This is my version of Nigella Lawson’s Autumnal Birthday Cake from her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess. If you don’t own her book, you should, it’s lovely, gorgeous pictures and delicious recipes. You just can’t lose with Nigella, all of her books are lovely. I don’t always have the specialty items like self-rising cake flour and maple extract so this is my version of the recipe.
Maple Cake
March 29, 2015
Serving Size
8 servings
Ingredients
- For The Cake:
- 3/4 Cup Butter, Softened
- 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup (Grade B)
- 3 1/3 Cups Flour (ideally cake flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 3/4 Cup Hot Water
- For The Icing:
- 2 Large Egg Whites
- 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
- 7 Tbsp Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 Cup or 4 oz Pecans, Chopped Fine
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well.
- Gradually add the maple syrup until smooth.
- Add baking powder and salt to flour, mix well.
- Slowly spoon in flour, alternating with the hot water, beat gently until smooth.
- Divide the batter into two cake pans, I like the look of the cake when it's round so I use round cake pans.
- Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes before taking out of the pans, they need to be completely cool before icing them.
- For Icing:
- Place all the ingredients for the icing except the extracts and the pecans in the bowl. Make a double boiler with a bowl over a pot, the water for the saucepan should be just below the bowl when it sits on top, bring the water to a boil then place the bowl on top of the pot, then using an electric hand mixer beat the mixture vigorously until soft peaks form. Take the bowl off the heat, add the extracts and continue to beat for another minute.
- Use this icing between the layers and then ice the cake with the rest of it. Sprinkle the pecans across the top and along the side.
- As Nigella says, this cake is best eaten the day it's made.
© 2024 Copyright Sabrina Ortolano
