Brown Sugar-Spice Cake | Everyday Dorie

The brown sugar-spice cake with warm spices and fruits marks the fall — despite the fact that the outside temperature has been unseasonably warm. I baked the cake twice; not sure I’ll make it again. I like the concept of making a cake with spices such as: ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and coriander. They whet my appetite and appeal to my senses. However, getting a sticky and wet cake is reinforcing the sobering experience that what can go wrong will go wrong.

There were several factors that contribute to a wet cake. The cake may be under-baked. The fruits I piled on top of the cake are making it soggy and waterlogged. The honey glaze was heavy enough to sink the cake. Therefore, in the second attempt, the intention was to remove all the factors and give the cake the best chance to succeed. By that, I mean baking the cake fully. Bake the fruits (plums) separately on the side. Lastly, paint a light stroke of honey glaze on the cake carefully with a pastry brush.

How do you know a cake is done? Here are some telltale signs to look for: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2019/07/01/how-to-tell-when-cake-is-done

The second cake came out perfectly. Delighted, but I’ m not excited about the taste and the extra efforts that go into making a delicate and fussy cake. The process is supposed to be easy. Just add dry ingredients (flours, spices, salt) to the bowl with the whipped wet ingredients (sugar, eggs and canola oil). Blend well and bake. It’s that simple!

In the final analysis, easy process does not translate into ease in making a structurally sound cake.