Depending on the grade of maple syrup used, this cake can have a rich, nutty quality similar to brown butter (it smells almost like nuts toasting in your oven when baking) or a light and sweet quality that serves to only compliment the chocolate.
With a surprising number of quality (and affordable) maple syrups on the market, this recipe can surprise you each time you make it if you’re feeling a little adventurous or remain a tried and true recipe to hold onto forever.
This cake is shown with 7-Minute Maple Frosting
CandiAnne’s Note: We were stationed at Fort Drum, NY for 4 1/2 years and maple weekend is a huge thing there. You can visit numerous producers, taste their wares, and grab some syrup or other goodies on your way out. In 2007 while visiting the various producers I picked up a bunch of recipe pages on all sorts of categories that were put out by Eat Smart New York which is part of the Cornell Cooperative Extension. These pages were funded by them and the USDA Food Stamp Program.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Lightly oil and line 2 8' inch cake pans.
- Sift together both flours, baking soda, salt and chocolate powder. Stir in brown sugar. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix oil, water, honey, cider vinegar and vanilla until blended together. (about a minute in a stand mixer at medium speed)
- Add dry ingredients to mixer and combine in 3 increments, stopping to scrape the bowl after each addition. Mix at medium speed for roughly 5 minutes all together.
- Divide the batter between the two prepped pans and bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick pulls clean from each cake.
- Allow to cool roughly 10 minutes before removing from pans and frosting.
Notes
- I tested 3 different grades of maple syrup for this recipe and found I liked Grade A (formerly Medium Amber) in particular. This provided enough flavor without over powering the other ingredients in the recipe or altering the texture. This grade also seems to be the most accessible via your local grocery store. This is a perfect grade to keep on hand in your pantry in my opinion. You can use it for not only baking but glazing and other cooking methods. Of course, a more robust flavor can be found by venturing upward in the grade (grade b or c) but medium amber seems to be the best starting point for the world of maple syrup.