It feels like it’s been ages since I made an iced sponge cake; it’s something we enjoy mid-afternoon with a cuppa. I recently replenished the stock of dried fruits and nuts in my pantry so I decided to bake a pecan sponge layer cake with maple syrup buttercream frosting.
During lockdown I couldn’t get my hands on any flour, so I stocked up on different types that I bought online direct from Shipton Mill. One was their soft cake and pastry flour; the consistency of the cake was much lighter as a result. I won’t be going back to plain old self-raising in a hurry!
Pecans are probably my favourite nuts to cook with however, you can try this recipe using walnuts or brazils instead.
I have a very sweet tooth, so the amount of frosting suits my taste. If you think it’s too much, you could always use 100 grams each of butter and icing sugar and 50ml of maple syrup.
It’s pretty much the best cake we’ve had in a long time, lovely with coffee or tea.
- 175g/6oz butter, softened
- 175g/6oz caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 175g/6oz self-raising flour, sifted
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 50g/1¾oz pecans
- 300g/ icing (powdered) sugar, sifted
- 150g/ butter, softened
- 100ml maple syrup
- 8 pecan halves
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/Gas mark 3
- Grease & line two 18cm/7-inch round cake tins
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter & sugar until light and fluffy
- In a measuring jug, whisk the eggs and mix in the vanilla extract
- Add the eggs, bit by bit, into the butter/sugar mixture stirring constantly
- Carefully fold in the flour in 3 or 4 rounds, trying not to lose the airiness in the mixture
- Chop the pecans, fairly finely, and carefully fold them into the mixture
- Divide the batter equally between the two prepared cake tins, gently levelling the tops with the back of a spoon
- Place them on the centre shelf and bake for 30 minutes or until the tops have turned golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes away clean
- Put the cakes, still in their tins, on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then, remove them from the tins, peel off the parchment liners and allow to cool completely
- Combine the softened butter and icing sugar
- Stir in the maple syrup until the mixture is light and fluffy
- Set aside while the cake layers cool completely
- Use about a ⅓ of the frosting to sandwich the two cakes together
- Spread the rest on the top and sides of the sandwiched layers and stud the top with the 8 pecan halves
- Instead of self-raising, I used cake flour to which I added 2 tsps baking powder