How to Make a Spice Cake

How to Make a Spice Cake
Full Recipe: /
This moist and fluffy cake has ALL your favorite fall spices and a dash of molasses for an extra kick. Brown butter Swiss meringue buttercream on the inside and glossy white SMBC on the outside, all finished off with a beautiful fall tree complete with red, orange, and yellow leaves.
I wanted to make a special cake that screamed fall but didn't have pumpkin. My solution? A spice cake! Think of it as similar in flavor to a gingerbread cake; LOTS of spices and a dash of molasses. Really delicious and the recipe is super easy too. 
About the Decorating
I went a bit overboard with the buttercreams and make a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream for the outside and used browned butter for a batch on the inside. That's TOTALLY optional. You could use just one batch of SMBC and really this cake is strong enough in flavor to tolerate an American buttercream.
I LOVE Swiss buttercream because it's so easy to decorate with. Tastes amazing of course, not too sweet, but it also gives you a perfectly almost glassy finish when you smooth it.
Piping the tree and leaves was easier than you would imagine. Sketch the tree on the chilled cake then pipe the branches and use a palette knife or small spatula to smooth things out a bit then just pipe leaves where ever you'd like using a small leaf tip (349).