Maple Cake Recipe - Lauren's Latest (2024)

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Need a simple, delicious and unique cake that will blow your mind? Try my Easy Maple Cake! Made with simple pantry ingredients, real maple syrup and maple extract, baked low and slow to keep it soft and drizzled with a sweet and creamy maple glaze and topped with walnuts. It’s pure heaven.

Amazing Maple Cake | Typical Canadian Girl Recipe

Do you like maple cake? Growing up in Canada with a mother that taught me exactly what good (and bad!) maple syrup was AND having taken several trips to Upper Canada Village in elementary school, I am a bit of a maple snob. There is good maple and bad maple.

Good maple = Tim Horton’s maple bars.

Bad maple = any other maple bars.

Good maple = Maple Leaf Cookies (by Dare)

Bad maple = any other maple leaf cookies

Do you see? I’m clearly an expert/sarcasm.

Maple Cake

What does this good maple/bad maple talk have to do with this Easy Maple Cake? Well friends, because I’m such a maple snob, I solemnly swear to never steer you in the wrong direction. The secret is getting the right kind of maple syrup and the right kind of maple extract….if you’re wanting to be snobby about it. These are optional steps, but ones I recommend.

Maple Syrup: whether you’re eating pancakes, waffles or making a maple cake, always always always use 100% real maple syrup. I love Kirkland Signature’s Real Maple Syrup because it’s inexpensive, 100% pure and Grade A Amber which is the best in quality, color and taste (in my opinion).

Maple Extract/Flavoring: a lot of the maple extracts and flavorings can vary so much! Some of them are more maple-y than others! I used Kroger’s Imitation Maple Flavor for testing this recipe. It’s dark and is a great overall maple flavor. If you’re using a different brand, just note it might be slightly more or less maple-y.

Main Ingredients Needed

The beauty of this Maple Cake recipe is it calls for lots of basic pantry ingredients. You might need to get some maple extract, but besides that everything else is pretty darn common.

• Canola or Vegetable Oil– I love the texture and moisture oil brings to this cake.
• Granulated Sugar– for sweetness for the cake!
• Vanilla + Maple Extract – vanilla adds depth of flavor to the maple extract and both are very complimentary of each other in this cake.
• Real Maple Syrup– used for a little sweetness and more maple flavor.
• Low Fat Sour Cream– helps give moisture to the cake.
• Milk– thins out the sour cream and helps give a more tender crumb to the cake.
• All purpose Flour– I use unbleached but bleached works just as well, too. Use what you have.
• Baking Powder + Baking Soda– both are needed for leavening.
• Salt– helps offset all that sweet and helps all the flavors pop and become more distinct.
• Powdered Sugar + Heavy Cream– used for the glaze with a little more maple extract.
• Walnuts– optional, but I love the crunch they add. Walnuts and maple are really good buddies in the food world and I like using them together.

How to Make Maple Cake

This is a relatively simple recipe to follow. As long as you grease your bundt pan really well, you should have success. This is the bundt pan I used and it worked great sprayed with Pam.

1. Mix oil, sugar, vanilla, maple extract and eggs together until combined in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. In small bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk and maple syrup.
3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
4. With mixer on low, alternate milk mixture with dry ingredients until everything is just incorporated. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and mix briefly to ensure batter is evenly mixed.
5. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cool in the pan 15 minutes. Carefully remove cake from pan onto cooling rack.
7. For the icing, whisk powdered sugar, maple extract and heavy cream together until thick and smooth.
8. Drizzle over top of cake and down the sides. Top with chopped walnuts. Serve.

Love Cake? Try These Other Recipes:

• Italian Cream Cake
• Vanilla Cake Recipe**- Reader Favorite!
• Family-Favorite Coconut Cake
• Funfetti Cake– made this for my daughter’s birthday…so fun!
• Apple Coffee Cake– a simple, old-fashioned dessert

So, there you have it! A delicious and simple Maple Cake for not a lot of work. It’s one of my very favorite cakes I’ve made the entire year…probably because the maple flavor just reminds me of home.

Enjoy, friends! Have a great day!