Maple Pecan Crumb Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love baking cakes for birthdays. To me the fun thing about cooking, though, is trying new things and being creative; therefore making a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting for every celebration isn't my forte. After so many years of baking and dozens of birthdays, it does get challenging to be creative and come up with something new.

This was the first time I made this cake and I have made it twice in the past week. Once for my friend whose birthday is New Years Day, and once for my manager who recently had a birthday as well. I tweaked it the second time around to make it even better, but still I received rave reviews from everyone who tried it on both occasions.

 "M" for Maggie, my favorite New Years baby

For the boss, we have a dusting of candied pecans and cinnamon sugar because I didn't have time to create a "B". (Sorry Brendan!)




The cake is extra delicious because the batter is made with buttermilk and brown sugar. The buttermilk makes it super moist and tender, and the brown sugar is the perfect match for maple and pecan. A cream cheese frosting with a hint of maple on this cake is a match made in heaven, and when you sprinkle the top with candied pecans you become at a loss of words worthy of describing this masterpiece....

The first time I made this cake, as seen above,  (pardon my somewhat messy frosting job, I am no professional cake decorator), I did not include the crumb center. I added it the second time because my colleague's favorite treat I had made was crumb cake so I figured it would be a perfect addition. I might just have to make it again for Maggie so she can experience it!

Also, the first time around I added chopped pecans to the batter and the second time I omitted them because I knew a few of my colleagues weren't huge fans of nuts. That step is totally optional but I have left it out of the recipe below.

This recipe is honestly perfect. It's flavorful and unique and reminds you of something Grandma would make.






Maple Pecan Crumb Cake w/ Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
For cake:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup), melted
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
For crumb filling:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 stick (chilled) butter, cut into pieces
For frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick softened butter (1/4 cup)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking grease.
• Mix together flour, sugars, baking soda and salt until combined.
• In a separate bowl, mix buttermilk, melted butter, maple syrup and vanilla. 
• Gently stir wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared pans. 
• For streusel filling, mix together flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt and butter. Use your hands to break butter pieces down until it's crumbly. Top one of the cakes with the streusel (you probably won't use it all). 
• Bake in preheated oven for 27-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake with the streusel may take a minute longer than the other one. Let cakes cool completely on a cooling rack. 
• To prepare frosting, beat the cream cheese, butter and syrup and until completely combined and light. Scrape the edge of the bowl and slowly beat in the powdered sugar. 
• To prepare the cake, frost the bottom of the non-streusel cake and flip it on the streusel cake, so the cake middle will have both frosting and streusel. Frost the outside of the cake.
• Top with cinnamon sugar and candied pecans to serve.