Grace – Twitter The Print Makers Bakery
Grace – Instagram The Print Makers Bakery
Word and photos by Grace

I’m a big fan of Martha Stewart and this is one of many recipes of her’s that I have stolen. This cake is brilliant and I was very proud of it when I had a little slither to taste. The first time I made this cake, I followed the recipe and used the similar sized baking tin, this was great for small bite sized squares. However the second time I gave this recipe a go, I got out my Bundt tin which I’d have any excuse to use. This second attempt was a little bit chubby, but it still tasted delicious. So whether its a square tray-bake tin or a 2.5 litre Bundt tin, this recipe is perfect if you fancy something sweet; the maple syrup is graded by its colour, the darker the colour the more intense the flavour. The syrup goes in both the batter and the icing making it doubly delicious and you’ll always be left with the feeling of wanting more.

Ingredients:

• 225g of unsalted butter
• 100g of caster sugar
• 380g of plain flour
• 2 tsp of baking baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 170ml of maple syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 170ml of sour cream

For the icing:

• 400g of full fat cream cheese
• 50g of unsalted butter, softened
• 50ml of maple syrup

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and line a 9 inch square baking tin, dust with flour and tap out any excess.
• In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
• In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and maple syrup until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of flour after each one to prevent curdling. Then beat in the vanilla extract.
• Add flour in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of sour cream, beat until just well combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth top with a spatula.
• Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
• Once cooked, leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool.

Making the icing:

• Measure the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and maple syrup into a bowl and whisk using a hand or electric whisk until smooth and thoroughly blended.
• Smooth over the icing with a spatula with swirl look.