Maple-Pumpkin Spice Cake
A nice spice cake is the perfect accompaniment for an afternoon tea, or even a birthday celebration. I made this one for a lab birthday and really liked it. I tried to put candied walnuts in between the layers, which unfortunately proved disasterous to the structural integrity of the cake, next time I’ll just put them on top!
- 3 cups sifted cake flour, sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 tsp cake spice (mix of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice)
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 15 oz pure pumpkin (1 can)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Maple Extract
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2″ sides (even better, use Baker’s Joy).
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices except for nutmeg into large bowl. Grate nutmeg and add to other dry ingredients. Stir to mix well.
- Beat sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended with electric mixtuer, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add pumpkin, maple, and vanilla; beat until blended. Gradually add dry ingredients; beat just until incorporated.
- Divide batter between prepared pans.
- Bake cake until a skewer inserted into center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 30 minutes.
- Cool in pans ~20min. Finish cooling on wire rack.
- Frost with your choice of icing, a cream cheese frosting with maple flavoring is a nice touch. Decoration with candied nuts like pecans or walnuts adds a tasty texture.
