Pretty Nutty Cake

Maple and pecan is my favourite flavour combo like, ever. I've never had it in a cake before, so when I wanted to try out my new colour pastes and piping nozzles and found maple syrup and pecans in my cupboard, I thought i'd give it a go! The vanilla and maple syrup in the icing give it an amazing flavour, too.

This cake would look just as good without all the fancy icing, maybe just covered in buttercream with a handful of pecans in the middle. I made this a while back so the icing isn't great- but the taste was! I promise!

Cake Ingredients
755g caster sugar
150g brown sugar
225g softened butter
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
1-2 tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
200g pecan nuts, chopped

Maple Buttercream Ingredients
140g soft butter
280g sifted icing sugar
1-2tbs maple syrup (depending on consistency required)
1/2tsp vanilla

Method
(preheat oven to 180 Celsius, line a deep sandwich tin)

1. Cream together butter and sugar
2. Whisk in eggs one by one, then vanilla 1tbs maple syrup
3. Gradually sift in flour and baking powder
4. Add second tbs of maple syrup if needed for consistency
5. Stir in pecan nuts
6. Pour into baking tin and bake for 18-20 minutes or until pick comes out clean
7. Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes
8. Meanwhile, blend together all buttercream ingredients
9. Remove cake from tin and leave to fully cool
10. Ice cake with buttercream and serve with cups of tea!

Enjoy! :) x