On Monday, the day of the blizzard, Maple Trout Lilli wrote:
I keep my eye out all year long for maple recipes that sound, well not just okay, but really, really, good. I came across this recipe from Dorie Greenspan just the other day and decided I’d give it a go. Finding sweet inspiration in something salty like miso seemed like a good bet. She developed this recipe to be sweet enough to be called a cake, but savory enough to serve with cheese. Interesting right?
INGREDIENTS:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp (4 oz), + more for the pan
1 ¾ cup/238 grams all purpose flour
1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Finely grated zest of one orange
¼ cup/70 grams white miso paste
¼ cup/60 milliliters pure maple syrup
2 large eggs at room temp
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup/80 milliliters buttermilk (well shaken before measuring)
¼ Cup/80 grams orange marmalade or apricot jam (optional for glaze)
PREPARATION
Step 1
Center rack in middle of the oven and heat oven to 350º.
Butter an 81/2 inch loaf pan and dust with sugar.
Step 2
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Put the sugar, salt and zest in the bowl of a stand mixer. Rub ingredients together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add butter, miso and maple syrup to the sugar mixture.
Step 3
Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed, until the mixture is smooth and creamy. One by one add the eggs, beating for a minute after each goes in. Beat in the vanilla. Turn off the mixer and add dry ingredients all at once and pulse to begin the blending, turning the mixer on and off in short spurts on low speed. Then, beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are almost incorporated. With the mixer still on low, pour in buttermilk and blend well. Scrape batter unto the pan, working it into the corners and smoothing the top.
Step 4
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, checking the loaf after 40 minutes and covering the top loosely with foil or tented parchment if it’s beginning to brown too fast. It is properly baked when it pulls away from the sides of the pan and a tester, inserted in the center, comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and let rest for 5 minutes, then run a table knife around the edges of the loaf and unmold onto a rack; turn it right side up.
Step 5
If you’d like to glaze, stir marmalade or jam w/1 tablespoon water and heat until it just comes to a boil. Using a pastry brush or spoon, cover the top of the loaf with the glaze. Allow to cool at room temp before slicing. Wrapped well, it keeps for about 4 days at room temp. After that, it’s always good toasted lightly.
—MTL
“…it keeps for about 4 days…” Correction: There is none left to keep after two hours, not at Nebraska Knoll, not on a blizzard day.
