Reviewed: Mar. 18, 2012

** An update after 3 days: This cake holds up surprisingly well. I did not refrigerate it, or wrap it up very tightly, but it was still moist and soft after having it out on the counter. After trying everything to try and enjoy my cake, I finally took a bit of almond chocolate milk that I had handy, a bit of malibu, and bacardi rum, and let a section of the cake soak in it; needless to say, it was great! I only wish I did it sooner. Try to rotate it a bit so the rum mixture can soak through the entire cake, unless you can submerge the entire cake in the mixture (but that's alot of rum mixture to use). Try and avoid one particular side to get overly soggy; other than that, I just found a new remedy for my not-so great turnouts! Original review: You do need to bake it for a bit longer (for me, 15 minutes longer), but my cake itself was just okay. I only had cinnamon and a little bit of vanilla and nutmeg, so maybe that's why it didn't taste all that interesting. I'm glad I was able to make a cake without the dairy products, but the flavor was just really ambiguous that I'm not too sure if I'd finish it. To me, It resembled a dairy-free wheat pancake (in taste, so I drizzled a bit of pancake syrup over a slice), and, I figure it can also be served with a savory sauce as its not too sweet. I probably won't make this again, but I'm sure for those who enjoy spice cakes, they can make it work to their taste.

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Reviewer:

FoodShowFan

Reviewed: Feb. 14, 2012

This was excellent!! I used coffee instead of plain water and omitted the allspice since I didn't have any. I will be making this again, it's a nice little breakfast/tea time bread!

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Reviewer:

kMCGHAN

Reviewed: Oct. 30, 2011

Fantastic! I used a full teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of cloves instead of the nutmeg and allspice, and i threw in a half a cup of fresh cranberries, too. Very tasty!

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itahi.sanchez

Reviewed: Jul. 24, 2011

Delicious. Made this for my husband's grandma who is on a super restrictive diet because she has kidney failure. I left out the raisins and it was a HUGE hit.

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mishamouse

Reviewed: Dec. 13, 2010

Outrageous! I was looking for a cake without milk butter and eggs because my cupboards were bare and luckily had the ingredients listed in this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised to find this cake is almost exactly a cake recipe I have been searching for for years. If anyone remembers the old A&P grocery stores and their Ann Page brand of baked goods this recipe is as close to Spanish Bar Cake as you will find. Now all I have to do is find a recipe that resembles the frosting. I did have to bake this a little longer than suggested and had to remove it from the oven before the center was 100% done but I didn't mind the tiny bit of the center that was still a little bit gooey since the recipes did not include eggs. Although I have eggs, milk and butter in the house now, I will be making it again today to freeze and give as gifts for Christmas

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Reviewer:

Lorrie

Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Nov. 21, 2010

VEGAN!! and VERY easy to make. Dirties only one pot, a spatula, and the baking pan. Didn't even have to use an egg beater or mixer. This must have been a WWII recipe when women were working long shifts and needed cake w/o much time consuming labor or rationed ingredients. What took the longest was waiting for the boiled spiced sugar syrup to cool down, but you can be preparing dinner during the half hour in the fridge it needs. This is the perfect day-before-payday-and-I-need-something-for-dessert-but-the-cupboard-is-bare recipe. Looking to see what I had available, I made it with no raisins, peanut oil instead of shortening, whole wheat pastry flour instead of white, used double-strenth black tea instead of water, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice and 1 teaspoon powdered ginger for the spices. (The tea helps the baking soda work, as it is a bit acid.) As others have said, it is moist, dense and delicious. I have to laugh when I see other reviewers using expensive and/ or non-vegan substitutions like butter, or serving it w/ ice cream. Kind of misses the point. If you can use that stuff pick another, richer cake recipe; it will taste better. However this is quite amazingly good given the limitations.

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Reviewer:

Little Old Lady

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Long Island, New York, USA

Living In: Westchester, New York, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 24, 2010

I halved the recipe leaving out the raisins (-as I didn't have any) and made it into muffins. They came out well. They were moist inside and had a proper muffin ie. crispy top. As to spices I used 1/4t of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg as they were what I had. I used coffee instead of plain water but this didn't seem to make any difference in taste. I will try this recipe again.

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Katey B

Reviewed: Aug. 19, 2010

This cake was awesome!!! I was at the bottom of the bucket on food supplies(need to hit the market) but wanted something fast, easy and that I could make with practically nothing. I did use a little different of a recipe because I wanted to get rid of some things. I used a can of coconut milk(instead of water) a tsp of nutmeg and cinn as I had no allspice, 3 tsp of cocoa powder, half white/half wheat flour and half white/half brown sugar. It turned out awesome and I will absolutely make it again. I served it with some baked sliced apples that I cooked in sugar, cinnamon and butter def went very well with it.

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Reviewer:

braedont

Reviewed: Apr. 24, 2010

It was 50/50 here. Two of my kids didn't care for it, but my youngest & I liked it. Definitely put brown sugar on the top. It makes it more like a coffee cake that way. :)

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Reviewer:

Jenifer

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Reviewed: Mar. 7, 2010

Delicious and relatively easy. My kids and husband LOVE this cake, especially with cream cheese frosting. It's wonderful to have on hand when the budget is tight. Thanks for sharing!

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