Old-Fashioned Boiled Raisin Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting is a spice cake featuring raisins cooked in brown sugar. This vintage cake is flavored with a combination of cocoa, cinnamon nutmeg, ground cloves and allspice.
Old-Fashioned Boiled Raisin Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
We were delighted to be sent on a vintage recipe hunt for a blog follower. The mission was a Boiled Raisin Cake with a frosting. Patti wanted to surprise her 91-year-old father by making this cake that he remembered fondly. After searching high and low through all her vintage cookbooks, Barbara came up empty-handed.
And then, like divine intervention, someone posted a photo of their dinner in a Facebook group. Included in the photo was a Boiled Raisin Cake. The cook was kind enough to share her recipe, so Barbara went to town tweaking it just a tad. The original recipe called for the cake to be made in a tube pan sans a glaze or frosting.
Grandma’s Raisin Cake
This Old-Fashioned Boiled Raisin Cake is made with raisins that are boiled in water and brown sugar to soften them, making a sweet, sugary syrup.
Barbara decided to go the route of a 13 x 9-inch glass dish which she thought would complement the cake to frosting ratio. Barbara also came up with a delicious brown sugar frosting.
The simple brown sugar frosting could be used on any type of cake, especially spiced cake, rum cake or pumpkin cake.
Chocolate Raisin Cake Ingredients
Raisins
Water
Cocoa Powder
Butter
Brown sugar, light or dark
All Purpose Flour
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Salt, iodized
Ground Cinnamon
Allspice
Ground Nutmeg
Cloves, ground
Brown Sugar Frosting Ingredients
Brown Sugar, light or dark
Butter
Milk
Powdered Sugar
Cinnamon Raisin Cake Recipe
The flavor and aromas of this cinnamon raisin cake is very much that of a lovely fall dessert.
This cake is full of spice flavor with the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and allspice. If you are lacking one or more of these spices, just omit and add a little bit more of those ones you do have on hand.
It may be the perfect cake to accompany a cup of coffee. Our mom noted that it reminded her of an applesauce raisin cake her mom used to make. Our dad gave this cake 2 thumbs up. It passed the test!
How to Make Old-Fashioned Boiled Raisin Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
Full recipe steps and ingredient amounts for chocolate raisin cake is found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Bring to a boil, water, brown sugar, raisins, butter and cocoa. Let simmer for 5 minutes and then remove from heat and let cool.
- In a different bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until completely incorporated.
- Pour into greased 13-by-9 inch glass dish or cake pan.
- Bake in 350-degree F oven for 35 minutes. While the cake bakes, prepare the frosting.
How to Make Brown Sugar Frosting
- On the stove, stir together brown sugar, water and milk.
- Heat until brown sugar dissolves while whisking constantly.
- Remove from heat and cool completely.
- Once cooled, pour into mixer bowl and add powdered sugar. Mix until a frosting is formed.
Notes About Old Fashioned Raisin Cake
- We typically use purple raisins but yellow would work too.
- Use light or dark brown sugar in the boiled raisin cake and/ or the brown sugar frosting.
- Let the brown sugar syrup cool before preparing the raisin cake batter.
- If you are missing a couple of the spices, feel free to leave them out. Just add a little bit more of the other spices.
- The brown sugar icing is completely optional. The chocolate raisin cake is just as good by itself. You could even dust with powdered sugar.
Linking up to Weekend Potluck!
Old-Fashioned Boiled Raisin Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
Ingredients
Boiled Raisin Cake
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups raisins
- 1 cup butter
- 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Brown Sugar Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Boiled Raisin Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium saucepan, mix together water, brown sugar, raisins, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool.
- In a separate bowl, mix together, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ground cloves.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until completely incorporated.
- Pour into a 13x9 inch glass dish or cake pan that has been generously sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Bake for 35 minutes of until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.
- While cooling, prepare the Brown Sugar Frosting.
Brown Sugar Frosting
- In a medium sized saucepan, mix brown sugar, butter and milk. Heat until the sugar is dissolved, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
- Once the sugar mixture is cooled, pour sugar mixture into a mixer bowl. Add powdered sugar and mix until a frosting is formed. If a runnier texture is desired, add milk 1 T. at a time until desired consistency.
- Frost the cake, and enjoy!
Notes
- We typically use purple raisins but yellow would work too.
- Use light or dark brown sugar in the boiled raisin cake and/ or the brown sugar frosting.
- Let the brown sugar syrup cool before preparing the raisin cake batter.
