Spice Cafe is about the size, shape and hue of a shoe box. It’s painted beige and brown and were it not for the large girthed carrot cake squatting on the counter as I walked in, I might have mistaken the place for an old-fashioned yoga studio. Accordingly, my nostrils were already straining to catch wafts of incense and damp feet.
It was damp, not from anyone’s feet but from all the bodies cramped into the small space, with even more people shuffling outside the shop waiting. Waiting for a large slice of American style cake (€3.75) or a bagel. The only other reliable source for this kind of thing in Barcelona is the über successful Cup & Cake.
Spice cafe believe they serve Barcelona’s best carrot cake. It’s up there, moist, fluffy – successfully eschewing the common carrot cake pitfalls. My sister and I also tried a slice of the salted caramel cake which Spice Cafe were serving for the first time. We found it to be dense, not salty and really sweet – it will probably get better as they tweak it but it was definitely not there yet. I would advise you to stick to their classic best sellers.
The service is friendly and attentive. In the 5 minutes that we waited for a table to become available, two stools were brought for us. “Where do you hail from?” questions were asked and plenty of smiles were bestowed on everyone. Simple shop, friendly place, good cake. Especially the carrot cake.
See this and find more addresses on my Foodie in Barcelona Map
Spice Café
Carrer de Margarit, 13
Poble Sec, 08004
spicecafe.es
Hello! My name is Suzy. This blog is about discovering Barcelona through its eateries. I take it one restaurant or shop at a time and post on the blog once a week. I vary where I eat to have a have a mix of high and low end places. My goal is to find the special places, the ones worth seeking out and show and tell you all about them. 
Giulia says
14th January 2015 at 8:43pmMaybe you really should open that great coffee place that serves American style cake. Or you know, that idea that I was throwing around a couple of years ago…funny how American style cakes draws a crowd in Europe.
Suzy says
17th January 2015 at 5:24pmYa – am I ever going to do that? I think I am losing my nerve…
Kiera says
21st February 2015 at 2:19pmI disagree that Cup & Cake is “reliable”. They don’t know how to make a good cupcake — hence the bland magdalena-like cake
and the false icing. Spice’s cakes are far superior from an American confectioner point of view.
Suzy says
21st February 2015 at 5:18pmHi Kiera.
I have tried a lot of cupcakes, Hummingbird (London), Primrose Hill (London), Lola’s (London), Magnolia (New York) and I find all of them sweet and cloying. I would agree with you that Spice is more artisanal (although I haven’t tried their cupcakes) but I still think that the Cup & Cake cupcakes are in keeping with the ones mentioned above.
Which don’t appeal to me because I dislike anything that sweet and prefer cakes in the Rose Carrarini style, rustic, unembellished and not too sweet.
Kiera says
21st February 2015 at 5:38pmOooh, Magnolia in New York is probably the epitome of American baking so if you have tried that you know. Well, I have a Cup & Cake around the corner from me and I tried them a few times, each time hoping the kind of cupcake I ordered was just wrong: it tasted like a muffin from Consum with fake icing. But in the end, all the varieties tasted like muffin cake with fake icing. Cup & Cake’s founder broke away from Cup & Cake and went off an started her own side business selling out of a yogurt place in Pza Universitat, which closed about six months ago. The ones she made there were much better. Not sure if there is another outlet.