Space Cake: What It Is and How It Is Made

Space cake is a cake baked with cannabis-infused butter or oil. The cake itself is ordinary; what makes it a space cake is the fat. THC is highly lipophilic and almost insoluble in water [1], so the cannabis goes into the butter first and the butter goes into the batter. Eaten THC acts slowly: effects usually begin 30 minutes to two hours after eating and peak at about four hours [2]. Below: what space cake is, a metric recipe for 16 pieces, and how to work out the THC in each one.

What space cake is

A space cake is not one fixed recipe. It can be a chocolate sponge, a loaf cake or a tray of brownies; in Dutch the single word spacecake covers them all. Two things make it a space cake: the cannabis is infused into fat before baking, and the cake is cut into equal pieces so that each piece carries the same share of the THC.

Cannabis flower holds most of its THC as THCA, an acid form, and heating is required to convert THCA into THC [3]. That is why the flower is decarboxylated before it is infused. The decarboxylation temperature chart sets out the times and temperatures, and the cannabutter recipe covers the infusion itself.

Why space cake feels different from smoking

Eaten THC travels through the stomach and the liver before it reaches the bloodstream and the brain [2]. Much of it is lost on the way: in one study only 4 to 12% of the THC in a chocolate cookie reached the blood [1]. The liver also turns part of the THC into 11-hydroxy-THC, a metabolite more potent than THC itself [3], and far more of it forms after eating than after inhaling [1].

The result is an effect that arrives late and stays long. It usually begins 30 minutes to two hours after eating, peaks at about four hours and can last up to 12 hours, with residual effects up to 24 hours [2]. Because the effect comes late, people can eat more than they meant to before the first piece has taken effect [3]. The edible dosage calculator works out the THC in each piece before anyone eats one.

Space cake ingredients (16 pieces)

• 125 g cannabutter, melted (or 125 g cannabis coconut oil)
• 150 g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 5 ml vanilla extract
• 150 g plain flour
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 5 g baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 120 ml milk

You also need a 20 x 20 cm square baking tin, baking paper, two bowls, a whisk and a kitchen scale. For a dairy-free cake, use cannabis coconut oil in place of the cannabutter, gram for gram.

How to make space cake, step by step

Step 1: Prepare the infused fat

Decarboxylate the flower and infuse it into butter or oil before you start. Weigh out 125 g and melt it gently: it should be liquid, not hot.

Step 2: Heat the oven

Heat the oven to 170°C (160°C fan) and line the tin with baking paper.

Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients

Whisk the melted cannabutter with the sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time and add the vanilla. Mix until smooth: the THC is in the fat, so fat spread evenly through the batter is what makes every piece equal.

Step 4: Fold in the dry ingredients

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt over the bowl and fold them in with the milk until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.

Step 5: Bake

Pour the batter into the tin, level it and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.

Step 6: Cool, cut and label

Let the cake cool completely in the tin, then cut it into 16 equal squares, four by four. Label the container with what is inside and the THC per piece.

How much THC is in one piece of space cake

Every milligram of THC in the cake comes from the fat, so the arithmetic is simple: the THC in the 125 g of cannabutter, divided by 16 pieces. The guide to calculating the potency of homemade edibles shows how to estimate the THC in your butter from the weight and THC percentage of the flower.

THC in 125 g cannabutter	THC per piece (16 pieces)
80 mg	5 mg
160 mg	10 mg
320 mg	20 mg

These figures are arithmetic, not advice on how much to eat. For a milder cake, replace part of the cannabutter with plain butter and recalculate.

Safety and storage

Space cake looks like any other cake, and that is the risk. US poison centres recorded 207 cases of children under six who had eaten cannabis edibles in 2017, and 3,054 in 2021 [4]. Label the cake, keep it in a closed container away from ordinary food, and keep it out of reach of children and pets. Do not drive after eating it [2]. If someone has eaten too much and feels unwell, contact the local poison centre or seek medical help [2].

Keep the cake airtight in the fridge, or wrap the pieces one by one and freeze them, labelled.

Frequently asked questions

What is in a space cake?

An ordinary cake recipe in which the butter or oil has been infused with decarboxylated cannabis. All the THC sits in that fat, because THC dissolves in fat and hardly at all in water [1].

How long does space cake take to kick in?

Usually 30 minutes to two hours, with the peak at about four hours [2]. The delay is the time the THC takes to pass through the stomach and the liver.

How long does a space cake high last?

The effects can last up to 12 hours, with residual effects up to 24 hours [2], so plan for the rest of the day and the next morning.

Can you make space cake with raw cannabis?

Not reliably. Raw flower holds its THC mostly as THCA, and heating is required to convert it [3]. Decarboxylate the flower and infuse it into fat first.

Can you make space cake with hash?

Yes. Hash is decarboxylated and infused into butter or oil the same way as flower, and the rest of the recipe is unchanged. Its THC content differs from flower, so work out the THC per piece again before serving.

Sources

1. Grotenhermen F. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabinoids. Clinical Pharmacokinetics. 2003;42(4):327-360. doi:10.2165/00003088-200342040-00003
2. Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. 7 Things You Need to Know about Edible Cannabis. Ottawa: CCSA; 2019. ccsa.ca
3. Barrus DG, Capogrossi KL, Cates SC, Gourdet CK, Peiper NC, Novak SP, Lefever TW, Wiley JL. Tasty THC: promises and challenges of cannabis edibles. RTI Press Publication No. OP-0035-1611. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI Press; 2016. doi:10.3768/rtipress.2016.op.0035.1611
4. Tweet MS, Nemanich A, Wahl M. Pediatric edible cannabis exposures and acute toxicity: 2017-2021. Pediatrics. 2023;151(2):e2022057761. doi:10.1542/peds.2022-057761

See also: cannabis brownies, cannabis cookies and the complete edible dosage guide.