Brown Sugar Spice Cake
CATEGORIES
INGREDIENTS
  • Cake:
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour or 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
  • 1 cup milk, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
  • Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
  • Creamy Caramel Sauce:
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or margarine
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup half-and-half
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dark corn syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
  1. CAKE:
  2. Preheat the oven to 375F.
  3. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
  4. n a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices; set aside.
  5. In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs and lemon peel.
  6. Add about one-third of the dry ingredients and one-third of the milk to the butter mixture, lightly stirring between each addition.
  7. Repeat the process twice more until all the ingredients are just incorporated.
  8. Stir in the currants.
  9. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
  10. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool until ready to serve.
  11. Dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar. Cut into 12 rectangles. Serve with the warm Creamy Caramel Sauce.
  12. Creamy Caramel Sauce:
  13. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour.
  14. Gradually add the half-and-half and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens.
  15. Stir in the brown sugar and cook until dissolved, about 1 minute; remove from the heat. Stir in the corn syrup and vanilla.
  16. Serve warm.