Weekly Bake Off: Maple Syrup Cake

Another week, another weekly bake off challenge. I was not planning to join in due to time constraints but when I saw the choice was a Maple Syrup Cake, I just had to!  I love maple syrup and I've made a similar cake with carrots which was a huge success.  Coincidentally, I was sent this lovely sample box from the people at Clark's so there really was no question about making this cake.

Its a lovely, tall 3 layer cake, so tall that it won't fit into my cake carrier! I'm not sure how to transport it now but I'll worry about that later. I've not had a chance to try the cake so I can't comment on the taste but the topping was very good :) I'm probably the only person that slices into a cake before giving it away so I can photograph it for my blog! I felt it would have been rude to eat a slice as well so I will update you tomorrow on the taste.

*Update: I've decided to slice the cake and bring it to work on a tray.  It does say to keep in the fridge and there's no way the whole cake will fit plus I still had the transport problem.  It does not look as nice but hopefully it will taste good enough!  It also meant that I could sneak a cheeky piece and can now tell you what I think. The maple syrup is quite subtle in the cake. It's a moist and rich sponge with good flavours from the pecan.  I may add a little orange juice next time and possibly more maple syrup. The whipped cream filling and topping goes well with the cake as a buttercream frosting would have been too much. *

 the sliced up cake! 

 assembling the layers 

 spread the cream between the layers...

 

 ...and on top and around the sides to make a super tall cake! 

 

Recipe from Mary Berry's Cakes and Bakes page 19

For the cake 
225g butter
225g light muscovado sugar
zest of 1 orange
4 eggs
100ml maple syrup
350g self raising flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
50g pecan nuts, chopped

For the filling and topping
450ml double cream
2 tablespoon maple syrup (I used a little extra as I couldn't quite taste the maple syrup)
zest of 1 orange

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Lightly grease and line 3 x 20cm cake tins (Mary suggests using a deep 20cm cake tin and slice the cake in 3 but I just used 3 small tins)
• Put all the ingredients for the cake except the pecan nuts into a large bowl and mix well.
• Stir in the chopped pecan nuts. 
• Spoon into the cake tins and bake for about 20-25mins (longer if using only 1 tin).
• Allow to cool slightly then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. 
• For the filling and topping, whip the cream until it just holds its shape and then add in the maple syrup. 
• Fill and cover the cake with cream as shown.
• Decorate the top with orange zest.
• Store in the refrigerator. 

Thank you Clark's for providing the maple syrup.