National Baking Week: Our Top Bakes to Enjoy this Week

Founded by Pyrex in 2007, National Baking Week aims to encourage people of all abilities to bake at home. With lockdowns encouraging the mass baking of banana bread and the recent return of The Great British Bake Off, baking fever is at an all-time high in the UK.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a novice to baking, looking for some easy, beginner’s recipes or an experienced baker looking for a challenge, we have picked a range of our maple syrup cake recipes to help inspire you to celebrate National Baking Week.

Blissful Baking Recipes

Let’s start with an easy bake, taking only fifteen minutes to prepare. Our iced maple lemon cake is similar to a lemon drizzle, using a traditional creaming method – combining the maple sugar and butter before adding any of the other ingredients. You get a sharp tang of lemon running through the cake and icing that is offset by the soft sweetness of the maple syrup.

If you’re looking for something more adventurous flavour-wise, Francesca Willow’s no bake maple rhubarb cake contains more daring ingredients, such as dates, rhubarb, tofu and beetroot powder that gives it that gorgeous pink colour. The other advantage of this recipe is that you don’t even need an oven, as a no-bake cake all you will need is a trusty fridge.

Now we’re getting to a recipe that is bound to test your baking skills. Created by our Ambassador William Curley, a professional chocolatier, this orange, maple and praline cake if full of warming citrus flavours and rich maple syrup. Topped off with confit oranges, roasted hazelnuts, and fragrant vanilla. If you’re looking to prove yourself as a baker, give this one a go.

Vegan Versions

Vegan baking is on the rise, as shown by The Great British Bake Off this year having their first vegan contestant, Freya Cox. She has demonstrated how people can use alternatives such as vegan spreads made from vegetable oils, aquafaba (chickpea water, blended to make an egg white alternative), and various plant and nut milks. Not forgetting maple syrup that can act as a sweetener to any vegan recipe.

My Vegan Minimalist, Tajda, is another trailblazer in the vegan baking sphere. Her vegan pear cake is a light and fluffy cake that is easy to get to grips with for people who may be new to vegan baking. This cake celebrates pears with hints of cinnamon, lemon, and maple syrup throughout. It uses flaxseed to replace eggs’ role in the recipe and oat milk to replace the usual dairy content.

If you’re looking to impress with your vegan baking, The Loopy Whisk’s vegan maple pecan cupcakes is a recipe fit for a special occasion. These cupcakes have an added surprise of a luscious maple spread centre, a decadent treat. They are topped with maple frosting that is made with vegan butter and maple sugar that melts in the mouth. Trust us when we say you wouldn’t even know it was vegan.

To discover even more baking recipes containing maple syrup click here.