If you have maple syrup, make this maple cake, a single layer maple-flavoured cake baked in a square cake pan made with maple syrup, maple sugar, and maple flakes!
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What You Need to Bake a Maple Cake
- butter—I bake with unsalted butter. If you want to use salted butter, please adjust the amount of salt in the recipe to avoid making the dessert too salty
- sugar—since this is a maple cake, you will need both maple sugar and maple syrup for this cake
- eggs—I bake with large eggs exclusively. If you use a different size of eggs, this will have an impact on the texture of the cake
- flour—I bake with bleached all-purpose flour. Unbleached will work but will have an impact on the texture of the cake
- leavening—you will need both baking powder and baking soda for this cake. Read about the difference between baking soda and baking powder if you are unsure
- salt—I developed this recipe with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. Add half the amount if you bake with regular table salt.
- cinnamon—the ground cinnamon is optional but creates a lovely flavour with the maple syrup
- yogurt—I tested this recipe with 2 % plain yogurt and also 3.25 % plain yogurt. Please avoid using fat-free yogurt.
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Maple syrup—there aren't great substitutes for maple syrup because it's unique flavour. Do not use maple-flavoured pancake syrup, which is an imitation product that doesn't compare to the real thing.
- Maple sugar is hard to find in some areas. You can use brown sugar (light or dark) instead.
- Yogurt—you can replace the yogurt with sour cream, even low-fat would work fine here.
- Maple extract—you can add imitation maple extract to the cake batter to reinforce the maple flavour
- Spices—I love the combination of maple and cinnamon, but feel free to skip the cinnamon if you prefer. Or try another spice, like ginger!
How It's Made
Step 1—Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 1) then mix them until creamy before adding the eggs, one at a time (image 2). Add the maple syrup (image 3). The mixture will look curdled.
Step 2—Whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (image 4), then add the dry ingredients, one-third at a time (image 5), alternating with the yogurt (half at a time) (image 6). The butter will be thick and light after you've mixed in the last of the flour (image 7).
Step 3—Transfer the maple cake batter to your prepared 9x9 cake pan (image 8) and bake until the edges are golden brown (image 9) and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Serving Suggestions
I have served this maple cake plain with vanilla bean ice cream or you can also make this maple whipped cream frosting. This homemade maple butter would also make a great topping for this cake, or this white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
If you tried this recipe for the best maple cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Maple Cake
Ingredients
- 185 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 2.5 mL baking powder
- 2.5 mL baking soda
- 2.5 mL ground cinnamon
- 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 75 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 grams maple sugar or brown sugar
- 2 large egg(s) room temperature
- 190 mL pure maple syrup medium or dark
- 250 mL yogurt (2 % fat) I don't recommend fat free
Serving suggestions
- maple whipped cream or vanilla ice cream
- maple flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
- Prepare a 9-inch square metal pan (23x23-cm) by buttering the bottom and sides. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside for later.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the brown sugar.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition, and scraping the sides as necessary. The batter may look a little curdled. That’s okay.
- Add the maple syrup and mix again. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Stir in one third of the dry ingredients, then mix until just incorporated before adding half the yogurt. Mix again and scrape the bowl as needed. Continue with another third of the dry and the other half of the dairy, and end with the last third of the dry ingredients, mixing and scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. The cake will also pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely in the pan before serving.
Notes
- I baked this cake in a non-stick pan so I didn't have to flour it. If you are baking in a regular aluminum cake pan, you may want to butter and flour the pan to ensure the cake doesn't stick. Parchment paper on the bottom also helps.
- Maple sugar can be hard to find in some areas. You can replace it with light or dark brown sugar
- Please use real maple syrup for this recipe. Do not use maple-flavoured pancake syrup which is corn syrup. It will not taste as good!
- Opt for medium or dark maple syrup. Don't use light because the flavour is too mild for baking with.
- If using regular table salt in place of the fine kosher salt, add half the amount to avoid the cake being overly salty.
Reece says
This cake (with Buttercream, maple cinnamon icing) got me first place in the work bake of 6 consecutive times until i was band from entering it.
Thank you for the recipe. and Thank you for the memories this as made for us all in the office!
We ALL love it
Fredman says
You refer to evaporated milk in the instructions but none mentioned in list
of ingredients...
Janice says
I recently changed it for yogurt because most people don't have evaporated milk on hand (like me!). Must have forgotten to update the directions. Good catch!
Spice Sherpa says
You'd think by March I'd be tired of maple and cinnamon: two quintessential autumn flavors. No Way!! This looks delicious. And actually, I take that back--maple syrup is all about spring. 🙂