Spice Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Grab a hunk of this cake and a thermal cup of coffee, and head outside with your

very own café umbrella and chair to enjoy the weather, the passersby, and the food.

Ingredients :

  Cake :

•   1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•   1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•   1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•   1/2 teaspoon salt
•   1 teaspoon ground cloves
•   1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•   1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•   1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
•   1/2 cup granulated sugar
•   1/2 cup brown sugar
•   3 eggs
•   1/2 cup buttermilk
•   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•   1 cup pecans, chopped
•   1/2 cup raisins

  Frosting

•   1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
•   3 tablespoons butter
•   2 cups sifted powdered sugar
•   2 tablespoons milk, plus more
•   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions :

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.

In a medium-size bowl, sift together the dry cake ingredients. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugars and then add eggs, one at a time while beating. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
Add the remaining ingredients and blend. Pour into the pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack.

While the cake bakes, make the frosting. In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat together

the cocoa powder and butter. Gradually beat in 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Slowly

beat in the milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar. (Beat in

additional milk, if needed, to make the frosting a spreading consistency.) Frost with the

icing when the cake is cool. Top with whole pecans.