Maple and Pecan Cake



untouched 2-layer Maple and Pecan Cake
 

On bank holiday Monday, I made this layer cake using the Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days" app. For those of you who own this, the recipe can be found under the "birthdays and celebrations" tab. I used two thirds of the prescribed quantities to make two layers rather than three which is plenty big enough if you ask me! I think I'd only do three layers if I was making this for a particular special occasion and planning to serve it to lots of guests, but as I was making it as more of an "every day" cake, two layers was ample. I've made this cake before to share during my final lesson with some Year 13 students and, on that occasion, the recipe turned out perfectly. For some reason, when I made it this time, the cake needed much longer than the suggested time in the oven though (in fact, I removed it, turned it out of the tin, scratched my head, then put it back in its tin, then back in the oven for another 20 minutes). The finished outcome was quite good, if a little too sickly for my taste (thank goodness that I didn't add an extra layer!). Not sure I'll be making this one again in a hurry, not least because the icing sugar goes absolutely everywhere when you make the buttercream. It took me the best part of 2 hours to clean up behind myself. Anyone got a solution to this problem?!

Ingredients (for 2 tiered version):
For the sponge:
80g unsalted butter/stork (I used the latter)
267g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
240ml whole milk
40ml maple syrup
2 large eggs
67g chopped pecans

For the frosting:
160g unsalted butter
500g icing sugar
40ml whole milk
1 tsp maple syrup
10 pecan halves for decorating

Method:
For the sponge:
1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, grease and line the two 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment.

2) To make the sponge, mix the butter/stork with the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt until the batter reaches a sandy, crumb-like consistency.

3) In a jug, mix together the eggs, maple syrup and whole milk. With the mixer/whisk on a low speed setting, pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and beat until everything is incorporated. Stir in the chopped pecans by hand. Hint - don't worry that the batter seems quite liquid - it is supposed to be like this).

4) Divide the batter between the two lined tins, place in the centre of the oven and bake until the sponges are golden and springy. A skewer inserted in the middle of the sponges should come out clean. Hint - this may take longer than 30 mins. Leave in the tins for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

For the frosting:
1) Mix the butter and icing together until fully combined and sandy in texture. In a jug, combine the milk and syrup, then pour this into the butter and icing sugar mixture. Beat until light and fluffy.

2) Assemble the cake using a palette knife to smooth the frosting over the first layer of the cake and to cover the layer cake.