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.

A tantalising glimpse of my behind...

...the scenes cake.
Perhaps that's a rather odd title for a cake, but, to some at least, it may sound a bit more appealing than plain old "lemon cake with lemon cheesecake icing".

 

Behind-the-scenes cake

 

Allow me to explain why I'm calling it "behind-the-scenes cake"....

A good quote that I came across recently reads as follows:

"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel"

It is certainly true that, in the world of social media, we like to put our best foot forward, to project success, and to share our "highlight reel" with the world. When we blog, tweet or update our status, on some level, we're really engaging in a form of self-promotion, from the "#humble brag" to out-and-out, unashamed gloating. Am I wrong? For my part, I've censored any perceived "#baking fails", and generally only blogged about "successful" items I've baked (i.e. things that I think look pretty, professional and inviting), but times they are a-changin'. In the past, I might have omitted the above cake on the basis that it's quite ugly, but now, here I am exposing it to you. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you that it does taste delicious - really moist and tangy, and the mascarpone, cheesecake filling with lemon pulp is lovely. I used a Mary Berry recipe which was featured in a BBC masterclass. You can find it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/whole_lemon_cake_with_40866

The recipe says to use four free-range eggs, but it doesn't specify whether to use small, medium or large eggs. With my new-found confidence in tweaking recipes and making bold, big-girl baking decisions for myself (see blog below), I decided to throw in an extra egg (I used five medium eggs). This seemed to work well. I also substituted butter for margarine. Is there no stopping me now? 

To make the cake look more pretty, professional and inviting, I would recommend sifting the fondant icing sugar before adding the lemon juice. This will result in a smoother, glossy finish without unsightly lumps. 

 

 As you can see from this cross-section, my sponge layers aren't very even, as a I made a bit of a hash of slicing each sponge in half. I think I'll use a serrated knife next time.

Anyway, I hope you haven't objected to me exposing my lumpy, behind-the-scenes bits with you. Let's hope it doesn't count as over-sharing.