Eggnog Spice Cake

 

    Almost every time I host, I use it as an excuse to make some kind of cake. I just can't help myself! So, when I couldn't decide what to make for one of my Christmas parties this year, I smashed three treats together to make this one delicious cake! The three parts of this cake are the spice cake, eggnog frosting, and the gingerbread house decorations. 

    To start everything off, I first made my gingerbread house decorations so that I knew they would be totally cool and the frosting hardened by the time I wanted to decorate the cake. I used my gingerbread man recipe but you can use any other recipe for gingerbread houses or men you find online. While I was waiting for my houses to cool I made my spiced cake.

    To make my spice cake I started by beating together my room temperature butter and sugar. Once those were smooth, I added my eggs in one at a time then my vanilla, milk, and molasses. When that was all smooth, I got out my sifter and got going on my dry ingredients. Into my sifter went flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. That got sifted into my batter and all folded together until there were just no dry streaks. Be very careful not to over mix. I then greased and dusted two 9 inch cake pans and poured equal amounts of batter into each. You can use different sized cake pans if you would like but you will need to adjust the time accordingly. Thicker cakes take longer while thinner or smaller ones bake faster. 

    Once my cakes don't jiggle and a toothpick comes out clean, I take my cakes out of the oven to cool. While they are cooling I decorate my gingerbread so that the frosting can set then I start on the frosting for my cake. To make my eggnog frosting, I beat together butter and eggnog until smooth before I add my vanilla, nutmeg, and powdered sugar. I dye some of it for the details on the cake and set the rest aside until my cake has reached room temperature. Sometimes if I am in a rush I take my cakes out of the pans when they are cool enough to handle then let them cool the rest of the way in the refrigerator but you have to be careful doing this because it can cause the cake to dry out. 

    When everything is room temperature I get to assembling the cake. I start by layering a healthy amount of eggnog frosting between my two cake layers before covering everything in a crumb coat and sticking it in the fridge to set up a bit. A crumb coat is a very thin layer of frosting that helps to trap in the cakes moisture and also keep all of the cakes crumbs from getting in the outside layer of the frosting. This results in a smoother looking cake.

        Once the crumb coat is set, I frost my cake, add my gingerbread house decorations, and finish off with my green piping details. I really liked decorating this cake with the gingerbread because I am not the best cake decorator ever and this allowed me to not worry about how the sides of the cake looked as much as I would with other cakes. I also loved having the extra little treat to eat in addition to a tasty slice of cake! The resulting cake was a stellar blend of cozy spices from the cake and gingerbread and nostalgic sweetness from the eggnog frosting. I also found it the perfect way to introduce my texturally challenged friends to the idea of drinking eggnog. 

    What did you think of this recipe? Leave a comment below!