Oh, I know what you are thinking.

“She had an adventure with a Spice Girl.”

As if. I mean, I am a small town girl who loves her small town life and cannot fathom paying anything over $50 for a handbag. Posh Spice went to the Royal wedding. Scary Spice has her own reality TV show and a baby with Eddie Murphy. I don’t know what the other Spice girls are doing. Probably laughing everytime they go to the post box and pick up some ridiculous royalty check.

Spice Cake with Peanut butter Icing

My adventure had everything to do with cake. In this case it was the cake for Father’s Day that had to be spice cake with Peanut Butter Icing.

It started when I went to my local grocer and there was not a single box of spice cake mix on the shelf. None.

Cherry Chip, yes. Various chocolate, yes. Funetti, oh yeah. But no spice cake. I knew what was going to happen at that moment if no spice cake with peanut butter icing showed up for dessert the following night. Personally, I was not in the mood for tears and frustration. So I grabbed a box of yellow cake mix and plotted my next move.

I thought about what makes a good spice cake which are the spices. I knew there were spice cake recipes from scratch. I knew those recipes would detail the type and amount needed. So I looked up a recipe for spice cake and found one that would help me get there.  

Everything I need to make faux spice cake

I grounded the ginger and cloves, using the last of what I have in the grinders. I would really like more of these as the flavor is wonderful but I am not sure I can find them anymore.

 
My 14 y.o. measured out the rest in order to complete his present to dad of helping to make the meal. I mixed it all together put it in the bundt pan and, well, there it is. Those lines mean a part of the cake stuck to the pan and I had to play “jigsaw puzzle” with the cake.  Hate it when that happens.
 
Naked Spice Cake

While it was baking, I found the Peanut Butter Icing recipe on line. I thought I had printed a copy a few years ago. But it, like so many things, has disappeared in my house.

 
So the recipe which I once again cannot find combined 1 stick of butter, 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 5 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. I blended by hand and all turned out fine.
 
Maybe I am not like my grandmother who could make anything from scratch. But I can make a tasty cake from a box even when the box mix did not start that way.
 
Oh, and the husband loved it.
 
What did you make special on Father’s Day?
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