Skip to main content
Dessert

Spice Cake

A moist spice cake with currants, coconut, and a blend of warm spices, sweetened with maple syrup.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 20 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Illustration of Spice CakeIllustration

Why it works: Flaxseed and soy milk share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 23 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F
Timeabout 30 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare

  1. Coconut cream is optional.

  2. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  3. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

  4. Combine currants with enough hot water to cover in a small bowl.

  5. Let currants soak for 20 minutes.

  6. Spread coconut in a small baking pan.

  7. Bake until light golden brown, about 5 minutes.

  8. Remove coconut from oven; keep oven at 350°F.

  9. Grind flaxseeds in a coffee grinder or small food processor.

  10. Transfer flaxseeds to a blender with 1/4 cup soy milk.

  11. Set mixture aside to soak.

Make the batter

  1. Sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger, and mustard into a large bowl.

  2. Stir in coconut.

  3. Add maple syrup, canola oil, vanilla extract, cider vinegar, and the remaining 1/2 cup soy milk to the blender; blend thoroughly.

  4. Gradually pour the maple syrup mixture into the flour mixture, mixing well with a wooden spoon.

  5. Drain soaked currants and stir them into the batter.

  6. Scrape batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake until cake pulls away from sides and is firm with a slight spring, about 30 minutes.

  2. Let cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes.

  3. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn the cake onto a wire rack.

  4. Cool completely, then frost with coconut cream if desired.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

The picture is an illustration, not a photo of this recipe · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Flaxseed + soy milktop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together23 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Flaxseed + wheattop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together68 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Wheat + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Currant + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Unbleached white flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together.
Baking soda
Releases carbon dioxide gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Cider vinegar
Acidifies the batter so the baking soda reacts and lifts the crumb.
Canola oil
Adds fat that keeps the crumb moist and tender.
Maple syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.
Flaxseeds
Soaked ground flaxseed thickens into a gel that binds the batter and adds moisture.

The step that matters

Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides and is firm with a slight spring. Underbaking leaves a gummy, sunken centre, while overbaking dries the crumb. Checking the edges and springiness shows when the starches have set and the structure is complete.

Flavor stand-ins for the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, flaxseed, soy milk, wheat, flour, cinnamon, allspice):

  1. Blueberrybetter flavor fit
  2. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  3. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, flaxseed, soy milk, wheat, flour, cinnamon, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More spice cake recipes

Raisin 13Molasses 12Eggless 6Chocolate 5Golden 4Christmas 3 See all 307 →

You might also like

Illustration of Ginger CookiesIllustrationGinger Cookies213 recipesIllustration of Vanilla Ice CreamIllustrationVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesIllustration of Ginger CakeIllustrationGinger Cake93 recipesIllustration of Soft Ginger BreadIllustrationSoft Ginger Bread85 recipes