Maple Walnut Cake

This Maple Walnut Cake is a moist, single layer cake that's studded with toasted walnuts and topped with a smooth and creamy maple cream cheese frosting. It's perfect for your holiday dessert table this year!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake, layer cake, maple, walnut

Servings: servings

Calories: 471kcal

Ingredients

Cake

1/2 cup walnuts
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. maple extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Maple Frosting

1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. maple extract
pinch of salt

Instructions

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add your walnuts to a large sheet pan in an even layer. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool before chopping and then set aside.
Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and cooled chopped walnuts until well combined. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand), combine the butter and brown sugar and beat until smooth. Add the eggs, maple syrup and both extracts and mix until well combined, followed by the sour cream.
Gently stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, banging the pan 2-3 times on your counter to release an air bubbles, then smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, the cream cheese, 2 cups confectioners' sugar, vanilla and maple extracts and salt on low until combined, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and beat for 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Wait until cake is cooled before frosting.

Notes

I like to toast my walnuts before adding them to the batter to give them a deeper, richer flavor.

This cake has a generous amount of frosting, as you can tell from the photos. We go big or go home when we frost our cakes here at the BHK.

Bake your cake for roughly 25-30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Nutrition