Maple cake - simple and delicious

When I started blogging, a good eight years ago, there were several ingredients I saw in my foreign cookbooks that I could not find here in Brazil, and some were too expensive – so I kept some recipes in the back of my head for a long time, just waiting for an opportunity to try them someday.

Things have changed and now many ingredients have become available here, and some of the prices have dropped a bit, too. The two times I visited NYC I brought home huge bottles of maple syrup for it was very expensive here and not easy to find, but lately I’ve seen it everywhere for a more affordable price – I even brought home a small bottle since the ones from NY are long gone.

This cake is delicious and it was a great way of using my precious maple syrup – I wasn’t too keen on the icing, though, for I thought it was too sweet. I would definitely make this cake again, but I’d serve it with a dusting of icing sugar and nothing more.

Maple cake
from the delicious Martha Stewart's Cakes: Our First-Ever Book of Bundts, Loaves, Layers, Coffee Cakes, and more

Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ½ cups (350g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (180ml) maple syrup
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (180ml) sour cream*

Icing:
1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup, plus more if needed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 ½ cups (350g) confectioners' sugar, plus more if needed

Make the cake: preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 23cm (9in) round cake, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter it as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, maple syrup, and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; mix in vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of sour cream; beat until just combined. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 25 minutes. Turn out cake onto rack to cool completely.

Icing: combine maple syrup and butter in a bowl. Sift in confectioners’ sugar, and whisk until combined. Adjust consistency with more syrup or sugar, if necessary. Spread maple icing over top of cake. Let set, at least 15 minutes, before serving.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 8-10