Maple Memory Cake

• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup mascarpone
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, Grade B, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, Grade A, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 large egg white, at room temperature
• Confectioner's sugar for the top

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a parchment round and butter the top of the paper.
2. Toast pecans on a small baking pan in oven until fragrant, about 5-7 minutes. Remove and allow nuts to cool.
3. Grind pecans in a mini-prep processor until uniformly chopped into small pieces (it's okay if they start to bind together a little).
4. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in pecans, pinching apart any chunks that may have formed in the mini prep, and set bowl aside.
5. Combine mascarpone and vanilla in another small bowl.
6. Using a hand mixer, cream butter in a large metal bowl for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary. Add maple, and continue to mix and scrape for another 3 minutes. At this point, your batter may look separated, almost curdled, but not to worry it will come together once you add the flour. Add whole eggs, one at a time, mixing between additions. Continue to mix and scrape for another minute.
7. Add half of the flour, then mix and scrape on low. Repeat with half of the mascarpone. Continue with remaining flour and then mascarpone, in two more additions, being careful only to mix until blended. Do not over mix.
8. With clean beaters and a clean metal bowl, whip egg white until you have soft peaks. Fold into batter in two additions. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing evenly with an offset spatula and lightly tapping pan on a flat surface. Bake until fragrant, sides begin to pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 24-25 minutes.
9. Set cake pan on a rack to cool. Run a knife around edge of cake if necessary. Once cool, invert cake twice to have the "top" right side up (as it was in the pan) on your serving plate. Sift confectioner's sugar over the top of cake and serve. Enjoy!

pecans, cake flour, baking powder, kosher salt, mascarpone, vanilla, unsalted butter, maple syrup, maple syrup, eggs, egg white, us sugar

Taken from food52.com/recipes/16840-maple-memory-cake (may not work)