Molasses Spice Cake

A deep flavored, rich homemade cake with spiced buttercream frosting. This molasses spice cake is perfect for the holiday season! You may also love our gingerbread snack cake.

molasses spice layer cake with buttercream frosting with one slice cut

Molasses Spice Cake Recipe

If there is one flavor our family loves during the holiday season, it is molasses. It’s the key ingredient in gingerbread but also can be the base of a delicious spice cake. This spice cake is homemade but is very forgiving and is easier than you may think!

Types of Molasses

For this recipe you’ll want to use a dark molasses rather than light, but even within dark molasses flavors, there are several different products. Unsulphured molasses is generally the type of molasses used in baking. Grandma’s Molasses Brand is the molasses commonly found in stores. The “original” style of this brand is the kind we most often use at home. Sulphured molasses just means they’ve added sulfur dioxide to prevent fermenting and give it a longer shelf life. It will taste the same as unsulphured.

Blackstrap molasses is generally not used for baking because it is so bitter. It is the product of boiling sugar cane or sugar beet the third time, so it is dark, thick and strong flavored. It is the healthiest molasses, however, being rich in vitamins and minerals.

Molasses Spice Cake on a plate

What Spices are in Spice Cake?

Common spices found in spice cake are cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Sometimes you’ll find allspice. But for this recipe we kept it simple with cinnamon and cloves. These two spices really enhance the flavor of the molasses.

How to Make Spice Cake

You’ll make this cake in 2 8″ round cake pans. Be sure to grease them with shortening and then dust them with flour. You can also use our cake release. This will help the cakes come out cleanly.

In this cake recipe we use shortening. Butter has better flavor, but shortening gives cakes a better texture and lighter crumb. Cream the shortening and sugar together, then add in the eggs and molasses, mixing between each addition.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients into the wet alternately with the buttermilk. This will ensure everything gets mixed together well without over mixing and making the cake tough.

How do you know when cake is done? Touch the center of the cake. It is done when it springs back after touching it. Don’t open the oven door until you think the cake looks done. If you open it too early or too many times, the cake may fall.

homemade spice cake with a bite on a fork

Frosting for Spice Cake

So what frosting goes best on spice cake? If you’d like you can use a simple spiced whipped cream as we do in our easy spice cake recipe, but since this is a layer cake, we decided to make a spiced buttercream frosting. Here are some hints when making the frosting:

  • Use softened butter, but not melted at all. Set out the butter at room temperature for a few hours before making the frosting. The butter should be firm rather than soft, but not cold at all.
  • Whip the butter with a hand or stand mixer until it is nearly white in appearance.
  • Add in the vanilla and then start whipping in the powdered sugar. It’s best to add the sugar one cup at a time so the powdered sugar doesn’t go flying all over your kitchen.
  • Add in the spices. It really doesn’t matter what order you add the ingredients as long as you start with butter and end with milk.
  • The higher fat the milk, the better. If you have heavy cream, I highly recommend using this in buttercream. it will make it super rich and smooth. The higher fat your milk is, the more tablespoons you will need. Add one or two tablespoons of milk at a time so that the frosting doesn’t get too soft.

molasses spice cake on a plate with one bite missing

Other Spice Cake Recipes

TOOLS TO MAKE THIS CAKE

Molasses Spice Cake on a plate
Molasses Spice Cake on a plate

Molasses Spice Cake

4.63 from 8 votes
A deep flavored, rich homemade cake with spiced buttercream frosting. This molasses spice cake is perfect for the holiday season!
Servings 15
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients
 

For the Cake:

For the Frosting:

Instructions
 

To make the cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Grease and flour 2 8” round cake pans.
  • In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.
  • Add the eggs and mix well.
  • Add in the molasses and mix again.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves.
  • Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, mixing between each addition.
  • Divide the batter between the two prepared pans.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
  • Loosen the edges of the cake, then turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

  • In a stand mixer bowl, with the mixer on medium speed, whip the butter for 2 minutes until it is almost white in color.
  • Add in the powdered sugar, spices, vanilla and 4 tablespoons of milk. Beat on low speed for 3-5 minutes, adding in the last tablespoons of milk if the buttercream needs to be thinner.

Assemble the Cake:

  • Place one cake layer on a cake plate.
  • Cover the top with frosting.
  • Place the second cake layer on top of the first.
  • Frost the top and sides of the cake, smoothing the frosting as you go.
  • Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Video

Notes

The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 15 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake (and using all of the frosting). To lower the calories, make less frosting and frost it lightly as a "naked" cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**

Nutrition

Calories: 558kcal | Carbohydrates: 77g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 139mg | Sugar: 65g | Vitamin A: 650IU | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1.2mg
Author Julie Clark
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Calories 558
Keyword christmas cake, gingerbread cake, layer cake, molasses cake, spiced buttercream

molasses spice cake title image

About Julie Clark

We are Julie, Maddie, and Kinslee – a mother and daughter team sharing with you the best cakes to satisfy any need or sweet craving that you may have. Welcome to our family’s kitchen!

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