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This spiced persimmon cake is richly brown, and topped with a swath of white cream cheese frosting.

Spiced Persimmon Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

This spiced persimmon cake with cream cheese icing has all the cozy autumn spices we all love (cinnamon and nutmeg!) with toasty walnuts and decadent cream cheese icing.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword alcohol, apple cake, autumn, brandy, cinnamon, cream cheese, cream cheese icing, dried fruit, fall, fall baking, fruit, nutmeg, pecans, persimmons, raisins, thanksgiving, vegetarian, walnuts, whiskey
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings 16 people
Calories 401 kcal

Ingredients

Spiced Persimmon Cake

  • ¾ cup dried currants or raisins
  • ¼ cup brandy or whiskey
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter melted
  • 1 ½ cups persimmon purée
  • 3 large eggs room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups walnuts or pecans toasted and finely chopped

Cream Cheese Icing

  • 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ⅔ cup powdered sugar sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Spiced Persimmon Cake

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the dried fruit and alcohol to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let cool.
  2. Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in the sugar. In a medium bowl, mix the butter, persimmon purée, eggs, and vanilla.
  3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the persimmon mixture, and gently stir. Fold in the dried fruit, along with any unabsorbed liquid, and the nuts. Mix just until everything is moistened; don't overmix.
  4. Scrape the batter into a greased 10 cup pan and bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool completely, then invert onto a serving plate.

Cream Cheese Icing

  1. Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and lemon juice, then gradually add the sugar, beating until smooth. Add 4 teaspoon water; the icing should be pourable. If necessary, add 1 more teaspoon water.
  2. Spoon the icing around the top of the cake, then tap the plate on a folded kitchen towel on the countertop to encourage the icing to run down the sides of the cake.

Recipe Notes

From David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert.