The Kind Of Icing That Goes Best With Old-School Spice Cake

Spice cake is warm and nostalgic, a filling bite of something sweet that's simple and straightforward. It tastes exactly how you would expect — spicy, but in a mulled cider sort of way, flavored with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. It's easy and inexpensive to make, and it'll impress at your next family dinner or backyard cookout. It's one of the vintage desserts that are making a comeback these days, and there are few directions you can go when it comes to the icing.

Traditionally, spice cake is made with cream cheese icing. It adds a velvety touch to the cake that offsets any intense flavors in the cake itself — balancing out the cloves and nutmeg with a blend of tangy cream cheese and gentle vanilla. It also adds a layer of moisture and fluffy texture that will help elevate a particularly dry spice cake. But there are a few other ways to ice a spice cake that will add a different touch to this traditional comfort food, like using buttercream or other kinds of frostings, including maple syrup in the icing, or going for a glaze instead.

It's easy to turn a store-bought cake mix into a spice cake, especially if you start with a yellow or vanilla boxed mix. Turn it into a sheet cake or pour it into a couple of 9-inch rounds for a two-tier round cake, bake it into a bundt shape, or make a mini version — the options are endless for the shape of your spice cake. And once it comes out of the oven, the fun with the icing begins.

Homemade caramel and butterscotch sauces add an extra sweet layer of buttery, warm flavors to spice cake. Blend these flavors into cream cheese frosting or buttercream (add some tequila for spiked spice cake icing) or use caramel and butterscotch sauces on their own for a glaze on top of the cake. Maple cinnamon glaze is another great option for a sweet and warming icing for spice cake. If you're looking for a less sweet and lighter frosting to complement your spice cake, top it with whipped cream and you'll get a pillowy soft topping for the cake that'll pair beautifully with all those spices.