The making of this cinnamon sponge cake has taught me several things:
1. Brown butter frosting is pretty much the best thing ever
2. Autumnal flavours make for amazing cakes
3. Trying to smooth frosting over a cake with no gaps is virtually impossible and has confirmed that bake off is most definitely not in my future!
This bake was initially going to be a cinnamon bundt cake, until I realised point 1 above and decided it would be a travesty for that frosting to be restricted to a meagre glaze. Full on thick, creamy frosting is exactly what this cake needs.
If you’ve never cooked or baked with brown butter before, get on it immediatley (seriously, go!). If you’ve no idea what I’m on about, brown butter is just regular butter cooked in a pan until it starts to brown.
There’s nothing complicated about browning butter, but this simple process lends a sweet, nutty flavour to the butter that makes it amazing for anything from frying gnocchi to frosting a cake.
Paired with the warming spice of cinnamon, brown butter frosting provides a perfect balance of flavours: not too sweet, not too heavy. This really is autumn flavours at their absolute best and is perfect with a steaming hot mug of tea!
Ingredients
- 300g plain flour, sifted
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 and a 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 300g butter, softened
- 250g light brown sugar
- 50ml maple syrup
- 6 eggs, beaten
- 300g unsalted butter
- 500g icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170c. Grease two 9 inch round cake tins. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon to a bowl and mix.
- In a separate large bowl beat the softened butter until smooth. Add the brown sugar a little at a time and continue beating until light and fluffy.
- Add the maple syrup and about a third of the egg mixture, along with around a third of the dry ingredients. Gently fold in. Repeat until all the flour and eggs have been folded in.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.
- To make the frosting, start by browning the butter. Cook the butter in a frying pan over a medium pan. Once it starts to froth, cook for another 5 minutes or so until the butter turns brown and begins to smell nutty.
- If you prefer a smoother looking frosting, pass the melted butter through a fine mesh strainer then allow to cool. Otherwise, just set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Once the browned butter is no longer liquid, but is still soft, whisk together until smooth.Gradually beat in the icing sugar, a bit at a time. Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, if the frosting becomes too thick.
I think autumn baking is my favourite too – I just do it all year round!
Gisforgingers xx
This cake looks so good! I am going to try this recipe next time I bake 🙂
-Jenna <3
Check out my blog! The Chic Cupcake
Actually salivating!
This cake is delicious. I’ve made it several times, twice as an alternative to sponge birthday cake. I sprinkled some grated dark chocolate on top just on the edge. It’s a firm favourite here. I love your blogs.
Hi Pat, thanks for your kind words – so happy to hear you’ve made & enjoyed this recipe. Definitely going to have to try this with dark chocolate now!!
I don’t think I’ve done it right :'(
I was so excited as my partner loves cinnamon cakes but mines been in the oven over half an hour and it’s still liquid??? Help please!
Hi Jess, sorry to hear that – whilst different ovens may take slightly different times, it definitely shouldn’t still be liquid after 30 mins. Did you pre-heat your oven and divide the mixture into two 9 inch round tins?
Made this cake this weekend and while the flavor was nice, it seemed to bake up rather dry/tough and it has me wondering if I did something wrong. The batter was very thick – not pourable. Almost the consistency of a buttercream frosting. Does that seem normal? Admittedly, I did change one thing, and that was using cake flour instead of AP (same weight of course), but that should have yielded a more tender cake I’d think. In any event, I’m keeping this one to try again!
Sorry to hear that Damian – you’re right, cake flour should be OK to use without making it dry. It may be that the batter has been overmixed, or maybe it was baked for a little too long (ovens can vary quite a lot so maybe try a shorter time?) Hope you manage to get this recipe to work for you next time!
Hello, do you think this recipe would work with honey or golden syrup in place of the maple syrup? Thanks
Yep, should be fine to use either of those instead!
I think the recipe is wrong, in so far as, I think it should have just 1 teaspoon (tsp) baking powder instead of 1 tablespoon (tbsp). First attempt, the raising agent went wild and just created a liquid cake. Second attempt with self-raising flour (instead of plain) and just 1 teaspoon (tsp) baking powder (no bicarb) made an excellent sponge. I made an orange and cream cheese frosting which went down well.
Hi Angela, self-raising flour usually has the equivalent of around 1/2-1 tsp baking powder per 100g so swapping in self raising flour & reducing baking powder should give broadly the same result. I tend to use plain flour but appreciate it means more ingredients! Glad to hear you got a good sponge in the end, and that frosting sounds like it would go perfectly!
Can you add the conversions for grams to cups?
Hi, I always weigh my ingredients so don’t have the measurements in cups I’m afraid. There are lots of conversion charts online though – this one is quite comprehensive: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
Hope that helps!