Ahh, Vermont Spice Cake…how I love thee! This cake is so reminiscent of Autumn to me- one bite and I get all warm and cozy and immediately, it feels like Fall. I’ve had this recipe forever (well, since getting married) and I remember making it the first month of my marriage- it was pretty much the first ‘real’ dessert I baked for Joel. I was so proud of myself. I had never made a cream cheese frosting from scratch before, and I was hooked right away! There’s just something about the combination of pumpkin, warm Fall spices and thick, maple cream cheese frosting that just sings to me. I absolutely love this dessert. Very simple and quick to make, and always a winner with guests (or husbands!).
This was the cake I served at my dinner party a couple of weeks ago and it was the absolute perfect end to our meal. We each enjoyed a (big) slice with a cup of cinnamon-orange coffee. It was a huge success- not too sweet, the perfect amount of spice, and a touch of luxuriousness from the cream cheese frosting. The ultimate Autumn dessert!
Vermont Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
-from my Nestle Classic Recipes cookbook
For the Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I used a mixture of 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cloves and 3/4 tsp. nutmeg)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans. Combine flour, baking powder, spices, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat sugar and butter in a large mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment until creamy. Add eggs one at a time; beat for 2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin, evaporated milk, water and vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans on wire racks for 15 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
For the Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:
11 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons maple extract
squeeze of lemon juice
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Add in the maple extract and lemon juice. Mix well. Refrigerate until needed.
To assemble:
Cut each layer in half horizontally with a long, serrated knife. Frost between layers and on top of cake, leaving sides unfrosted. Garnish as desired.
This sounds so good!
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Comment by Jen — October 14, 2010 @ 4:51 PM
This cake looks so yummy! I love how it’s not “perfectly” frosted!
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Comment by steph@stephsbitebybite — October 14, 2010 @ 5:37 PM
Hello, maple cream cheese frosting?! Brilliant!!
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Comment by Ellie — October 14, 2010 @ 6:00 PM
Looks heavenly!
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Comment by Kathy @ The Sugar Queen — October 14, 2010 @ 7:15 PM
That looks delish!!
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Comment by Amy B. — October 14, 2010 @ 7:34 PM
It says to bake two cakes and cut them in half, but it looks like you actually just baked 4 really skinny cakes in the photo. That or baked 4 cakes and cut the bottoms off, and made two cakes, one all bottoms and one all tops. Is that right? Because otherwise I’m confused
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Comment by S. — October 14, 2010 @ 9:02 PM
This looks like the perfect Autumn or Thanksgiving cake.
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Comment by Megan — October 14, 2010 @ 9:27 PM
Yes, “S.”, clearly I did bake 4 thin cakes. I didn’t think it would be necessary to spell it out for my readers that you can indeed bake 4 very thin layers in 4 different cake pans (if you happen to own 4 cake pans). I chose to bake 4 layers instead of having to slice 2 layers in half. So sorry to have confused you.
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Comment by amy — October 14, 2010 @ 9:45 PM
I was waiting with bated breath for this cake! It’s so pretty and sounds so delicious! And that maple cream cheese frosting looks yummy!
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Comment by Lindsey @ Hot Polka Dot — October 14, 2010 @ 10:13 PM
That looks amazing! I have never made a multi-layered cake before!! I am impressed!!
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Comment by pup — October 15, 2010 @ 6:55 AM
OK… so probably I’m not done baking pumpkin!!! This looks fantastic! Luv the addition of maple flavoring!
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Comment by UrMomCooks — October 15, 2010 @ 10:34 AM
Oh, oh my! I’ve been craving spice cake lately, and this may have just sealed the deal. Love, love, love all the layers.
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Comment by Kare — October 15, 2010 @ 10:55 AM
This looks wonderful. I’ve never ventured out to flavoring my cream cheese frosting but maybe it’s time to break out of the box! Do you think this would translate nicely into mini or regular size cupcakes? I like cupcakes for sharing. Not as grand as your four layers but I hope it would be as tasty. I have to go to the home office Monday…this will be perfect recipe to bake Sunday and as Dorie says “bake and release”.
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Comment by LaJuana — October 15, 2010 @ 10:57 AM
This looks wonderful. I’ve never ventured out to flavoring my cream cheese frosting but maybe it’s time to break out of the box! Do you think this would translate nicely into mini or regular size cupcakes? I like cupcakes for sharing. Not as grand as your four layers but I hope they would be as tasty. I have to go to the home office Monday…this will be perfect recipe to bake Sunday and as Dorie says “bake and release”.
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Comment by LaJuana — October 15, 2010 @ 10:57 AM
oops! Sorry for duplicate post!
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Comment by LaJuana — October 15, 2010 @ 10:58 AM
This cake looks like it just melts in your mouth! I can’t wait to try it!
