We are still celebrating Easter! We’ve got about two and a half weeks left before the season of Easter ends and we are keeping the celebration going over here with a recipe from the famous Upperline Restaurant in New Orleans called Gateau de Sirop or Cane Syrup Cake.
Cane Syrup is a big deal where I am from. I never really thought about it before but we didn’t grow up with real maple syrup. It was too expensive. But sugar cane was a staple crop that grew well and was affordable. If you used syrup, it was cane syrup or later artificial syrups like Log Cabin or Karo.
My mother in law, who grew up in rural western Alabama remembers her daddy growing and harvesting sugar cane. Two mules went around in a circle turning a machine that ground up the sugar cane. He would take the sugar cane juice and boil it until it turned into a golden liquid (cane syrup) and put it in cans.
An interesting note - Cane syrup is a lot thinner than maple syrup and it is not nearly as sweet. Also, if you boil the cane syrup a second time you get molasses. If you boil it a third time, you get blackstrap molasses.
This cake is delicious and really easy to make. It’s a really moist cake with ginger, cinnamon, a little nutmeg and the unique and delicate flavor of cane syrup. Top it with homemade whipped cream and a drizzle of cane syrup and enjoy!
https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/gateau-de-sirop-syrup-cake