Maple Butter Glazed Loaf Cake & Brown Sugar Custard

the ultimate beige on beige pudding

This season of my Substack newsletter might as well be renamed ‘things to eat with custard’. Apologies in advance if you’re not a custard lover, (although why wouldn’t you be?!) but as soon as it’s time to think about what recipe I want to develop for you, nine times out of ten, my starting question is ‘what would go well with custard?’.

The last newsletter featured a hot chocolate sponge with chocolate chai custard, and today we’re leaning into all the shades of beige with an easy one bowl loaf cake. The batter includes a trio of wonderful things - brown butter, maple syrup and sour cream, and once out of the oven, it’s covered with a hot maple syrup butter for an addictively sticky glaze. It’s a bit of a riff on my Everyday Cake, the trusty recipe I turn to when I need simple cake, quickly. I serve this version thickly sliced and drenched in my brown sugar custard, which made its first appearance in my second cookbook, A Good Day to Bake. It’s a silky, creamy, caramel-y accompaniment and cleverly enhances all the maple syrup notes from the cake. But if you’re not in the mood to make your own, then a tin of Ambrosia’s finest or a tub of M&S Madagascan vanilla will also hit the spot.

Embrace the beige this weekend and make this.

Enjoy,

Benjamina x

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COMING UP ON SWEET THINGS

I’m so excited to be putting together a big fat foodie gift guide for the festive season! It should help to give you some inspo for what to gift all of your food loving friends and family. (Or yourself).

There’ll be plenty of gems from smaller, independent brands with everything from edible gifts, tableware, ceramics, kitchen equipment and more to suit every budget. Keep your eyes peeled!

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MAPLE BUTTER GLAZED LOAF CAKE WITH BROWN SUGAR CUSTARD

Not all maple syrups are the same and if you look at what’s available on supermarket shelves, you may notice bottles come in 4 different categories - golden, amber, dark and very dark. For baking, dark or very dark is what I’d go for. They give the most pronounced maple flavour that doesn’t get lost in the cooking process. For things like drizzling on pancakes, I’d use amber.

Try and avoid maple flavoured syrups if you can, these are mostly topped up with artificial colours and sweeteners and pale in comparison to the real deal.

RECIPE

serves 8
equipment : one 2lb loaf tin

For the cake:
120g unsalted butter
235g plain flour
160g caster sugar
2tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
3 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp neutral oil
40ml maple syrup
100g sour cream

For the glaze:
80g maple syrup
20g unsalted butter
pinch of flaky sea salt

For the brown sugar custard:
500ml milk
200ml double (heavy) cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 egg yolks
90g light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp cornflour

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 160c fan/180c. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with baking paper. (Using a loaf tin that isn’t not too wide and shallow will help get a lovely shape)

2. Add the butter to a small pan and heat until melted. Continue to cook and stir until the butter turns a golden amber colour and smells fragrant. Pour the butter and all the brown bits into a bowl to cool down.

3. Add the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and salt to a bowl and mix to combine.

4. Make a well in the centre and pour in the beaten egg, oil, maple syrup and cooled brown butter.

5. Give it a mix until the batter just comes together.

6. Fold in the sour cream until there are no more streaks and pour the batter into the prepared tin.

7. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. Once out of the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes whilst you prepare the maple butter. Add the maple syrup and butter to a small pan and heat until steaming and fully combined. Sprinkle in the flaky sea salt and pour it all straight over the cake.

9. Let the cake cool for another 10-15 minutes before slicing to serve.

For the brown sugar custard:

1. To make the custard, add the milk, cream and vanilla to a saucepan and heat gently until hot, just before the boil.

2. Add the egg yolk, sugar and cornflour to a separate bowl and whisk for a few seconds until smooth.

3. Add a big splash of the hot milk to the eggs, whisking well while you pour. Add the rest of the milk in three stages, whisking after each addition.

4. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook gently over a low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly. Once the custard has thickened and is steaming hot, remove from the heat and pour into a jug to serve.