Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

0 Preheat the oven to 350F.
2 In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and chipotle or cayenne.
4 With the mixer on high and fitted with the whip attachment cream butter.
6 Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and whip until light and creamy.
8 Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
10 Beat in the vanilla.
12 Whip on high speed until light and fluffy, 3 minutes or so.
14 Scrape sides with the rubber spatula a few times during beating.
16 While mixing on lowest speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture.
18 Pour batter evenly into two greased and floured 8-inch cake pans.
20 Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.
22 Let cool in pans for 10 minutes.
24 Turn out  on wire racks to finish cooling.
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
28 Beat the cream cheese and butter together.
30 Add the vanilla extract.
32 Whip until light and fluffy.
34 Add the confectioners' (powdered sugar) sugar slowly until you reach the consistency that you like.
36 Whip until very fluffy.
38 Add cream as needed for consistency.
Smoked Pecans
42 Saute the pecans over medium high heat in the combined oil and fat until toasted but not scorched. Keep them moving with your spatula. This will take just a couple of minutes.
44 Sprinkle with about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sea salt.
46 Saute another minute or so to bind the salt to the pecans
48 Let cool before sprinkling on the cake.
Assembly
52 Place one cooled cake layer on the cake plate.
54 Cover with a thick layer of frosting.
56 Top with the second layer and cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting.
58 Sprinkle the pecans on top if desired.