Magic Spice Cake

This was great but I did make some changes. I didn't have buttermilk, so just used 1 c. milk and 1 TB lemon juice mixed in. Also, I did a full teaspoon of cinnamon and added 1 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp. allspice since one reviewer said it was bland. These spices made it taste great. I just threw it all into one large rectangle cake pan instead of two round ones and it turned out fine.

This is my favorite spice cake recipe. I've made it 4 times now, and this time was my first making it at a high altitude (4500 feet), and with only very slight adjustments, it was still very moist! I changed from shortening to butter, because I like butter better, and I also added 1/4 tsp allspice, and an extra 1/4 tsp cinnamon for a spicier cake, because it just doesn't smell spicy enough for me the way the recipe calls for. For anyone at high altitudes, the only adjustments I made were I removed 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp of baking powder, added 1 tbsp of 2% milk, 1 tbsp butter and 1 extra egg, and it came out moist, and didn't rise too early. It looked and tasted great with a simple cream cheese frosting.

There is a popular-brand cinnamon swirl cake mix that we can't get anymore where we live, and I was looking for a recipe here at Allrecipes.com to replace it. This recipe turned out to be nothing like what I was looking for, but I am SO glad I found it. Making the recipe exactly as written, the end product is a very dense cake with the texture of a good spice bread. Unlike most of the spice cakes I've had, it is not overpoweringly spicy, nor is it tremendously sweet. It's a refreshingly different kind of cake, and we all really enjoyed it. Some notes/suggestions: (1) I recommend making this in a single-layer rectangular pan. (2) When making this cake batter, it is very important that you beat the cake AS STATED for the times stated in the recipe. Your cake will not have the intended texture if you take shortcuts (like hand mixing or mixing for less time than called for) or if you overbeat the batter after the eggs have been added. So...follow the instructions. (3) If you don't like cloves, substitute ginger or allspice, etc. Just DON'T substitute all of them. Pick ONE as a substitute and go with that. Adding a tsp of three other flavors is going to overpower this cake and make it unfit to eat, in my opinion. This is a great recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it.

One look at the instructions for this recipe made me doubt the fluffiness, so I made it using the same ingredients, but as a usual cake. Beat shortening(or butter) with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk and beat for another minute or two before pouring into prepared pans. Came out truly magical! It could use a little more spice, perhaps some allspice or more cinnamon. Otherwise, absolutely delicious!

Delicious and easy to make! I personally subbed egg nog for the buttermilk to make a holiday cake. I also make a basic white frosting and flavored it with egg nog. Great Recipe! Lends itself well to modification.

What a disappointment. It was very dry and the flavor was not like any spice cake I've had before. Will not make again.

This is one of the best spice cake recipes I have found, moist and delicious. My family is always requesting this one.

I made this cake for a groom's cake at a friend's wedding. It was a huge hit. Everyone there wanted the recipe.

Whew - I just wanted a quick, moist spice cake that didn't really even need a frosting. I just made the recipe as stated with a few adjustments for high altitude. I was confused because it said original recipe - 1 - 9 inch pan but called for 2. The batter seemed really stiff and I decided to check them at 1/2 cooking time-they were already done! The cakes were really crumbly & slightly dry and bland so I make the orange glaze from another recipe, adding some almond and rum extract & poked holes in both layers to soak it up. I also added chopped pecans on both layers. I think it's OK, but not fantastic. Maybe it'll be better in morning after soaking a bit in fridge. A cream cheese or whip cream frosting would probably be good too. It's just a lot of tweaks for what should be a simple spice cake.

My family and I loved this cake. I used butter intead of shortening and left everything else the same. It is mildly spiced and delicious. We ate it plain and it was gone in a day. Great recipe!

Actually, I haven't tried the recipe yet, but I have been looking for years for my old favorite "Magic Spice Cake" recipe. It was put out by one of the cake flour companies, and I made it in the forties. It was one of the "new" one bowl cakes, and used sour milk that was created by putting vinegar in regular milk. This sounds a lot like the recipe. I won many prizes at the Umatilla (Oregona) County fair in the special cake category with this recipe. I used to frost it with sea foam frosting. I'm really hoping that this is the recipe I've searched for so long!

