Bready or Not: Maple Sugar Cake: A Clockwork Dagger recipe
Originally published at BethCato.com. You can comment here or there.
Maple is one of my favorite flavors. It’s also a flavor that is often mentioned in my Clockwork Dagger books, especially in connection with the northern kingdom of Frengia.
My new Clockwork Dagger novella “Wings of Sorrow and Bone” follows an important minor character from Clockwork Crown: Rivka. Her mother was Frengian and a baker, and teenaged Rivka is also a baker when you meet her in the book.
“Wings of Sorrow and Bone” begins soon after the events in Clockwork Crown. Rivka now lives in Tamarania City with her grandmother. Instead of running a bakery, she is pursuing her dream of becoming a master mechanist… but maple-flavored goods are still a major subject of nostalgia. They make her think of her old home, and her mama.
I looked around online for recipes that I thought would suit the more rustic world of my books. I found a maple sugar cake recipe
at The Kitchy Kitchen and decided to make some adaptions. I wanted something that would work for gift-sized loaf cakes.
Maple sugar is the one extravagant ingredient, but it can now be bought for a decent price on Amazon.com-heck, you can even subscribe and get it cheaper! A little maple sugar goes a long way, too. It’s potent stuff.
The resulting cake is perfect for breakfast or a snack. You can sweeten it up to your preference. Make glaze with the recipe below, or eat it plain. Plus, it freezes and keeps for months! I used it as a handy breakfast loaf to thaw out for company.
This maple loaf cake has a role in the novella, too. Maybe you can go all meta and eat some cake as you read about the cake!
Bready or Not: Maple Sugar Cake: A Clockwork Dagger recipe
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This maple sugar loaf cake is featured in my Clockwork Dagger novella “Wings of Sorrow and Bone.” It’s great for breakfast or snack. Freeze the unglazed mini loaves and they keep for months. Recipe makes FOUR small loaves.
- For the loaf cake:
- 4 ounces unsalted butter (half cube), softened
- 1 1/2 cups maple sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
- Glaze for ONE small loaf:
- 1 cup powdered sugar (or powdered xylitol), sifted
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk of choice (more if needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon maple flavor or vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Prepare mini loaf pans (tin, stoneware, paper) by applying nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and gradually add the maple sugar. Beat until creamy; with a mixer, this takes about a minute. Add the beaten eggs and combine.
In a separate bowl, sift together the salt, baking soda, spices, and flour. Alternately add applesauce and dry ingredients to butter mixture. Once they are blended, fold the nuts into the batter. Distribute the batter among the pans; they should be about half full.
Bake for 25 to 30 minute, until a tester comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely. If they are in a tin or stoneware pan, remove them from the dish.
At this point, you can freeze the loaves wrapped in wax paper and plastic wrap or in a gallon bag.
If you want to eat them now, store at room temperature or in fridge. Serve with glaze (see recipe above) or topped with powdered sugar or even a small amount of maple syrup... or plain! Eat cold or warmed in microwave.
A loaf keeps for days if wrapped in the fridge. In the freezer, keeps for upward of six months.
OM NOM NOM!
