Have you seen those maple cream cookies at the store lately? The first time I saw them I was in Canada and I was totally bummed when I couldn’t find them anywhere in the US. I had to buy them from Amazon! This year was different because I found them at Aldi without even having to look. I also saw an advertisement for them at Earth Fare! 
These yummy maple cream cookies have been my inspiration for my Christmas dessert this year. I was looking through recipes online and came across Martha Stewart’s Maple Cake Recipe and thought that this looked like the best one to try. It was very easy to whip up and uses maple syrup in both the cake batter and the frosting to make it taste just like the cookie.
Decorating the cake was the most fun part (besides eating it of course). I have always wanted to try a naked cake as I think they are very unique looking. I also wanted to go for a natural looking cake to create a winter scene. I used rosemary sprigs for trees, snowmen cookies and the icing to create a snowy scene. 
The tools you will need to bake and decorate this cake are as follows:
- Spoon Spatula
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Hand Mixer
to make sure the ingredients are incorporated
- Round Cake Pans for baking
- Mixing Bowls
Serrated Spatula
for cutting the tops and sides and icing the cake
- Angled Spatula
for icing the difficult edges of the cake
- And if you want to get fancy get a Cake Turntable
to make the cutting and icing super easy!
to make sure the ingredients are incorporated
for cutting the tops and sides and icing the cake
for icing the difficult edges of the cake
to make the cutting and icing super easy!Maple Cream Cake
Ingredients for the cake
- 1 1/2 cup butter, unsalted at room temperature
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/8 cup sour cream
Ingredients for the frosting
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 c butter, unsalted and softened
- 5-6 cups confectioners sugar
- Optional decoration: 2-3 sprigs of rosemary and snowman cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 3 x 8 inch round cake pans (I only had 2 pans so I had to make 2 batches)
- In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
- With an electric mixer on medium speed beat together butter, maple syrup and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes
- Add eggs 1 at a time and beat in between to combine and then mix in vanilla
- Reduce mixer to low and add flour in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of sour cream in between
- Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes
- To make the icing combine maple syrup and butter in a bowl. Whisk in confectioners sugar until combined and adjust consistency with maple syrup or sugar
- Once the cake is cooled place 1 cake with top side down on a flat surface. Ice the top of this cake and top with the second cake with flat side down. Using a serrated cake knife, cut the top off of the second cake to make it flat and cut the edges of the cake to make them flush with each other
- Ice the top of the cake and add a little to the sides (mostly to the middle of the cake) and using a cake icing angled spatula spread the icing out making sure the heaviest icing remains at the top and the middle of the cake allowing the cake color and texture to show through the sides
- Add 2-3 sprigs of rosemary facing straight up to look like trees and a few snowman cookies to the top of the cake to create the winter scene