A Saturday Recipe

I have always loved this time of year, the subtle hints of cinnamon that waif thorough the air.
The growing warmth throughout the home that long put away decorations bring.
Colored lights, my family puts them everywhere.
Yes my family loves Christmas and winter. My mother has been decorating and decorating enthusiastically. A bit of spruce green hangs over the back door inviting goodnatured cheer,
While varied lights add to the charm of open doorways, and red cranberry beads wrapped around and through the kitchen shelves give a Christmasy pop of color here and there.
There is a twig tree that we created ourselves, from birch branches. We like doing things a bit differently, and there is no space in the living room for a traditional tree.
The winter curtains are pressed and set to hang, the whole house is becoming a cozy winter retreat.
On days like today when the sky is so grey the trees are just a hint of black silhouette here and there, and the fog seems will never dissipate. Its nice to have warm scents drifting through the house.
So I thought why not give a recently tried recipe to my dear followers ?
To add to there cozy winter evenings,
The recipe is called Velvet Spice Cake. Isn't that just the best title ever ?
This recipe will go nicely with some sort of festive tea or coffee, and will pass nicely as a breakfast cake on Sunday morn with out an icing of course.
I made this last evening for the family, and it was taken with mostly wonderful reviews.
The cupcake had soft hints of spices, and the consistency was dense yet moist as ever.
My family loves a dense cake, being Italian and all.

Velvet Spice Cake, 

Have all ingredients at room temperature, Preheat the oven to 350˚ 
Grease and flour one 9 inch tube pan. 

Sift together: 
2 1/3 C flour 
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp grated of ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon 
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt. 

In the bowl of a mixer beat until creamy 
1 /12 sticks unsalted butter
Gradually add and beat on high speed until light in color and creamy in texture, 2-4 minutes: 
1 1/2 C sugar 
Beat in one at a time three egg yolks. 
Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with 
3/4 C plus 2 Tbsp yogurt or buttermilk
Mix until incorporated batter will be a bit sticky: 

In a clean mixing bowl, with a clean whisk, 

beat three egg whites 
1/2 tsp cream of tartar 
until soft peaks form. 
Gradually add 1/4 C sugar in half tablespoon intervals. 
continue to beat until shiny and stiff peaks form, but the whites aren't dry. 
Add 1/4 of the egg whites to batter, fold in gently. then add the remaining amount folding Not beating. 
scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 35-40 minutes. 

The pictures aren't so wonderful, but I was rushing. just ignore the bad quality.
I used greek yogurt, and brown sugar, and added the rind of one orange, and a 1/2 C of pecans to the batter.
This recipe was delicious.
I hope you like it.