Brown Sugar Cake with Maple Icing

I found this recipe in some better living magazine a while back and  it has become one of my favourites.  The cake is a dense one and combined with this excellent icing makes a wonderful combination.

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup of milk

Icing:
1/2 package of cream cheese at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sifted icing sugar
1/4 cup butter at room temperature
3 Tbs maple syrup

Directions:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 9x9 pan. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl then set aside.  Beat butter in a large bowl until creamy, at least one minute.  Beat in sugar and vanilla, then add eggs one at a time.  Gradually add half the flour until just combined then add half the milk.  Repeat with the other half.  Pour  into the greased pan.  Bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean about 25 to 30min.  Let cool for at least 15 minutes before icing.

Icing:
Beat cream cheese with icing sugar, butter and maple syrup in a medium bowl until smooth.  Refrigerate icing until firm, about 30 minutes.

The Twist:

The first, and my favourite, to cook up three strips of bacon until crispy.  Chop them up and add most to the icing saving a little to garnish the top.  Maple-bacon icing, so good!

Actually the icing is an excellent base and the maple syrup can easily be substituted with vanilla, lemon extract, almond extract, etc.  When doing those substitutions start with 1 tsp, beat well and then taste.

When mixing the cake pay attention to the ingredients that need to be at room temperature.  You'll find it makes a big difference to the density of the cake.