- If you are missing a couple of the spices, feel free to leave them out. Just add a little bit more of the other spices.
- The brown sugar icing is completely optional. The chocolate raisin cake is just as good by itself. You could even dust with powdered sugar.
- Love vintage spice cakes? Try this amazing Pumpkin cake.
Nutrition
I lost my mother’s boiled raisin spice cake recipe. It was also made in a tube pan. What kind of changes were made to the original recipe? How would I go about finding it?
Nancy, we’ll email you a photo of the recipe we modified! Stay tuned.
My mother made a similar cake but it did not have cocoa in it. It had cherries, gumdrops, candied fruit,and walnuts in it and was baked in a loaf pan and that was our fruit cake at Christmas. She mixed it all in the pot after the liquid was warm. This is why I could never understand why everyone I met didn’t like fruitcake. Our fruitcake was very moist and delicious. I took it to work to share with all the co-workers that said they didn’t like fruitcake and they all loved it.
That does sound yummy! Thanks for sharing your memories with us.
Made this cake today….delicious and teally moist. Served without the frosting.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Is the cocoa powder necessary? Anyone bake this without it? Cocoa allergy is why I want to know.
Sorry to hear that MaryLou. We haven’t tried it without the cocoa. It’s only 3 Tablespoons so it may be just fine without it.
I’m making this for my hubby for Thanksgiving..reminds me of my grandma’s cake. Thanks for the recipe.
That’s great! Hope you all enjoy it!
When you say to combine wet ingredients into the dry, does this include the water with brown sugar too?
Yes, combine the wet ingredients that you’ve brought to a boil with the dry ingredients.
I’d like to make this recipe but as cupcakes for a book club brunch I’m hosting. Do you think this recipe would work well for cupcakes? Thank you so much for sharing, it’s looks/sounds delicious!
Ashley, we haven’t tried this cake as cupcakes, but it should be possible. I’d suggest making the batter as noted in the recipe card and bake at same temperature but for one-third to one-half the baking time. You might start with baking 1 or 2 cupcakes to test the baking time and then do the rest. Hope this helps!
I’m going to make this today, without the cocoa and I’m going to frost it with a fluffy banana frosting!😃
Let us know how it turned out!!
Dammit, it’s COMPLEMENT, not COMPLIMENT!! The frosting isn’t telling the cake how beautiful its raisins are.
Paula, there is no need to curse. Thank you for letting us know and we’ve made the edit. Have a great day!
Hi,
I was happy to come across this recipe doing a web search for a similar recipe. Boiled Raisin cake is in my recipe box, handed down by my mother. During my college days, while working at a rather well known Inn, I talked the chef to let me bake this and put it on the menu. The next night, I waited on a table where a gentleman had returned after the show for yet another serving of this delicious treat! So happy others know of how good this cake is!
Thank you,
Judith
What an awesome story! Love that it is a family recipe of yours that made such an impression on others! Thanks for sharing.
I love raisins and want to
Make this but it’s just me. Is it possible to cut this recipe in half?
Thank you & please advise
We totally get not wanting to make a full cake…but we’ve never halved this recipe before but it probably can be done and make in an 8×8 cake pan. Here’s a post that shows how to halve ingredients –
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-cut-a-recipe-in-half_n_6956850 – you probably need to cut the cooking time to 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the original…maybe start at 2/3rds and check it. Sorry we can’t be more help.
I have my great grandmother’s Boiled Spice Cake which is similar to this recipe. There is no frosting recipe and it was baked in a loaf pan.
Just made this recipe, reminds me of my grandma’s kitchen. My kitchen smells so good. My husband just told me this was the best cake I have ever baked. 10*
Rebecca – So glad you (and your husband) enjoyed it. Nothing better than a recipe that reminds you of grandma!! Thanks for sharing.
This is a great cake reminds me of my child hood at my grandparents my grandmother made this for us everytime we would go visit
Flavor was good. Frosting was way to sweet for me. I have a boiled raisin cake recipe made with molasses which is my favorite. Had to try this one using cocoa.
Thanks for trying it!
I would love to get the recipe for your cake with molasses! I’m still searching for my grandmother’s cake. It was very dark, moist and she called it Poor Man’s Cake. Made an old War Cake yesterday and it was definitely not it. Thank you in advance!
Hi, my mom used to make the cake with the same recipe and it didn’t last long at our home the icing can also be made with cocoa for some other cakes so good and can be made in creamy candy
Yum!