of a good spice cake. Both pair well with chocolate and cinnamon but as not everyone likes the flavor of one or the other, use whichever you prefer.
My favorite frostings for this cake are:
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 370Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 235mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 1gSugar: 30gProtein: 5g
Dusty says
This cake looks delicious, and I'm looking to make a cake with nutmeg for a friend's birthday so this could be perfect. Normally I would do a chocolate cake with oil instead of butter and it comes out pretty fluffy. Is this a fairly dense cake, and do you think a mix of butter and oil would work to make it a little fluffier? I'm considering doing a cream cheese buttercream but adding the miso (I love the idea of miso in frosting!). Thanks in advance!
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Dusty! First of all, I am obsessed with adding miso to desserts these days, and this cake is SO good with miso frosting, so I love that you want to try that! To answer your question, I totally understand what you are saying with using oil in cakes. Several recipes on this site use oil for exactly the reason you are talking about. For this cake, the butter is melted before adding it to the batter, so you'll get a similar texture with butter or oil. I'd describe the texture of this cake as a medium denseness - not super dense or super fluffy. I chose butter because of the flavor, but you could certainly try substituting half oil and seeing if that gives you a lighter texture. I think it will work great either way, the final result will mostly just be a matter of personal preference. Does that help at all? I know that's not a very definitive answer. 🙂
Dusty says
Thanks Rebecca! I'll give it a go following the recipe with just the butter and let you know how it goes 🙂
Jennifer says
This sounds like a wonderful recipe that I would like to use to bake a cake for my mom’s birthday. I’d like to incorporate freshly picked apples since we are now in the midst of this glorious Fall weather. How would I incorporate the apples into the cake portion of this recipe so they stay moist? Thanks so much!
Rebecca Blackwell says
Ooooo, I love this idea Jennifer! As you can see in this recipe for Apple Cider cake, adding apples to a cake can be tricky. The two techniques that worked really well for that recipe were to reduce apple cider into a syrup and use that in the cake batter and fold grated apples into the batter. I think either or both of those techniques would work well for this cake. You could replace the buttermilk with the apple cider reduction and fold 2 cups of lightly packed grated apples into the batter. Or, stick with buttermilk and just fold in the grated apples. Another option is to bake this cake as is and frost it with the apple cider buttercream (used to make apple cider cake). Does that help?
Debbie says
Thank you Rebecca for your thoughtful response. I will definitely give it a try adding your suggestions for the orange flavor, although might hold off until this oppressive heat breaks!!
Rebecca Blackwell says
It's not the best baking weather right now, is it? Here's hoping it cools down a bit and chocolate cake is in your near future!
Debbie says
Can I make a substitute for the orange liquer in the orange chocolate buttercream?
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Debbie! I'd suggest using this recipe for milk chocolate buttercream instead, which is very similar but doesn't include any liquor: https://ofbatteranddough.com/milk-chocolate-buttercream/
If you still want the orange flavor, use chocolate that has orange flavor and/ or a few drops of orange extract. You can use whatever kind of chocolate you like in milk chocolate buttercream - it doesn't have to be milk chocolate. 🙂
Does that help? Please let me know if you have any other questions!