What better way to get into the holiday spirit than with this heavenly Spice Pound Cake with Eggnog Buttercream? Rich, but not too sweet, it’s topped with sugared local cranberries for that perfect holiday crunch!
There seem to be two types of people in this world: people who love eggnog and people who are WRONG.
I kid, I kid…. maybe.
My family gets a little crazy about their eggnog. First, there’s Baxters or Farmers brand, (Farmers, obviously). And one year… one year my mother actually expected us to decorate the tree without eggnog. The uproar that caused, let me tell you! That’s never happening again!
I don’t know about where you live, but here it only comes out for a couple of months a year, so that makes it extra-special! I love a good glass of eggnog, with a dash of nutmeg on top… yum!
Also in Canada we have both French and English on our food labels, and the French for Eggnog is ‘Lait de Poule’, which can be horribly, inaccurately translated into ‘Milk of the Chicken’. This obviously brings me no small amount of joy.
For this recipe I adapted my family’s traditional pound cake recipe by replacing the white sugar with brown, and adding a couple of spices to give it a more ‘holiday’ taste. I could have just eaten this cake without any frosting it all, let me tell you! It was almost caramel-y because of the brown sugar (wowza!)
As well as my tried and true buttercream recipe, with eggnog added to replace the cream.
The sugared cranberries, though not included in this recipe and merely for decoration, can be found here at Food Folks and Fun! They were an amazing tart counterpoint to the cake! I highly recommend.
This cake was seriously amazing. I know I say that every time, but I don’t think I’ve ever made any cake that made me feel this warm and cozy inside.
It reminded me of trimming the tree, of my family all together (which doesn’t happen that often anymore, now that we’re all old).
The spice pound cake is fluffy, light, yet rich and moist. Hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, all wonderful holiday flavours!
The eggnog buttercream is not too sweet…
And it was a hit.
Totally adding this one permanently to my holiday baking roster!
What’s the food you can’t spend your holiday’s without?
- 1 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1½ cups brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup milk (room temperature if possible)
- 2 cups sifted flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup butter (room temperature)
- 3-4 cups icing sugar
- 3-4 Tbsp eggnog
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 325°F
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In a mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar.
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Set your mixer on medium and add the eggs and vanilla.
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Alternate adding milk and flour, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
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Add baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, and beat for 5 minutes at medium speed.
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Bake for 35 minutes if using 6" round pans like I did in this example, 45 minutes if using 8" round pans, or 1hr if using 9x13 rectangular baking pan.
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Remove from the oven let rest at least 5 mins before you remove them from the pan.
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Cream butter in a bowl, and slowly add icing sugar.
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Add vanilla, and desired eggnog. You want it to be easily spreadable and soft, so depending on your butter and icing sugar, the amounts may vary slightly.
Sugared Cranberry Recipe can be found here at Food, Folks and Fun: http://foodfolksandfun.net/2014/12/sugared-cranberries-tutorial/
*NIGHTSHADE FREE NOTE: Some brands of eggnog (like my beloved Farmers brand), actually contain 'spices' and may trigger allergies. Please read the labels to ensure everyone has a safe and happy holiday season 🙂
