Comments on: Spice Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream and Cranberry Filling

By: Zoë François

Zoë François — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 23:05:35 +0000

In reply to Trish.

Hi Trish,

Yes, you sure can!

Enjoy, Zoë

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 02:17:09 +0000

In reply to Sonja. Hi! The buttercream recipe seems similar to Swiss meringue buttercream. You can freeze or refrigerate SMB, but it will firm up, even once it is returned to room temperature. All you need to do is melt a section, it is fine if it's completely melted. Whip the melted and unmelted parts together. Add more melted bits if necessary. It will be right back to normal. Hope this helps!

By: Trish

Trish — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 12:07:23 +0000

In reply to Sonja. Can you freeze this cake fully frosted? I can only imagine how delicious this cake will be looking at the ingredients!

By: Sonja

Sonja — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 18:24:26 +0000

Hi, I’m aiming to make this for Christmas but I usually struggle with buttercream. So, I’m scared freezing and thawing it might cause consistancy issues. Can I make it ahead of time and put it in the fridge? So the idea would be, bake the cakes and freeze them ahead of time. Make the buttercream 2 days before serving and store in fridge in airtight container, decorate cake 1 day before serving and then serve on the last day… would that work? If not, what advice do you have for a total newb? 🙂

By: Sue R

Sue R — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 17:34:42 +0000

This was, hand’s down, one of my top 5 cakes I’ve ever made! (And I’ve made alot!) The sweetness of the buttecream is offset by the tartness of the cranberry filling perfectly. And the spice cake is moist & full of flavors of the season. The directions didn’t include finishing the cake, so I had to wing it. I put a light coating of the buttercream on each layer then a thin layer of the cranberry filling. I was worried the filling would be too tart (by itself it is quite tart) but in hindsight, I would have put more on (half of the filling on the 2 middle layers). I piped a “dam” of buttercream on each middle layer before adding the cranberry filling so it would not ooze out (though quite stiff as I refrigerated it ahead of time). For the brown butter, I cooled it faster by adding ice water to a separate bowl underneath the brown butter bowl. It turned solid nicely and when added to the room temp brown sugar in the mixing bowl, made a nice buttercream consistency. I finished off the top with sugared cranberries. I always make my cakes ahead of time and freeze them. This is beneficial in that the buttercream doesn’t get too soft when being applied. Great recipe I will make again!

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 22:14:02 +0000

In reply to Kendall Henderson. Hi Kendall, Sorry you're having trouble with it! It should be brown sugar and the issue is likely with the butter. Brown butter is much softer than regular butter so we want to make sure you're letting the brown butter cool until solid and room temperature. If you're still having trouble, Zoë suggests adding a portion of regular unsalted room temperature butter until it stiffens. This can be a tablespoon to a half stick+. I hope this helps!

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 22:12:39 +0000

In reply to Maria. Hi Maria, Sorry you're having trouble with it! Brown butter is much softer than regular butter so we want to make sure you're letting the brown butter cool until solid and room temperature. If you're still having trouble, Zoë suggests adding a portion of regular unsalted room temperature butter until it stiffens. This can be a tablespoon to a half stick+. I hope this helps! Please let us know if you try it again.

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 07:47:25 +0000

Hi, the frosting is delicious but I’ve made it twice and I’m not having luck getting a good consistency. The first time was so soft we ended up spooning it on top of the cake slices. Nobody complained. The second time it had more body but I had to put it in the fridge for a couple of hours before I could dress the cake, and I had to work very fast.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, the merengue had a good consistency before I added the butter, but once it became runny like Zoe warned it never got hard enough.
Thank you, Maria

By: Kendall Henderson

Kendall Henderson — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:10:29 +0000

I tried to use the brown sugar like the recipe says, and my buttercream never hardened. I think maybe it should have said white sugar and not brown sugar? Any troubleshooting tips? 🙁

By: Monica

Monica — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 04:02:08 +0000

Made this for a Christmas potluck. Truly an amazing cake with multiple positive comments. The frosting is the true star and will become a go to for many other cakes. It is indeed unctuous and creates a frosting that is neither too sweet or too buttery but has lovely caramel notes and excellent mouth feel. IMHO the cake needed a bit more spice to stand up to the frosting and the cranberry filling, which was quite tart. But I slightly over baked it and am prepared to give it another go before making any changes. I also added chopped Praline Pecans (Costco) between the layers, which was a perfect addition for both texture and taste. Thank you for sharing such a lovely recipe!