High Altitude Maple Penuche Sheet Cake
This high altitude maple cake is so incredibly soft, tender and moist, frosted with old fashioned maple penuche frosting and sprinkled with crunchy walnuts.
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
- 9x13 baking pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 oz full fat cream cheese (block style), softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 4 large eggs
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp maple extract
- 3 cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ⅓ cups whole milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Frosting
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
- ¾ - 1 tsp flaky finishing salt (such as Maldon)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the inside of a 9x13 inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or prep the pan with butter and flour.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed (#4-6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer) for 7 minutes. Scrape the bowl down several times while mixing.
- Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating in each egg on medium speed for 1 full minute before adding the next egg. Add the vanilla and maple extracts.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk and vinegar, starting and ending with the flour. Increase speed to medium and beat for 15 seconds.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until golden brown on top and a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack to cool for 30 minutes, before adding the frosting.
Frosting
- In a saucepan, combine melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar. Cook the butter and sugar, stirring frequently, for several minutes, until a digital candy thermometer inserted in the mixture reads between 236-240 F. Remove from the heat. Note that the butter and sugar will still look grainy/separated at this point.
- Whisk in the milk and the extracts, then whisk in the powdered sugar. Whisk the frosting vigorously by hand for several minutes, until thick and smooth, and slightly lightened in color.
- Immediately pour the frosting over the warm cake, spreading it out into an even layer.
- Sprinkle the frosting with the chopped walnuts and the flaky salt. Don't be afraid to be generous with the salt - this cake is fantastic with the salty sweet frosting.
- Allow the cake to cool completely, at least 3-4 hours, so the frosting can firm and set up, before cutting into squares. If you do choose to cut the cake while it's still warm, it will be delicious, but the frosting will still be drippy. Allowing it to cool completely lets the frosting firm up to more of a soft fudge consistency.
Notes
Store the leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days.
You can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. Cake flour will make a lighter, fluffier, more tender cake, while all-purpose flour will make it a bit more dense.
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