The bars are super simple with common pantry ingredients and can be left plain, dusted with powdered sugar or spread with cream cheese frosting.
Spice bars are just packed with flavor using cinnamon allspice cloves and there are even some other additions you can stir in below so dont miss our suggestions.
If you're a fan of spice cakes and cookies, you may also want to try my Spanish Bar Cake recipe, Pumpkin Spice Bars, and my Brown Butter Cinnamon Cookies they are all loaded with fall flavors.
This basic spice cake is easy to make and goes terrific with a hot cup of coffee and a big glass of cold milk
Scroll down to the bottom of this post for this easy recipe for homemade Spice Bars and print it off.
Easy Cake Bars
We love bars they're so easy to prepare, quicker and everyone loves them.
You may also like to try our Blueberry Crumble Bars, Sour Cream Lemon Bars and a family favorite No-Bake Buckeye Bars.
Topping Cake Additions
- 1/2 cup any kind of chopped apples
- pecans or other nuts you prefer
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or white chocolate
- dark or golden raisins soaked in brandy
- dried fruits of any kind
Tools
- electric mixer
- spatula
- bowl
- baking pan
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- offset spatula for frosting
- saucepan for raisins
- fork
Ingredients for Spice Bars
- flour
- sugar
- cinnamon
- cloves
- allspice
- egg
- butter
- baking soda
- salt
- brandy, water, or whiskey
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Cake Ideas
During the holiday, this is the perfect bar cake to serve decorated with colorful themed sugars, sprinkles raisins, and nuts.
For Thanksgiving, we love to use an orange color on top with chopped nuts and these are also perfect for Halloween, the flavors just shout fall!
As I mentioned previously, you can also add some chopped apples or even chocolate chips in the batter to change it up, just get creative and happy baking!
Spice Bars
Yield: 12
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
These are a homemade Old Fashioned German-style spice bar usually dusted with powdered sugar, we added cream cheese frosting for more sweetness.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup water, brandy, or whiskey
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon and allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Optional: 1 cup chopped pecans or any kind of nuts you prefer
- Garnish: Cream Cheese Frosting or Dusted with Powdered Sugar
- See Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe Below
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Greased and flour a sheet pan or brownie sized pan, (or for easy cleanup, you can also line the pan with parchment paper instead).
- Combine raisins and brandy or whiskey in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add butter; cool to lukewarm. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt together in a medium-size bowl. In a large mixing bowl pour in the raisin mixture then add sugar, egg, and dry ingredients. Beat using an electric mixer, until evenly blended. Pour into greased and floured sheet pan (15½x10½x1-inch) and bake for about 25 minutes. Cool completely.
- Bars can be served dusted with powdered sugar or cream cheese frosting below.
- 1/2 cup softened cream cheese
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- milk by the tablespoon until smooth and creamy ( usually just 2)
- Mix this frosting until smooth, if needed add more or less powdered sugar and milk to get a smooth consistency to spread.
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More Recipes We Love
No-Bake Buckeye Bars
Banana Sour Cream Streusel Bars
Coconut Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
Magic White Chocolate Bars
Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Bars
Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
Raspberry Pistachio Linzer Bars
Pumpkin Zucchini Bars
Disclosure: This recipe was originally shared in 2014. It was edited and re-published in 2020.