Maple Syrup Cake

Maple syrup cake is a delicious cake with a taste of orange made using maple syrup. A perfect teatime treat.

Maple Syrup, it is like a splash of sunshine on a winters day. The soft amber colour and sweetness of taste brings sparkle to the everyday. Normally I serve it with porridge as a warming start to the day. My son would happily spoon bucketfuls over his porridge if I let him. I think he would dispense with the porridge and just eat the syrup. It is also lovely poured over pancakes, a decadent Sunday morning breakfast that reminds me of holidays in America.

Recently I was sent some Clarks Maple Syrup to try, there are a number of different syrups in the range. From Clarks Pure Canadian Maple Syrup, to Clarks Original Maple Syrup to ?Clarks Vanilla Maple Syrup blended with Carob Fruit Syrup, the range takes Maple Syrup to new heights. I decided I was going to try and incorporate the Maple Syrup in a cake and see how well it worked.

I have to say the cake worked really well, the sweetness of the maple syrup with a hint of orange zest was perfect. Unfortunately the icing failed. I had great plans to make a maple syrup icing. The idea was to whisk egg whites and add maple syrup making a meringue style icing that would compliment the cake perfectly. Sadly it became rather a sticky mess instead. I went for a backup plan and served the cake with custard instead. I have to say that was genius, the perfect dessert for a cold day.

If you are looking for some Clarks Maple Syrup you will find it in Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons and selected Nisa Stores. Clarks Pure Canadian Maple Syrup is RRP £3.40, Clarks Original Maple Syrup is RRP £1.98 and Clarks Vanilla Maple Syrup is RRP £2.10

Maple Syrup Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 225g (8 oz) butter
• 225g (8 oz) light soft brown sugar
• zest of 1 orange
• 4 eggs
• 100 ml (4 fl oz) maple syrup
• 350g (12 oz) self raising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon mixed spice
• 50g (2 oz) chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C, 325F Gas Mark 3.
2. Grease a 9 inch cake tin and line with baking parchment on the base.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until soft then add the eggs and maple syrup.
4. Add the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Mix until smooth
5. Stir in the walnuts
6. Bake in the oven for 1 – 1½ hours until it is springy to the touch and a
7. skewer in the centre comes out clean.

This would be nice with butter icing or just served with custard as I did.

Read more:

• Apricot Slices
• Gingerbread Loaf Recipe

Disclosure: I received some Clarks Maple Syrup to use in making a recipe.