Maple Cornucopia Cake

It is still countdown to Thanksgiving and today I made the cake centerpiece.  I bought this mold from Williams Sonoma in an after Thanksgiving sale ages ago in VA.  I have never used it.  Today is the day.  Yesterday, watching the nightly news with Diane Sawyer she had a writer named Sam Sifton who has written a book on Thanksgiving.  He has rules.  They are:

NO APPETIZERS-You want them to eat the meal and not fill up on nuts and cheese.

NO SALAD-This is not the day for healthy eating.  Eat salad the other 364 days

BUTTER- And lots of it, at least 2#

PIE-This is not a chocolate day

Ingredients:

2 ¾ C cake flour

1 ¾ t baking powder

1t salt

½ t ground cinnamon

¼ t freshly grated nutmeg

½ t ground ginger

½ C milk

¾ C maple syrup

1 ½ t vanilla extract

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 C firmly packed light brown sugar

½ C granulated sugar

4 eggs, beaten

Wondra Flour for dusting and Pam butter to spray the mold

Directions:

1.       Have all ingredients at room temperature. 

2.       Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

3.       Spray the cake pan with Pam (butter) and dust with Wondra flour.  Shake out the excess. 

4.       In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

5.       In another small bowl crack the eggs.

6.       In yet another bowl, combine the milk, maple syrup and vanilla extract. 

7.       In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute. 

8.       Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrap down the sides of the bowl. 

9.       Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

10.   Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with the flour.  Beat each addition just until incorporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

11.   Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading the batter so the sides are higher than the center and spreading it into the shallow end of the pan. 

12.   Bake until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Mine took 1 ½ hours to bake. 

13.   Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool upright in the pan for 15 minutes. 

14.   Tap the cake pan gently on a work surface to loosen the cake. 

15.   Place the rack on top of the opening and invert the pan putting the cake unto the wire rack to cool completely, at least 2 hours.  

Is this adorable or what.  Dessert and table decoration all in one!