Name: Sick Day Spice Cake
Total time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6–8 servings
Ingredients: ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan; 2½ cups (288 g) cake flour, sifted; 1 tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. baking soda; 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt; ½ tsp. ground cloves; Pinch of freshly ground pepper; 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon, divided; 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar; ½ cup (100 g; packed) light brown sugar; 2 large eggs, room temperature; 1 tsp. vanilla extract; 1¼ cups plus 3 Tbsp. buttermilk, room temperature; 1 cup (110 g) powdered sugar, sifted

A slice of spice cake on a pink and white plate thats placed on a pink surface.

Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Kat Boytsova, prop styling by Gerri Williams

Ever felt like you need a slice of cake to make your sick day better? Writer Julia May Jonas certainly did. She’d whip up a warmly spiced, tender cake inspired by the McCall’s Best Spicecake that appears in a copy of McCall’s Cook Book that was passed down to her. Then she’d wipe all evidence of it before her family came home. Fragrant with cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, and vanilla, the spices lend warm and sweet notes without overpowering the light, buttery crumb of the cake. The cinnamon-scented buttermilk glaze adds a bit of sweet tang to the top.