Holiday Spice Cake

Jud's birthday is in October and spice cake has always been his favorite cake.  I have tried so many spice cake recipes and this is by far the best I have ever tried.  We took it to Austin to watch the grandkids trick-or-treat and it was a big hit.
You could always color the icing for an orange Halloween pumpkin and decorate it accordingly.  Fall just screams Spice Cake in our house.  Paula Deen from Foodnetwork


Printable Recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingattheedwards/holiday-spice-cake
Ingredients for the Cake:
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 stick butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Quick Butter Cream, recipe follows
Finely chopped nuts, for garnish - my children don't like nuts on their cake
cocoa powder, for garnish
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 3 (8-inch) round cake pans.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground ginger and ground cloves.

Cream the butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately beginning and ending with the dry.

When the batter is well mixed and smooth, divide it amongst the 3 prepared cake pans and bake about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes come out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out to cool completely. If the cake layers have domed a little during the baking process, slice off the tops with a long serrated knife so they are flat and even. Mine domed, but I just turned the two bottom layers with the dome down, and the top layer with the dome up.  I also put the cakes in the freezer for about 5 minutes to make icing crumb-free.
Place the first layer, cut side down, on a cake pedestal or serving plate. Spoon about 3/4 cup of butter cream onto the center of the cake. Spread it almost to the very edges with an offset spatula. Repeat with the remaining 2 layers. Garnish the top of the cake with finely chopped nuts and cocoa powder.

Quick Butter Cream Icing:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
pinch of salt
6 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
Beat the butter, shortening and salt together until creamy with an electric mixer. Add half of the confectioners' sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Combine the vanilla extract and heavy cream. Gradually beat in the remaining confectioners' sugar alternating with the cream mixture until it is all incorporated and the frosting is very light and fluffy.