Holiday Spice Cake

Nothing says “old-fashioned Christmas” like this Holiday Spice Cake. This dense, super-moist bundt cake, pierced with juicy raisins and sprinkled with a generous “snowfall” of powdered sugar is beyond perfect for your holiday table. And it’s one of the easier cakes to make – low effort, high reward!

Spice Cake vs. Fruit Cake

This Holiday Spice Cake is nothing like fruit cake, even remotely. I think some people hear the words “spice cake” and think fruit cake. No way. And it’s also not gingerbread, although it’s similar in color. There’s no ginger in this cake. But it’s got the holidays all over it.

What is in Holiday Spice Cake

Here’s what you’ll need to make this Christmasy bundt:

• all-purpose flour
• granulated sugar
• raisins
• vegetable shortening
• ground cloves
• ground cinnamon
• salt

The original recipe for this Holiday Spice Cake belongs to my mother-in-law, and she doesn’t just give it out to people. I had to earn it.

And once I had earned it, she still didn’t just hand it over. I had to apprentice in her kitchen and take notes as I watched her make the cake.

Although I’ve made a few adjustments to the amount of raisins and shortening in this Holiday Spice Cake, it’s pretty true to the original.

How to make this Holiday Spice Cake

This Holiday Spice Cake starts on the stove. Yep, you cook this cake on the stove before you put it in the oven.

First, the sugar, water, raisins, cinnamon and cloves all go into a saucepan to simmer. The 10 minutes on the stove gives the raisins a chance to rehydrate and plump up which makes for a super moist cake.

Then, combine your warm ingredients with the flour and baking soda.

Pour the warm batter into a bundt pan and bake it for a little over an hour. That’s it! Dust it with a generous sprinkle of powdered sugar, and it becomes the quintessential holiday dessert. It’s the Big Guy’s favorite cake of all time. This, for him, brings all the warm and fuzzy feels.

Cook’s Notes for Holiday Spice Cake

Is there anything worse than being really excited about making a dessert and then having a total cake fail? It sucks. I’m not going to let that happen to you.

I’ve learned that the bundt pan you use makes a big difference in how long you bake a cake. The fancier/more intricate the bundt pan, the longer the bake time you’ll need.

So be sure to have plenty of toothpicks around! Use the bake time in the recipe as a minimum, and just be prepared to check the doneness and add more time.

Sprinkle the powdered sugar just before you’re ready to serve this cake. The sugar will absorb into the cake if you let it sit for too long, so it’s best to do it just before serving.

When you make this Holiday Spice Cake, I’d love to hear about it! Drop a rating or leave a comment below. Enjoy!

For more holiday dessert recipes, try these:

• Caramel Gingerbread Trifle with Bourbon Cream
• Mini Gingerbread Cakes with Lemon Glaze
• Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

For more bundt cake recipes, try these:

• Double Lemon Cream Cake
• Vanilla Glazed Orange Cake
• Mom’s Best Homemade Jewish Apple Cake

Holiday Spice Cake

Old-fashioned recipe for a beautiful bundt cake with cinnamon, cloves and juicy raisins, perfect for Christmas

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 mins

Cook Time 1 hr 10 mins

Total Time 1 hr 35 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 tsp. ground clove
• 4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 12 oz. box of raisins
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
• Place all ingredients except for the flour and baking soda into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to combine. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Pour the warm ingredients into the flour mixture and fold gently to combine.
• Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter into the bundt pan and smooth the surface. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes. Allow cake to cool in the pan. Turn out the cooled cake onto a serving dish and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.

Keyword cake, dessert, holiday

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