If you’re looking for the ultimate spice bundt cake recipe, look no further. This show-stopping cake is infused with gingerbread spices, dotted with sour cherries and topped with biscoff cream cheese icing.
This gingerbread and cherry spice bundt cake is hands down the best cake I’ve ever made. I know, its a big call. But I am confident in calling it. Let me explain why.
First, the texture of this bundt cake is perfection. I worked hard on this recipe to ensure it was satisfyingly dense, yet super duper moist. As we all know, there is NOTHING worst than a dry cake.
Second, the flavours of this bundt spice cake are out of this world. The rich gingerbread spices work harmoniously with the the tartness of the cherries. The caramelized creaminess of the biscoff cream cheese icing is really just the cherry on top (as are the actual cherries!)
Spice Bundt Cake Recipe
This recipe was initially inspired by a plum speculoos cake I tried from The Caker in New Zealand. The speculoos spices worked magically with the tartness of the plum. It tasted like Christmas in a cake.
When December rolled around, I decide to use this flavour inspiration to create the ultimate Christmas cake. I wanted to create something that was both show-stopping to look at and super satisfying to eat. A bundt cake felt like the perfect fit.
The base recipe for the bundt cake was adapted from King Arthur Baking. I find their recipes never let me down. Inspired by the previously mentioned cake, I added in sour cherries for tartness, and topped it off with a biscoff cream cheese icing. If you’ve made my biscoff cake, you’ll understand why!
How to make Spiced Bundt Cake
STEP 1: PREPARE THE TIN
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a 10-cup bundt pan.
STEP 2: WHISK TOGETHER DRY INGREDIENTS
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside
STEP 3: MIX TOGETHER WET INGREDIENTS
In a large bowl, use an electric beater to cream together softened butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to combine. Stir in the molasses.
STEP 4: FOLD DRY INTO WET INGREDIENTS
Add in a third of the flour mixture and a third of the warm water to the large bowl of ingredients. Gently mix. Repeat twice, mixing until batter is just combined. Gently fold cherries through the batter.
STEP 5: BAKE THE SPICED BUNDT CAKE
Pour batter into the greased bundt pan. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre. Once baked, remove cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it onto a rack.
STEP 6: MAKE THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
While the cake is baking, make cream cheese frosting by beating together cream cheese, icing sugar and melted biscoff spread until smooth.
STEP 7: DECORATE THE SPICE BUNDT CAKE
Once cake has cooled completely, spread top with biscoff cream icing. Decorate with fresh cherries, crushed biscoff cookies and a dusting of icing sugar.
Ingredients in Spice Bundt Cake
FLOUR: The recipe requires all-purpose white flour. I have not tested it with gluten-free flour.
SPICES: The key to this spiced bundt cake is obviously the spices! This recipe requires ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice. You can also sub for 2 tbsp of premade gingerbread or speculoos spice mix.
LEAVENING AGENTS: This recipe uses both baking powder and baking soda to help the cake rise when baking.
BUTTER: Make sure you leave your butter out of the fridge to soften before making the recipe so it creams properly with the brown sugar.
BROWN SUGAR: You can use light or dark brown sugar for this recipe. Dark brown sugar will give a slightly deeper, more caramelized flavour to the cake.
EGGS: Make sure these are large eggs and for best results, leave them out to go to room temperature before using.
MOLASSES: Molasses is the dark, sweet syrup that gives gingerbread it’s deep, rich flavour. Ideally, you want to use medium/ dark molasses for this recipe. Do not use blackstrap molasses as it will make the flavour very bitter. If you can’t find molasses, you can sub for treacle.
BLACK CHERRIES: This recipe requires pitted black cherries. You can use fresh, frozen or tinned. I personally used tinned black cherries and found they worked really well! Do not use glace/ maraschino cherries as they will not work with flavour profile.
CREAM CHEESE: Go for the brick-style cream cheese and make sure you leave it out of the fridge for about an hour before using.
POWDERED SUGAR: Also known as icing sugar or confectioners’ sugar. Basically use any variety of sugar that has been finely ground into a powdery form!
BISCOFF SPREAD: Biscoff is a sweet, spiced spread made from caramelized biscuits. It’s originally known as speculoos (biscoff is just the brand name used in the US and the UK). You can use biscoff and speculoos spread interchangeably.
Bundt Cake Storage Tips
You can leave the spiced bundt cake with cream cheese frosting at room temperature for up to 8 hours before you should refrigerate it. Once cut, store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Or, store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Gingerbread Spice Bundt Cake
This show-stopping spice bundt cake is infused with gingerbread spices, dotted with sour cherries and topped with biscoff cream cheese icing.
Ingredients
SPICED BUNDT CAKE:
- 2 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups (320g) packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (170g) molasses
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 cups (450g) pitted black cherries
BISCOFF CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 4.5 oz (125g) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup (50g) powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp biscoff spread, melted
TO TOP:
- Fresh cherries
- Crushed biscoff cookies
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a 10-cup bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric beater to cream together softened butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to combine. Stir in the molasses.
- Add in a third of the flour mixture and a third of the warm water to the large bowl of ingredients. Gently mix. Repeat twice, mixing until batter is just combined. Gently fold cherries through the batter.
- Pour batter into the greased bundt pan. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre. Once baked, remove cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it onto a rack.
- While the cake is baking, make cream cheese frosting by beating together cream cheese, powdered sugar and melted biscoff spread until smooth.
- Once cake has cooled completely, spread top with biscoff cream icing. Decorate with fresh cherries, crushed biscoff cookies and a dusting of powdered sugar.