Friday, April 25, 2008

Shall We Try Some Spice Cake?


Spice cake is usually not my first choice for dessert. Just hand me a slice of chocolate fudge cake and I'll probably be happy 90% of the time. However, now and again, I like to venture into less charted baked-goods territory and experience a change of flavor.

I came across this recipe recently and based on all the positive reviews thought I'd give it a go. It requires some very basic substitutions to make it dairy-free/egg-free/nut-free, but otherwise it's really quite easy to make. The recipe is actually written for a double-layer cake with frosting, but I decided to halve the recipe to make a simpler one-layer cake and quartered the frosting portion, adding just a bit more liquid so that I could just drizzle it on my cake. The resulting cake was quite good. It was moist with a good balance between the sweet frosting and the slightly less sweet cake. Raisins were a nice touch, but could easily be omitted if you don't prefer them. I would say this definitely makes a good alternative to your standard chocolate or vanilla cake.

Give this dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free spice cake a try if you're in the mood for something just a little different. I can easily see this working as cupcakes or muffins too (I think I just might try that next time). Just be sure to adjust the baking times accordingly.

RECIPE for Applesauce-Raisin Cake With Caramel Icing from Cooking Light

Recipe Notes:
  • To make this dairy-free, be sure to use dairy-free shortening and margarine (such as Earth Balance) and substitute soymilk for the milk.
  • To make this nut-free, omit pecans.
  • If you're going to try making this in another form such as cupcakes or muffins, use the trusty clean toothpick as your guide to when it's done (I would guess cupcakes/muffins would take about 25 minutes).

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