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Comment by Jenn@eatcakefordinner — October 17, 2010 @ 4:30 PM
This cake looks amazing and like a really perfect fall dessert! Can’t wait to try it!
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Comment by ChocolateCoveredEverything — October 18, 2010 @ 11:16 PM
I baked cupcakes with this recipe Sunday, iced them Monday morning and carried to the home office…big hit! Frosting reminds me of maple nut goody candies. Mad 2 dozen regular size cupcakes plus 36 mini cupcakes@ LOTS! And there was enough icing for all! I sprinkled some organic maple flakes on top of some and a bit of French sea salt flakes on top of a few more…Very special! Thanks for the inspiration!
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amy Reply:
October 19th, 2010 at 12:50 PM
Wow, that sounds amazing LaJuana!! So glad you enjoyed them!
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Comment by LaJuana — October 19, 2010 @ 10:30 AM
Spice cake AND maple all in one cake. Oh goodness, this really is the perfect cake for fall.
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Comment by Julia — October 20, 2010 @ 1:05 PM
Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting may just be the perfect fall dessert in my opinion! I never remember to add maple flavoring to my cream cheese frosting, but I know it would totally take it over the top. Gorgeous cake!
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Comment by Tracey — October 20, 2010 @ 10:04 PM
I’ve never even heard of Vermont spice cake but it soooo needs to be a part of my life. It looks incredible.
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Comment by Eliana — October 21, 2010 @ 8:52 AM
I was wondering how this compares with the spiced pumpkin cupcakes. They both have 1.5 cups pumpkin, but the cake has 3 cups of flour instead of the 4 in the cupcakes. So I guess the cake is more pumpkiny. And there are 2 tbsp + 1/4 tsp of spices in the cupcakes, and there is 1 tbsp + 1/4 tsp of spice in the cake (although for less flour). But there is still a larger percentage of spice in the cupcakes. So, the spice cake is more pumpkiny / less spicy than the spiced cupcakes, right? Or maybe not. I’m just guessing here since I haven’t made either. Which one do you like better? Or, which one is more in your face? I don’t like subtle 🙂
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Comment by Erin — October 22, 2010 @ 8:01 AM
Erin, I guess I never noticed how similar the two recipes are! Honestly, they’re very different. The cupcakes are a little lighter and more moist, whereas the cake is more dense and “spicy”. It’s definitely a hard decision for me to choose one, but I prefer the cake. If you want the best of both worlds you could do the pumpkin spice cupcakes with the maple cream cheese frosting I used for the vermont spice cake. 🙂 Let me know what you end up with!
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Comment by amy — October 22, 2010 @ 9:28 AM
Thanks for your response! I think I’ll try them both out next weekend. I don’t have access to maple extract here in this baking wasteland called Germany (where there are about 5 types of extract), but I’ll be sure to get some on my next trip to Texas. Maple cream cheese icing sounds amazing!
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Comment by Erin — October 24, 2010 @ 8:13 AM
[…] Source: Adapted from Sing For Your Supper. […]
Pingback by Vermont Spice Cake « Cooking with Chrissy — November 4, 2010 @ 1:04 PM
Mmmmmm just tried it out tonight and it is DIVINE! I actually like the cake better sans frosting, but that always seems to be the case for me. Lovely recipe ma’am.
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Comment by Clarissa — November 17, 2010 @ 6:47 PM
[…] Vermont spice cake with maple cream cheese frosting […]
Pingback by Turkey Day 2010 — This American Wife — November 30, 2010 @ 12:41 AM
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Pingback by Vermont Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting « The Cupcake Cure — December 27, 2010 @ 7:17 PM
I just made this cake, it was the best cake I’ve ever had! It was so delicious, everyone had second and third helpings. Excellent recipe. Also, the maple extract really makes the cake; my mom made hers and she added maple syrup to the frosting but it just doesn’t have the same flavor. Splurge and buy the maple extract, it’s so worth it! Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe, I’ll be making the cupcake version of this tomorrow 🙂
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Comment by Shaina — June 18, 2011 @ 6:26 PM
I finally made it! I even made it a bit “healthier” and it was delicious. My husband, who dislikes pumpkin, even liked this. Even after I told him it had pumpkin in it! Maple extract is good stuff. Thanks a bunch. 🙂
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Comment by Erin @ Texanerin Baking — October 2, 2011 @ 12:14 PM
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Mark Reply:
August 22nd, 2013 at 1:15 AM
What? This is about cake…..
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Comment by installment loans — March 25, 2012 @ 10:18 AM
Oh My Goodness….. This cake looks awesome!! I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you!
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Comment by Tiffany Kidder — December 8, 2012 @ 1:46 AM
I just love that Vermont Spice Cake. And I love the frost between the layers. We must all remember though to enjoy it one small piece at a time, and maintain our Health And Wellness. Great Share! James Dazouloute
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Comment by James Dazouloute — October 4, 2013 @ 1:22 AM