Maple Buttercream Adventure

Editor’s note: This is the post I planned to publish before the Marshall Fire swept through our neighborhood in Louisville, Colorado, on December 30, 2021.

I needed a little victory, a small win, a bright spot in what now feels like a never-ending pandemic grind.

Most folks we know burned out many months ago and have been mentally trudging along the highway to get to the nearest town ever since. We keep looking for that light in the window.

For a brief moment, maple provided respite.

First, you need to know that we have a maple syrup détente in our home. Early on, tensions ran high in the Vermont versus Québec race. Accusations were made. Notice my intentionally diplomatic passive phrasing there.

Although we don’t see eye-to-eye on where the best maple syrup comes from, that doesn’t mean either of us turns down some from the other person’s homeland. One treat on both sides of the border is maple butter, a creamy spread traditionally made by heating maple syrup and then whipping it like crazy. The rich-tasting dairy-free spread is good slathered on fresh bread and would be nice in baked goods, if any lasted that long.

But I’ll be the first to admit that real maple syrup isn’t everyone’s favorite. The flavor can overwhelm, and this is coming from a girl who grew up eating syrup drizzled over snow. With a pickle on the side. What tends to be a crowd-pleaser, though, is maple and dark chocolate since bold chocolate mellows the maple. With this in mind, I experimented based on a vanilla buttercream recipe from Deb Perelman’s cookbook “Smitten Kitchen Every Day.”

The result was a dark chocolate wacky cake containing semi-sweet chocolate chips and minced candied ginger topped with maple buttercream and chocolate sprinkles. That cake was truly one of my best creations. Guillaume agreed. So did the friendly folks at an outdoor potluck last autumn during a fleeting pandemic lull.

But it wasn’t enough. A voice in the back of my head kept going, “What about a vegan version?” After all, the maple butter is vegan and so is the cake. Why not take this all the way? Then the memory came back: Hand mixer beaters gummed up with vegan butter and all-purpose flour that I’d added by mistake instead of powdered sugar. Even with the right sugar, that stick never turned into anything pleasant. I made a glaze with almond milk and called it a day.

While I considered trying with vegetable shortening, it reminds me too much of gross birthday cakes. More recently, however, I came across Shan’s blog Instant Veg and her recipe for vegan buttercream with coconut oil. Despite the name, coconut oil doesn’t have a strong flavor and was clutch for making meat-free moussaka. Since the organic refined expeller pressed coconut oil I bought already had a nice texture, I decided to use it as a straight replacement for the butter directly from the jar.

The texture turned out better than anticipated. Guillaume couldn’t believe how well it had gone, either. We really savored this cake. The coconut oil is stable at room temperature so we could store it covered on the counter. And it didn’t leave us feeling weighed down afterward, either. Those slices represented a sweet respite from everything.

Dark Chocolate Ginger Cake with Maple Buttercream

Chocolate Cake
1½ C. bleached all-purpose flour
¼ C. unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s Special Dark)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. white or apple cider vinegar
6 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 C. water
½ C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
15g (0.5 oz.) candied ginger
Chocolate sprinkles (optional garnish)

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F.

Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish or pan; vegetable spray is fine. Mince the candied ginger.

Put the water in a 2-cup glass measure. Add the wet ingredients: oil, vanilla, and vinegar.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a medium mixing bowl, then add the sugar. Pour in the wet ingredients. Stir together with a fork until you can’t see any more flour and the batter looks fairly well homogenized. Mix in the chocolate chips and minced candied ginger. Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for 27 minutes (at high altitude) or until the top is springy and a tester inserted in the center comes out dry. Cool the cake in the pan completely on a wire rack.

Vegan Buttercream Version

90g (approx. ½ C.) organic coconut oil, refined expeller pressed
115g powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. unsweetened almond milk (or another non-dairy milk)
Pinch of salt
2½ Tbsp. maple butter, depending on your preference

Measure the coconut oil into the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium-sized mixing bowl. Sift the powdered sugar in. Use the paddle attachment or hand-mixer whisk to gently mash the sugar and oil together until roughly combined. Add the pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of the almond milk.

Put the attachment back in the machine and mix on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add the other tablespoon of almond milk and mix some more. Use a spatula to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Going a half tablespoon at a time, add the maple butter and mix well after each addition. Continue until the flavor is just right. Some minor maple streaks are normal. At the end, mix it for about a minute to make sure the frosting is nice and fluffy.

Make sure the cake is fully cooled before frosting it. Dollop the buttercream on top, swirling it around with the back of a large spoon to cover the top. Put chocolate sprinkles over the top. If not eating it right away, cover the cake and store it at room temperature. Refrigeration will make the vegan frosting very hard.

Dairy Buttercream Version

Approx. 90g unsalted butter, at room temperature (around 6 Tbsp.)
115g powdered sugar
¾ Tbsp. milk, cream, or half-and-half
2½ Tbsp. maple butter, depending on your preference
Pinch of salt

Place the soft butter, powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Holding the paddle attachment, gently mash the sugar and butter together until roughly combined. Put the attachment back on the machine and mix at medium-high speed until fluffy. Use a spatula to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Now mix in the milk or cream until fully incorporated.

Going a half tablespoon at a time, add the maple butter, mixing well after each addition. Taste as you go. Some minor maple streaks are normal.

Make sure the cake is fully cooled before frosting it. Dollop the buttercream on top, swirling it around with the back of a large spoon to cover the top. Put chocolate sprinkles over the top. Leftovers should be refrigerated, but you’ll want to bring it up to room temp so the frosting softens.