Chasing a Cane Syrup Cake

Hi friends,

A couple of years back, my Dad told me about the cane syrup cake his grandmother used to make. I haven’t always had the taste for cane syrup. When I was a kid, there was usually a can of it in the house, a thick dark syrup that out of the can could be mistaken for molasses. To me, cane syrup existed for one use - for my Dad to pour it over pancakes. But that has changed and thank goodness. It’s versatile! Swap it for honey in a marinade or dressing, pour it into cake batter, use it in cocktails, stir it into butter.

I’d made a variation of a cane syrup cake for my Dad before but he swore it didn’t taste the same and last week, I was determined to figure out what exactly he meant. The texture of the cake was the sticking point. It was heavy. Like a torte? No, not like a torte, but dense. Like a poundcake? Not like a poundcake but not light like a Betty Crocker cake mix can turn out.

I figured I could engineer it somehow until I was going through photos I had taken when my Mawmaw and I went through her piles of recipe cards a few years back. In the cards was her syrup cake recipe staring back at me. When I baked it up for my Dad, he swore the texture was different than what he remembered from his grandmother. It was a bit too light, too airy, he said. I was considering how I would change the ratios when the next day he let me know that the cake tasted right. I think she’d bake it the day before and the next day it was a little denser, he said. Perfect. Cake found. But I had already started thinking about what would make a cake denser and I knew I wanted to riff off this recipe to bring some more fall flavors into the fold.

The recipe below is what I pulled together. It’s one of those unbreakable baking recipes that you always need up your sleeve: easy, simple, and tasty.

We’ll be eating a version of this cane syrup cake alongside figs at November Supper Club — check out more of the menu here! Hope to see you there!

xo,

Laura

Cane Syrup Apple Butter Cake

makes a 9x9 cake

This cake is adapted from a recipe found in my Mawmaw’s recipe box. I wanted a bit of a fall twist so enter apple butter. I’ve used applesauce in a baking project before when I started and realized that I didn’t have a single egg in my house. Applesauce can work as the binder in a cake just like an egg and adds moisture. Apple butter takes this a step further by adding all those fall spices we love and stands out.

This cane syrup apple butter cake is the perfect one bowl cake. It pulls together easy and bakes up into a moist, flavorful fall hug. It’s also adaptable – swap the apple butter for another kind of fruit butter or the cane syrup for something like date syrup and see how it bakes up.

Ingredients for cake

Cooking spray or butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup apple butter*

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup olive oil (you can also use canola, avocado, pick your poison)

½ cup cane syrup (I prefer Steen’s for a cane syrup cake but in a pinch or if you don’t want to have to order it, you can use any brand)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup boiling water

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.       Combine flour, sugar, apple butter, baking soda, olive oil, cane syrup, and vanilla. Stir until combined.

3.       Boil water & add to cake batter. Stir until combined.

4.       Prep baking dish with butter or cooking spray. Put batter into cake pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. The cake should spring back when you touch it and if you insert a knife, it should come up clean.

5.       Set cake aside to cool completely. Once cool, slice up & enjoy!

*It’s fall! You should be able to find apple butter pretty much at any store. If you are looking to make it, head to Food in Jars for her fruit butter recipe. She’s my north star for all things canning.