Maple Butter Cake

Laura, who has become quite the accomplished cake baker,  made this Maple Butter Cake for Bob’s birthday last July. It was such a hit, that I decided to make it for Carrie’s birthday celebration last week.

The cake recipe is from The Cake Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Rose has a Butter Cake recipe with the suggestion that it could be made with maple sugar. I used maple sugar from King Arthur Flour; it is more finely granulated than the maple sugar I can get at the grocery store.

The Maple Frosting is from Cupcakes: Luscious bakeshop favorites from your home kitchen, by Shelly Kaldunski. I was a little nervous about the egg white whipping for the recipe, but it turned out to be pretty easy.

My photos don’t really do justice to this cake, but I had to post the recipe because it’s definitely one that I want to save so I can make it again. It’s a great special occasion cake!

(Happy birthday, Carrie! 🙂 )

a

a

(Adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s recipe in The Cake Bible)

 a

(print the recipe)

 a

6 large egg yolks (112 g) (Save 3 of the egg whites for the frosting.)

1 cup milk (242 g), divided

2¼ tsp. vanilla (9 g)

3 cups sifted cake flour (300 g) (I did not sift it.)

1½ cups + 1 Tbsp. maple sugar (300 g)

1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. baking powder (19.5 g)

¾ tsp. salt (5 g)

12 Tbsp. (1½ sticks) softened unsalted butter (170 g)

a

Two 9” x 1½” cake pans, greased, bottoms lined with parchment paper, and then greased again

 a

1. Preheat oven to 350˚.

2. Lightly mix the yolks, ¼ cup milk, and vanilla together in a medium bowl.

3. Put the cake flour, maple sugar, baking powder, and salt in the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed for a few seconds to blend.

4. Add the butter and ¾ cup milk to the bowl. Mix on low speed until blended, and then mix on medium speed for 1½ minutes. (Rose recommends high speed, if you’re using a hand mixer.)

 a

a

5. Scrape the batter down into the pan.

6. Add 1/3 of the egg mixture and beat on medium for 20 seconds. Add the next third; beat for 20 seconds. Add the final third and beat for 20 seconds.

a

a

7. Divide the batter between the 2 prepared cake pans, spreading it out evenly.

8. Bake 25 – 35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the cake bounces back when lightly touched in the center. (30 minutes was perfect in my oven.)

9. Cool on cake racks in the pans for about 10 minutes.

a

10. Remove the cake from the pans and cool the layers on the cake racks. Cool completely before frosting with the Maple Buttercream Frosting.

 a

Maple Buttercream Frosting

(Adapted from a recipe in Cupcakes: Luscious bakeshop favorites from your home kitchen, by Shelly Kaldunski)

 a

3 large egg whites

¾ cup maple sugar

Pinch of salt

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, at room temperature

 a

1. In a large, heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites and maple sugar. Place the bowl over, but not touching, simmering water in a pan. Whisk the mixture constantly until it reaches 160˚, which takes about 2 minutes.

2. Remove the bowl from the pan and beat on high speed for about 6 minutes, until the egg whites are fluffy and hold stiff peaks.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the salt, and add the butter a few pieces at a time. Beat until it is smooth and creamy.

(This didn’t happen to me, but Ms. Kaldunski says that if the frosting separates or becomes “liquidy”, you can remedy it by beating on high speed for 3-5 minutes more. It should become creamy.)

Yes, the cake is a little lopsided….that didn’t affect the taste! 🙂