Spice Cake

I'm heading to a pillow-fort building/Nerf gun war/fire-spinning party tonight, and I felt like I should bake a cake! So I started with this recipe for a spice cake:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, soft
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I gave the batter a taste and it wasn't quite what I wanted, so I add a bunch more cinnamon and nutmeg. And I decided to throw in some vanilla pudding mix for a fudgier cake.

Then I remembered that I had some cardamon from my crazy herbalist friend Berry, that would be delicious. So I ran around looking for it all over the house (until I found it in wit my baking stuff). Then I went on a similar, but less successful hunt for my mortar and pestle (which must still be in Connecticut). So I ground it up with a bowl and the handle of a spoon. Not quite what I was going form, but it did the trick, and added it in. Also I totally didn't measure... just poured out some seeds and ground them.

Batter into budnt pan into oven. Baked til done, and then thrown into the freezer for quicker cooling (must get to parties on time)! After about five minutes in the freezer, I pulled it out, and flipped it out of the baking pan into the container it was leaving in, and threw it back in the freezer.

While it was cooling, I decided to make some sort of honey glaze for the cake. So I put some thistle honey in a pan with powdered sugar and melted it together. I added some nutmeg, cardamon, about a teaspoon of vanilla, and a splash of milk to the mix. The taste was fabulous... one of the best things I've come up with in a while.

I pulled out the cake, glazed it, and now I'm ready to party :)