High Altitude Chocolate Maple Cake
Moist chocolate cake frosted with salted maple buttercream. To decorate this cake for Christmas, it's finished with swirls of deep green buttercream and painted evergreen trees.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- ½ recipe Chocolate Cake
Maple Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder, optional
- ¼ - ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tsp maple extract
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Prepare and bake the chocolate cake recipe as instructed.Baker's Note: For the smaller 6-inch cake in today's post, make 1/2 the cake recipe. For a standard 8-inch cake, make the full cake recipe.
- Cool the cakes completely before frosting.
Maple Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined.
- Add the extracts, and increase the speed to medium. Beat the buttercream for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
- Stack, fill and frost the cake with the maple buttercream. If you like, use tip 1M to pipe swirls on top of the cake.
- If decorating your cake with green buttercream, see this Christmas tree cake post for tips on how to make a deep green colored buttercream.
Notes
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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