Spiced Bundt Cake

Tender, moist, and perfectly spiced, this bundt cake is perfect for fall. And when covered with maple cream cheese frosting and drizzled with caramel sauce, it’s even better!

‘Tis the season of warm spices and baking delicious things. Both of those combine in this spiced bundt cake, making for a delicious fall cake.

I’ve topped it with a batch of maple cream cheese frosting and a caramel drizzle. The tangy sweetness of the frosting complements the warm spice of the bundt cake.

The caramel, while technically optional, adds a lot of depth of flavor with it’s burnt, sugary, buttery notes. Plus, it punches up the fall vibes exponentially. If you have the time and patience to make caramel, go for it and enjoy!

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour
• Sugar
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Allspice
• Buttermilk
• Oil
• Eggs
• Vanilla Extract

The Best Spices for the Bundt Cake

A traditional spice cake mix has cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in it. Sometimes allspice is also added, which would essentially give you all of the flavors in the pumpkin pie spice mix you can find in the spice aisle of your local market.

That means you can substitute pumpkin pie spice if you don’t have all of the others. Depending on the brand you purchase, the mix may be slightly different from what I have listed below in the recipe.

Ingredients that Make a Cake Moist

Bundt cakes can be tricky to keep moist, since the pan has a lot more surface area exposed to heat when baking. However, there are some ingredients that can help keep the finished spice cake tender and soft.

Oil helps by coating the proteins in the flour with fat, preventing them from forming gluten strands, which can create a tough, dry texture. Dairy is another good additon, which is why I use buttermilk as the main liquid. I like full-fat buttermilk best, because as you know, the more fat the better!

How to Make a Spiced Bundt Cake

Begin by buttering or greasing a bundt cake pan, then add some flour. Tap and turn the pan until all of the surfaces are covered in a fine layer of flour.

Preheat the oven to 325F, and place a rack in the center of the oven.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and spices. Make sure the spices are evenly distributed through the flour.

In a large liquid measuring cup, combine the 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, 2/3 cup oil, 4 eggs, and teaspoon of vanilla. Beat with a fork until the eggs are dispersed.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a rubber spatula until there are no streaks of flour in the batter. Don’t over mix, since this can develop the gluten strands and make your cake less soft and tender.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan, smoothing it out into an even layer.

Baking the Bundt Cake

Place the cake in the oven on the center rack. Bake it for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Check the cake at 1 hour but inserting a toothpick or knife into the center. If it comes out with batter or gooey crumbs, return it to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, or until your probe comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it sit in the pan for another 10 minutes. Turn it out onto a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.

How to Keep your Bundt Cake from Doming while Baking

While bundt cakes are beautiful, they tend to dome on the top. That can make the design a bit less impressive when you’ve turned it out onto the plate, especially if the glaze drips off.

To help prevent the doming, you can push some of the batter up around the sides of the pan. However, the batter is fairly thin so it may not be very effective.

The other way to make a bundt cake bake flatter is to bake at lower temperature. While most recipes call for them to be baked at 350, I’ve lowered the temperature to 325. This results in a slightly longer bake, but should result in less of a dome on top.

And if all else fails, you can trim off a bit of the bubble with a sharp knife if you’d like to make the cake sit flatter on the plate.

For the Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

In a bowl, let an 8 oz. block of cream cheese and 6 tablespoons of salted butter soften and come to room temperature. When they are soft, add the zest of an orange and use a hand mixer to beat them for a few minutes until they’re light and fluffy.

Add in 5-6 tablespoons of maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons of orange juice to the mixture and stir until completely mixed.

For the Caramel Drizzle

Place 1/2 cup (100 grams) of sugar in a saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons of water and place the pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved completely.

Once the sugar is all dissolved do NOT stir the caramel again. This will cause the sugar to granulate and will make the caramel gritty. Instead, hold the pan with a hot mitt and swirl occasionally. Use a wet pastry brush to knock any sugar that has collected on the edges back down into the pot.

While the caramel is cooking, cut 3 tablespoons of salted butter into cubes, and measure out 1/4 cup of whipping cream. Have salt and vanilla extract ready.

Let the sugar continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until the sugar has darken to a deep amber color. If you have a candy thermometer, you want it to reach between 320 and 350.

When the sugar has finished cooking, remove it from the heat. Be very careful at this point as the sugar is VERY hot and can easily burn you with even the slightest touch.

Add the butter cubes and whisk into the pot until melted. It will make the mixture foam and bubble, but keep stirring. Next, drizzle in the whipping cream, while still whisking, until the mixture is cohesive.

Stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon fine salt. Whisk until they are mixed in completely. Your caramel is now ready, but will still be very thin and runny while hot.

Place the caramel in a glass jar, put the lid on it, and refrigerate until it’s chilled thoroughly and thickened.

Decorating and Serving the Spiced Bundt Cake

Spread a bit of cream cheese frosting on the bottom of the cake–this prevents it from sliding around on the cake plate. Place the cake on the center of the plate.

Spoon the cream cheese frosting over the dome of the bundt, allowing it to slowly move down the sides. Next, use a spoon to drizzle caramel over it. Serve the cake immediately immediately.

Serve the cake immediately after decorating, along with any extra frosting or caramel. Everyone can add as much as they like of either to their slice of cake.

Store any leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Recipe Notes and Tips

• If you have a different frosting or topping that you prefer, you can absolutely sub it out!
  
• When measuring the spices, don’t worry if you don’t have 1/8 teaspoon! Most measuring spoon sets don’t, so I just use 1/4 teaspoon and eyeball about half of it. You don’t have to be terribly precise with the spices, and can even adjust quantities if you love or dislike a particular spice’s flavor or heat level.

Other Fall Recipes You May Enjoy:

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