Mace cake

Hear me out: this is the best cake ever. It’s the perfect amount of sugar, it’s moist, it’s go crunchy coconut to balance the frosting and it’s got a strong spice that adds a zing.

Top tips from me:
1) Make sure to soften your butter fully before starting your cake batter. You may need to take it out in the morning and bake in the afternoon.
2) Grease AND flour your cake pans! This will make it easy to pop them out.
3) Make sure to cream your butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until they are smooth and creamy with no lumps.
4) Sift all your dry ingredients together — especially the mace — to make sure there are no lumps in the batter and that the mace is spread evenly throughout.
5) If you’re doing a layer cake, bake the cakes for a shorter amount of time, about 25 minutes, to avoid burning them. Sheet cakes will take about 45 minutes. 
6) I suck at decorating cakes, but this one’s flavor matters more than its appearance. Put handfuls of coconut around the side so any frosting blemishes are covered up.

Time:
To prep the cakes, you’ll likely only need about 20 minutes. The baking time depends on what form your cake is — sheet or two layers or three — but cooling time is about an hour before frosting. This cake will serve many many people!

Ingredients:
2/3 cup of softened butter — 1 and 3/4 cups sugar — 2 eggs — 1 tsp vanilla — 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour — 2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder — 1 tsp salt — 1 ground mace — 1 and 1/4 cups milk — about half a bag of shredded, sweetened coconut

Instructions: 

– Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour baking pans: 13 x 9-inch for a sheet cake, or two 9-inch or three 8-inch for a layer cake.

– In large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Beat 5 minutes on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally.

– In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and mace. 

– Mix dry ingredients into wet on low speed, alternating with milk, until fully incorporated.

– Pour batter into pan(s) then bake 45 minutes if sheet cake, 25-35 minutes if layer cake, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

– IF MAKING A LAYER CAKE: Cool the cake in the pans for about 7 minutes before flipping out on to a cooling rack. Let the cakes cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting. To frost, make sure bottom layer(s) have even surfaces, then apply and spread a half-inch layer of frosting between each layer. Once layers are stacked, frost top then sides with a similar thickness. If the first layer is a crumb coat, feel free to apply another thin layer. Decorate the top however you’d like with leftover frosting, then lightly pat handfuls of coconut onto the sides of the cake until fully covered.

– IF MAKING A SHEET CAKE: Cool the cake in the pan for at least 30 minutes. Fully frost the top of the cake, then sprinkle coconut over the top.

Did you make this recipe and have any suggestions? Make sure to leave a comment!