Tender & moist Caramel Spice Cake filled with fall spices, covered in cream cheese frosting, and drizzled with homemade caramel sauce!
This Caramel Spice Cake is a showstopper of a cake. It's a three layer tender and moist cake that is frosted with a luscious cream cheese frosting, and then topped with a homemade caramel sauce. I made this cake a couple years ago for my birthday and my entire family devoured it. The cake layers are incredibly flavorful and it paired well with the frosting and caramel sauce. If you're a fan of spice cake, this is the cake to try!
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♥ Why You'll Love This Recipe
Spice Cake - The layers of cake are filled with warm and delicious spices. It's perfect for fall or for when you're in the mood for a spice cake.
Frosting - You can never go wrong with a cream cheese frosting and I will forever pair spice cakes with cream cheese frosting. The perfect pairing!
Caramel sauce - This cake is elevated with the addition of a homemade caramel sauce. It can be added between the layers or just on top.
Birthday cake - It makes for the perfect birthday cake. I made it two years ago to celebrate my birthday and it was a huge success and everyone loved it. It can also be made for all types of occasions, like a Thanksgiving dessert!
Versatile - It can be made as a single layer cake like my Chai Cake or turned into a Bundt Cake.
📝 Ingredient Notes
A full list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions are located in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Flour: All purpose flour is used in this cake and it creates a beautiful crumb.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Both ingredients help the cake rise.
- Salt & Vanilla Extract: Both add flavor, and the salt creates balance.
- Spices: A few spices to really bring out the flavor of this cake. You can adjust the spices to your liking.
- Neutral Oil: It creates the moisture in the crumb. You can use any type of neutral oil.
- Sugars: Both brown and granulated sugar are used in this recipe, for best flavors. Powdered sugar used in the frosting. For the brown sugar, you can use either dark or light brown, in both the cake and the frosting.
- Sour cream: You can switch this out for greek yogurt or even use apple sauce like my Chai Spiced Cake.
- Eggs: 4 large eggs are used for structure.
- Milk: Whole milk is used in this cake for extra moisture.
- Cream cheese: Cold full fat cream cheese used for the frosting.
- Butter: A little butter for the frosting. I like using unsalted.
See recipe card for quantities.
🍴Special Equipment
Kitchen Scale: It's so important to use a kitchen scale for accurate results.
Cake pans: You'll need three 8 inch cake pans.
Mixing bowls: I love using glass Mixing Bowls when making batters and doughs.
Mixer: You can use a stand mixer, or a handheld mixer for the frosting.
⇄ Substitutions
Sour cream - Instead of sour cream, you can use applesauce or greek yogurt- 1:1 ratio.
Dairy-Free milk - You can switch up the milk and use a dairy-free milk if you'd like.
Spices - Add more or less of the spices. You can even add some allspice.
✨ Variations
Nuts - You can add nuts to the top of the cake for an added crunch and texture.
Frosting - Switch up the frosting to a cinnamon cream cheese frosting or a brown sugar cream cheese frosting.
Single Layer cake - This cake works great as a single layer cake. Use the quantities from my Chai Cake.
Bundt cake - I have made this as a bundt cake and it was delicious! Just bake it longer.
𓎩 Step-by-Step Instructions
A few instruction photos to help you nail this recipe every time.
Step 1
In a bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda, baking powder and all the spices and set aside.
In large mixing bowl, add sugar and oil and whisk until combined, then add sour cream and whisk until combined. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated well.
Step 2
Alternate dry and wet ingredients: Add half the dry ingredients and mix, then add all the milk, then the dry ingredients and mix until all just incorporated. Don't over mix.
Step 3
Divide batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Once baked, remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.
Step 4
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (you could use a hand mixer), beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and light in color, about 5 minutes. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until completely combined. Add salt and vanilla extract and then beat for at least 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
💬 FAQ
Absolutely. Make the ahead up to 2 days ahead and then frost when you need it.
You can freeze the cake! If you want to freeze before frosting, wrap each layer in saran wrap then place each layer in its own ziploc freezer bag and place in the freezer for several months at most.
For assembled cake, place it in the freezer unwrapped for at least 45 minutes to an hour so that it's completely chilled, then take it out and wrap it entirely in saran wrap. You can then either place it in a air-tight container or aluminum foil and place in the freezer.
You can adjust the amount of spices to your liking, or leave a spice out if you know you won't like it in the cake.
Pecans or walnuts would taste delicious with this Caramel Spice cake, and I would highly recommend it.
💡Pro Tips
Measure Flour Correctly - As always, with any recipe, use a kitchen scale, as it is the best form of measuring your ingredients. If you don't have a kitchen scale, fluff your flour, scoop flour with a spoon into a measuring cup and level off.
Line pans: Prep your pans with parchment paper at the bottom, and grease your pans to make sure the cakes come out in one piece.
Don’t over mix: Once you incorporate the dry ingredients, stop mixing.
Room temperature ingredients: It's easier for the ingredients to mix together if everything is at room temperature. Make sure you use room temperature ingredients when it's called for.
Don’t over bake: Start checking the Spice Cake at 25 minutes by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, remove from the oven. Depending on your oven, it could take longer, or even less time.
Cold cream cheese: Unlike the other ingredients, make sure your cream cheese is cold, right out of the fridge. This helps the frosting from being too soft.
Caramel sauce - Make the caramel sauce ahead so that it sets slightly before using.
Cool cakes - Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting, otherwise the frosting will start to melt and the assembly process will turn pretty messy.
❄ Storage
Refrigerator - Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freezer - To Freeze, wrap the cake layers (before frosting) very well in saran wrap, then wrap in aluminum foil or place in a ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
📖 Recipe Card
Caramel Spice Cake
Equipment
- 3 8 inch round pans
- Mixing bowls
- Hand mixer
Ingredients
Spice Cake
- 2½ cups (300g) All Purpose Flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1¾ cup (350g) light brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup (180g) sour cream room temperature
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup milk
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ¾ cup (1½ stick) unsalted butter room temperature
- 12 oz block, full fat cream cheese cold
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- Caramel Sauce
Instructions
Spice Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 350℉. Grease and line three 8 inch pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda, baking powder and all the spices and set aside
- In large mixing bowl, add sugar and oil and whisk until combined, then add sour cream and whisk until combined. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated well.
- Alternate dry and wet ingredients: Add half the dry ingredients and mix, then add all the milk, then the dry ingredients and mix until all just incorporated. Don't over mix.
- Divide batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Once baked, remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.
- While cakes are cooling, make the caramel sauce.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (you could use a hand mixer), beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and light in color, about 5 minutes. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until completely combined. Add salt and vanilla extract and then beat for at least 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Frost the cake as desired. There is enough frosting to cover the entire cake.
- Pour caramel sauce on top of decorated cake, and if desired, add between layers for more caramel flavor.
Silas says
Delicious and moist. Loved the caramel addition. Spices were well balanced. Tender cake. Perfect with the cream cheese frosting.
Hakima says
So glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for trying it out. 🙂