When I spread on the icing… there are always birds fluttering inside of me. And Baked Explorations just keeps on giving. This cake was also adapted from my latest cake heroes; Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito’s maple cupcakes recipe. It has 2 cups of real maple syrup in the batter, yup 2 cups, but looking at the recipe I instantly knew I wanted to make a cake and not cupcakes. Plus I opted to go without walnuts. I like the maple walnut combination, but crunchy walnuts don’t exactly fit the golden velvet image maple syrup conjures up for me.
MAPLE CAKE
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups pure maple syrup (preferably Grade B)
3 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups whole milk
1 batch of maple cream cheese frosting
• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Line the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
• Spray the paper and the sides of the pan with cooking spray.
• Sift 3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl.
• Beat the butter and shortening until light and fluffy.
• Add maple syrup and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Add egg yolks and egg 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.
• Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk. Once the flour is incorporated, do NOT beat any longer.
• Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
• Bake cakes for 45 minutes or until the tester inserted into center comes out clean.
• Cool cakes in the pans on racks for 30 minutes.
• Run a small knife around sides of the cakes to loosen.
• Remove cakes from cake pans and place on a wire rack.
• Remove the parchment paper and cool the cakes completely.
• Meanwhile prepare the maple cream cheese frosting.
• Place one of the cake layers on the platter.
• Spoon 1 cup frosting over the top and spread evenly to the edge.
• Invert the second cake layer and place on the top.
• Crumb coat the entire cake; cover it all over with a thin coat of frosting.
• Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to chill. [It took quite a while]
• Remove cake from the fridge and spread remaining frosting evenly over the top and the sides of the cake.
• Chill the cake thoroughly, overnight or at least for a couple of hours before slicing.
• Let it sit at room temperature for 30-40 minutes and then serve.
