Maple Walnut Cake

September and the Jewish holidays and the fall and the editing and the visits and the cooking and the life that is fuller now than it was when I was teaching, which should be impossible and which is true, because the book has added a dimension to my life that I did not know was missing — the dimension of ambition, of project, of the specific thrill of making something that will outlast me, that will sit on shelves after I am gone, that will carry Sylvia's recipes and Irving's silence and Marvin's love into the future, into kitchens I will never see, cooked by hands I will never meet. The book is the chain in permanent form. The book is the chain that does not depend on memory, because the book remembers for you.

Rosh Hashanah. Twelve people. Round challah. Brisket. Honey cake. Marvin's photo. Ethan asking the four questions. Sophie rolling matzo balls. Noah singing along with the blessings (imprecisely, enthusiastically). Hannah, three and a half, eating everything with the indiscriminate appetite of a toddler who has been told that the food is special and who has decided that special means unlimited.

I brought Marvin the holiday plate on Sunday. He ate the brisket and the challah with honey. He did not respond to the blessings. He did not say chag sameach. But he ate. And the eating is the participation. And the participation is the chain. And the chain holds. 5785. A new year. The book is coming. The brisket is braising. The chain holds.

The honey cake I made for 5785 was Sylvia’s recipe, and I am not ready to share it yet — it belongs to the book. But what I can share is the cake I made for the second night, the quieter night, when it was just Marvin and me and the leftover challah and the feeling that the new year had already begun its work. Maple is honey’s closest cousin in the language of sweetness — deep and amber and unhurried — and walnuts have always been on the Feldman table in one form or another. This cake is not a High Holiday tradition. It is something simpler: a cake that tastes like the year turning, like the chain holding, like enough.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup chopped walnuts, divided
1/4 cup maple syrup (for glaze)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (for glaze)

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch round or Bundt cake pan. Toast 3/4 cup of the chopped walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring often, until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Cream butter and sweeteners. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the maple syrup and beat until fully incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Combine wet and dry. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix just until combined — do not overmix. Fold in the toasted walnuts.
Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is deep golden brown. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Make the maple glaze. Whisk together the 1/4 cup maple syrup and powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over the warm cake. Scatter the remaining 1/4 cup raw walnuts over the top while the glaze is still wet.
Serve. Allow the glaze to set for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve at room temperature. The cake keeps well, covered, for up to 3 days — the maple flavor deepens overnight.

Nutrition (per serving)

Maple Walnut Cake — The Sweetness We Carry Forward