spice cake

Tessa's Spice Cake - from the baking & dessert cookbook Sweet

Ingredients 
*all organic 

3/4 cup plus 2 tsp unsalted butter, at room temperature 
3/4 packed cup plus 1 tbsp dark brown sugar 

3/4 packed cup plus 1 tbsp light brown sugar 

finely grated zest of 1 large orange 

3 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream 

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

1 tsp mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp malt vinegar or apple cider vinegar

confectioners' sugar, for dusting 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 375 F 

Grease a standard loaf pan & line with parchment paper, set aside 

Place the butter, both brown sugars and orange zest in the bowl on an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Beat until lightented and smooth but not too fluffy, you don't want to aerate the cake too much.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs by hand. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and whisk again until smooth. 

Sift the mixed spice, flour and slat together into a seperate bowl and set aside.

In alternating batches and with the machine on medium-low speed, add a third of the egg-sour cream mixture to the creamed mixture, followed by a third of the sifted ingredients. Continue with the second and third batch, continuing to beat until combined. Stir the baking soda with the vinegar in a small bowl; it will fizz up a little, but that's fine. Add this to the mixture and as soon as everything is combined turn off the machine. Scrape the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a wire rack for about 15 minutes to cool slightly before inverting onto a cake plate. Set aside until completely cool, then dust with confectioners' sugar.

Slice & serve at room temperature - Enjoy!