–CAKE–
1 3/4 c Walnuts, toasted; coarsely
-chopped
2 1/4 c Cake flour
1 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Salt
1 1/4 c Unsalted butter; room
-temperature
1 1/4 c Sugar
5 lg Eggs
1/2 c Pure maple syrup
3/4 ts Maple flavoring
1/2 ts Vanilla
-GLAZE-
1/4 c Unsalted butter
2 tb Pure maple syrup
2 tb Whipping cream
6 tb Powdered sugar
12 Walnut halves
For cake: Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan.
Finely grind the walnuts in a food processor. (Be careful not to turn nuts
into a paste!). Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light
and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in
maple syrup, maple flavoring and vanilla (batter may looked curdled). Mix
in dry ingredients. Fold in ground walnuts.
Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake cake until top is golden and
tester inserted near the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer
pan to a rack; cool cake 10 inutes. Using a small knife, cut around sides
and center of pan to loosen cake. Turn cake out onto the rack and cool
completely.
Can be prepared 2 days ahead (without glaze). Wrap tightly in foil and
store at room temperature.
For glaze. Melt butter with maple syrup and cream in a heavy small
saucepan. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Cool
glaze until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Drizzle glaze over pound
cake. Arrange walnut halves decoratively o n top of cake. Let cake stand
until glaze sets, about 15 minutes.
Yields
12 Servings