Nordic Ware Spice Cakes

Mini spice cakes with a Fall theme

Wondering what to make for a small gathering on my patio to welcome Fall, I remembered my Nordic Ware pan.  I got it on sale at Sur la Table while visiting my sister in Arlington VA a few years ago, and I remember using the recipe that came with the pan to make some pretty tasty spice cakes. 

I couldn't find the recipe, but a quick internet search uncovered it.  Here it is, under the name Mini Harvest Spice Cakes.  I'm writing it below for future reference:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare pan with baking spray containing flour or butter and flour. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Using a standing mixer, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, and then add vanilla. Mix until blended. Add 1/2 of flour mixture, then 1/2 of milk, then the remaining flour and milk. Pour evenly into prepared pan, filling each cavity 3/4 full. Gently tap pan to remove any air bubbles. Bake 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan before inverting onto a cooling rack. Decorate as desired!


I followed the recipe to the letter, making sure to butter the pan thoroughly with melted butter and a silicone brush and then flouring it generously.  I had no problem releasing the cakes to show the beautiful patterns on top. I'm not sure how the folks at Nordic ware decorated the ones in their photo, but I just left mine plain and they still looked very pretty. 

A close up look at some of the motifs

I do love the squirrel!

I ended up making two batches to have a dozen cakes to offer my guests.  In spite of this it wasn't very time consuming because the recipe is so straightforward.  The cakes are moist and truly delicious and each cake is a very generous portion, I'd say for two people to enjoy or three people to each get a taste. 

Easy, reliable and tasty, what a great recipe and the beautiful mold makes it truly special.  My guests loved them, people took some home and I was glad we had a few left over for ourselves to enjoy!

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