What does spice cake taste like?

A spice cake is very similar to a carrot or pumpkin spice cake, minus the carrots or pumpkins ! It's a super moist, slightly dense cake packed with spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Some variations (like mine) also have applesauce mixed in, which adds an additional depth of flavour to the cake.

What is the history of spice cake?

In Medieval cuisine, a spice cake, also called spice bread, was a flavorful, sweetened yeast bread. They were typically sweetened with honey, as sugar was largely unavailable in Europe until the 1600s, and cooked over an open fire.

What is the oldest cake in the world?

Linzer Torte is the world's oldest known cake and is named after the Austrian city of Linz. It has been documented as early as 1696. Its oldest recipe is listed in a 300-year-old cookbook!

Why is it called crazy cake?

Wacky cake is considered wacky not only because the recipe lacks any dairy or eggs but also because all the ingredients for this cake are mixed directly in the pan it is baked in . This recipe goes against the most popular methods for mixing cake batters, especially since there is no bowl or whisk necessary.

What was the first cake called?

The ancient Greeks called cake πλακοῦς (plakous) , which was derived from the word for "flat", πλακόεις (plakoeis). It was baked using flour mixed with eggs, milk, nuts, and honey. They also had a cake called "satura", which was a flat, heavy cake.

How would you describe the taste of spice?

Spicy food has the piquant, hot, fiery, burning taste of spices. We are talking of highly spiced, piquant, zesty food, certainly savory. It can be also described after the predominant spice, like peppery or gingery food.

What does baking spice taste like?

Just sweet with a little bit of bite, but very aromatic . Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. Kind of cookie and pie spices, but I tend to call these out separately in a tasting note, and not call them baking spice. I don't use the phrase “baking spices,” because I don't think it's particularly helpful–it's too ambiguous.

What's the difference between gingerbread cake and spice cake?

Cloves and molasses are what really set the gingerbread flavor apart from pumpkin spice and give this cake a more wintry, true-gingerbread flavor than my spice cake or carrot cake.

What does all spice taste like?

Allspice's flavor evokes a blend of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon . You can use it in place of any of those spices, and then some.

Spanish Bar Cake. A real old fashioned market bakery fave! Rock Recipes (2024)

Spanish Bar Cake. A real old fashioned treat! A supermarket favourite from years ago, this simple raisin spice cake is easy to make, moist and utterly delicious.

Spanish Bar Cake

Originally published December 2018.

A few weeks ago, I got a request from a reader for a recipe for Spanish Bar Cake. I had never heard of it before.

She explained that it was a cake made by a supermarket bakery that she loved many years ago. I set off to do a little research on this cake.

Spanish Bar Cake starts with boiled raisins

Spanish Bar Cake was a very simple bar shaped raisin spice cake with an unfussy vanilla frosting. Being a fan of old time recipes, I certainly became quite interested in finding a recipe.

Turns out this cake was made by Jane Parker Bakery and sold through the A&P supermarket chain in the US & Canada. The reader who sent me the request grew up in Ottawa.

I have since heard that it was available in Toronto when a friend was growing up there 20 or so years ago.

Spanish Bar Cake made with everyday ingredients

There were a few recipes I found on a few websites but none of them definitively said they were the original recipe.

I finally came across an old entry in an online food forum which claimed to have been gotten from Jane Parker Bakery.

Spanish Bar Cake, the result.

I cannot say with any certainty that this was the original recipe. The reader who tried it called it a “very good raisin spice cake” but not quite the flavour she remembered.

Spanish Bar Cake just out of the oven

Memory is a funny thing though. We sometimes like to imagine things better than they actually were.

Then again, with such a widespread production of this cake, there may have been subtle differences in the recipe used regionally.

She noted that a tablespoon of cocoa, which some recipes add, would make it the darker colour she remembered. She also said the flavour was not so intense as she remembered.

The intenseness of flavour in this recipe would really have to come from the spices. My suggestion would be to add 1 tablespoon of cocoa to the dry ingredients and to up the amount of spices by half, if you want a more deeply flavoured cake.

So, for my taste, and Spouse’s, who loves spice cake, this was a really delicious, easy to make cake.

Sultana Raisins are great in this recipe but you can use any kind you like.

We brought it to a friends house for dinner and it got rave reviews. Next time I will try it with the adjustments I mentioned, but I would be more than content to enjoy it again, just as we made it.

Looking for more holiday baking inspiration?

If you love old fashioned cake recipes you may want to check out this collection with some everyday recipes like Cherry Pound Cake too.Favourite Newfoundland Christmas Cakes here.

Like this Spanish Bar Cake recipe?

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Spanish Bar Cake

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Yield: 12 or more servings

Spanish Bar Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Additional Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes

Spanish Bar Cake. A real old fashioned treat! A supermarket favourite from years ago, this simple raisin spice cake is easy to make, moist and utterly delicious.

Ingredients

2 cups water
1 cups raisins
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, or butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, (optional)

For the Frosting

2 1/4 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoons milk, more if needed

Instructions

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.Grease a 9x13 baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
Add the water and raisins to a saucepan.Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the shortening to the boiled mixture. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
Sift together the sugar, soda, flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt.
Add the sifted ingredients to the cooled raisin mixture, along with the beaten egg and the nuts, if you are adding them.
Fold gently until the flour is just incorporated into the batter. Do not over mix.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan and Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool completely and ice with frosting if you like

To prepare the frosting

Beat together the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and a tablespoon of milk until smooth.
If necessary, add more milk until the frosting is a good spreadable consistency.
Cut the cake in half, frost the first layer then top with the second layer and frost again. To get the characteristic lines on top, run the back of a fork over the top frosting in straight lines.
This recipe also makes about a dozen cupcakes if you prefer.

Notes

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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Spanish Bar Cake. A real old fashioned market bakery fave! Rock Recipes (2024)

Spanish Bar Cake. A real old fashioned treat! A supermarket favourite from years ago, this simple raisin spice cake is easy to make, moist and utterly delicious.

Spanish Bar Cake, the result.

Looking for more holiday baking inspiration?

Like this Spanish Bar Cake recipe?

Spanish Bar Cake

Ingredients

For the Frosting

Instructions

To prepare the frosting

Notes

Recommended Products

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

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