Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Name: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: Serves 12 to 14
Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces), plus extra for dusting pans; 1 tablespoon, ground cinnamon; 3/4 teaspoon, ground cardamom; 1/2 teaspoon, ground allspice; 1/2 teaspoon, ground cloves; 1/4 teaspoon, ground nutmeg; 16 tablespoons, unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened; 1/2 teaspoon, baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon, baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon, table salt; 2 large, eggs at room temperature; 3 , large egg yolks at room temperature; 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract; 1 3/4 cups, granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces); 2 tablespoons, light molasses or mild molasses; 1 tablespoon, grated fresh ginger; 1 cup, buttermilk, at room temperature; 5 tablespoons, unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces, softened; 1 1/4 cups, confectioners' sugar (4 1/2 ounces); 8 ounces, cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces , softened; 1/2 teaspoon, vanilla extract; 3/4 cup, coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated January/February 2008, America's Test Kitchen TV

Desserts or Baked Goods

Make Ahead

Cakes

SEASON 9

SERVES12 to 14

TIME1½ hours, plus 2 hours cooling

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WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

The problem with spice cakes? Spice. Some variations suffer spice overload, which makes them gritty and dusty. Others are so lacking in spice flavor that it seems as if a cinnamon stick has only been waved in their general direction. We wan...

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