A delicious spice cake, but needed twice the amount of spices. Perhaps a little less salt or leavening too. Paired well with ginger ice cream.

ewwww

Dry..I was expecting a burst of flavours but found it bland. I used a cinamon sauce to soak it in hoping my guests will like it. I will never make this one again.

This cake was wonderful and gone in no time. I made it for my fiance to take to work and someone took the leftovers home. The icing I made also came out wonderfully and I got many compliments o this cake. I would like to add a little more spices next time to get even more flavor. Whipped cream icing is wonderful on it!

I added the extra spices as recommended and baked a dozen cupcakes. I did not overcook them, but thought the cake was dry. I added 1/2 cup boiling water to the other half of the batter, baked it in a square pan and it was awesome. Next time I make this I will add 1 cup boiling water to the batter! (Similar to Hershey's perfectly chocolate cake)

I have made this in both cake form and as cupcakes. It was a huge hit at my boss' birthday party made exactly as the recipe says but I do make some changes now. I agree with a lot of the posts here that say it's not spiced enough. I add quite a bit more of the spices in the recipe as well as allspice. I can't say how much I use because I just add until it looks spiced enough. This is now my husbands favorite cake; I make it for his birthday every year in cupcake form. Not too sure why people are admitting to altering the recipe completely and then giving a low rating saying it didn't turn out well... Just follow the recipe to the letter the 1st time around. You wont be disappointed. I like it with and without frosting. I also like to sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the icing as well as mixing some of the spices into the icing. It screams I'm a spice cake!

I would give this 5 stars, but it really needed the additional spices other reviewers suggested. I used an apple spice icing recipe I found on here and the combination was delicious.

Was very dry and needs more flavor . Will be looking for a new recipe !

Great cake!! I added a little nutmeg and replace the shortening with butter, like many of you did.. amazing! I topped it with a cream cheese frosting, and it was a big success!!

Awesome cake! I made cupcakes with it, they took about 20 minutes to bake. It made about 19 cupcakes with a little bit left over. I would have liked it a little spicier, which is why I did only 4 stars instead of 5. I'd go ahead and use 1 tsp. of spices instead of 3/4. Also, if you're gonna frost it- use cream cheese frosting. I am not an experienced baker and just looked for an easy frosting recipe (which was a buttercream recipe). Didn't go so well. They both taste awesome separately, but together...

It was too dry and I did as one reviewer suggested I added a full teaspoon of cinnamon and added 1 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp. allspice but I found it to be too much flavor which is odd because I LOVE flavor.... Maybe I did something wrong.

I increased the spices to 1 tsp each. I didn't have buttermilk or even plain milk so I used my favorite standby of nonfat powdered milk. I added 1 tbsp of white vinegar and let sit 5 minutes. Worked great and had the advantage of reducing fat. Good thing because my hubby will eat one of these in a day!! It's his favorite.

8-12-2016 ~The fact that this was nicely flavored could not begin to compensate for how surprisingly dry it was. Even the excellent “Cinnamon Coffee Frosting,” also from this site, was not enough to rescue it, salvage it – or keep it.

Delicious!!

I would have prefered if it was more dense and moist.

It was too dry for me but it had a good flavor.

This cake was perfect!! My family loved it!!

This was my first spice cake ever, and it went over quite well with my extended family at Thanksgiving. Instead of icing it, I whipped up an applesauce recipe that I found on this site and served them together. They were a hit!!

Best cake ever. I think I might have changed a few things but otherwise it’s delicious. I taught my daughters to bake with THIS recipe.

I tried it...it was a great simple recipe.

This cake came out dry and didn't have enough flavor for my taste. It was tedious to make.

Not sure what went wrong but this recipe ended up extremely dry with little flavor. We threw it out.

It's a light and fluffy cake that gets more moist as it sits and absorbs moisture from the frosting so it's best made a day before needed. Based on reviews, I fiddled with it a little. I increased the spices using 1 slightly heaping tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp mace, a pinch of nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ground cloves. I upped sugar by using 1 cup light brown and 1/2 cup white. I also added a tsp of vanilla. I frosted the layers with a caramel (penuche) frosting on it, too, which really went well with the cake flavors. My family absolutely loved it.