Autumn Baking
Autumn is one of the best times of year to bake, with winter being the only season that beats it. That’s just my opinion, of course, but I think most people who do a lot of Christmas baking would agree! As the weather starts to get colder, leaves change colors and start to fall, and Halloween is right around the corner, baking is simply one of the coziest ways to spend your time. So, with this time of year and the weather in mind, we wanted to share an autumnal recipe – krydderkage, or spiced loaf cake.
The Coziest Cake
This cake is very light and fluffy but still moist. It is flavored with all the spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves, and cardamom – as well as orange and vanilla. The flavors are warm and cozy and would remind anyone of autumn and winter! I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than baking this delicious cake and eating a slice with a warm cup of tea. In Danish, we would call that “hygge” 🙂
Tips & Tricks
The recipe itself should be straightforward to follow. Make sure that you let your eggs and milk come to room temperature before using them. We like to whip the eggs with the sugar to dissolve the sugar a little bit and get some air into the eggs. Then it’s as simple as combining the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients in two different bowls, and then folding/whisking them together! Pour the batter into a loaf pan and you’ll have the most delicious fall spiced loaf cake ready in about 40 minutes. We also made a white chocolate ganache for this one which was a great addition, but feel free to leave it plain! Or top with whatever else you would like. See the recipe below for more specific and direct instructions. We hope you try this recipe out this autumn! As always, if you make it be sure to leave a review and comment below! Tag us on Instagram too – we love to see your photos!!
Krydderkage (Spiced Loaf Cake)
Ingredients
CAKE BATTER
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 65 grams dark brown sugar
- 120 milliliters vegetable oil
- 120 milliliters milk (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 grams all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- Pinch of salt
- Orange zest from half an orange (optional)
WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 300 grams white chocolate chips
- 100 milliliters heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F (160 C). Butter a loaf pan and line with parchment paper. We like to hang the parchment paper over the edge for easy removal!
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar. Whisk together for about a minute.
- Add in the vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla to the egg and sugar mixture; whisk well to combine.
- Optionally, you can grate in the zest of half an orange to the wet ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and a pinch of salt. Whisk together to get rid of any large lumps.
- Add in half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, folding them together. You can also just whisk it together, as long as you don't overmix the batter!
- Once the first half is incorporated, mix in the second half of the dry ingredients, by folding it together with a rubber spatula, or just whisking it. It's okay if there are a few lumps remaining.
- Pour your batter into the prepared loaf pan. It may seem a little bit liquid, but it results in a very moist cake!
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a cake tester/skewer comes out clean. Let cool about 5 minutes, then remove from the loaf pan and place on a wire rack to fully cool.
- If you'd like to make a white chocolate ganache: heat up heavy cream until just below boiling. Put chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl, and pour over the heavy cream. Let this sit for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, stir together until all the chocolate chips have melted and you're left with a smooth ganache. If you still have chunks of chocolate, heat gently over a double boiler until it is all melted.
- Let sit at room temperature to set. It should reach a thicker consistency. We then whip it by hand with a whisk to get a little bit more air into it, and it gives it more of a frosting consistency! If you need to cool it down in the fridge, you can, just know that it may harden too much and you may have to reheat it to be able to spread it on the cake!
- Once the ganache is ready and the cake has cooled, spread it over the top of the loaf cake. We decorate using an offset spatula and swirling the ganache to make a wavy texture on top of the cake. Decorate with orange zest, candied orange, or whatever you like! Enjoy!
It took me two tries to get this recipe right, since I was at first overly hasty in bringing my refrigerated ingredients to room temperature and found myself with split batter. For any novice bakers like me who aren’t sure exactly what “split batter” means, you’ll know it when you see it, unfortunately. But while the texture of my first attempt was a bit grainy, the flavors were excellent. And when I finally got it right, I and my recipe tasters were so impressed with how light and airy the cake was while still having such a lovely flavor blend of fall spices. Perfect accompaniment for a cup of tea!
Hi Meggie! Thanks for this lovely comment as well and your awesome tips 🙂 A few of our recipes that use pound cake type batter (like this one) are definitely a challenge to get perfect! I am so impatient when it comes to getting ingredients to room temperature, so I often end up with split batter too. But thanks for giving it another try and so so happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
I just made this cake for Autumn equinox with my 11 year and the entire family have just tried it and said its the nicest “seasonal” cake they’ve ever had. Thankyou!
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for your comment and for using our recipe, we really appreciate it 😊
I just made this and it turned out amazing. It has such a nice crispy crust on top and is very moist on the inside. (I added walnuts on top for some extra crunch)
Ooooh walnuts on top sounds great, I’ll have to try that next time! So happy to hear it was good, thanks for using our recipe and leaving a comment 🙂
I just baked these and I must confess this was perfect. The top was deliciously crispy with a tender interior.
I added raisins to mine.
I would be having this with a cup of coffee for breakfast tomorrow.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Yummm sounds so good with raisins added! I’m so glad it turned out well. Thank you for your lovely comment – hope you enjoyed your breakfast 🙂