Bourbon Pecan Caramel Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

It’s that birthday time of year with the coworkers. Some tell me specifically what they want-tune in to March’s birthday. Others I’ve worked with long enough that I know their favorite flavors. Angie is a nutty caramel bourbon loving woman. This was for her.

The Cake:

2 cups pecans, toasted

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 cup sour cream

The Sauce:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons bourbon

The Frosting:

1 1/2 cup butter

4 cups flour

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoon cream or milk

Preheat oven 350 degrees

How I do:

Toast the pecans in the oven about 10 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup for decorating. The other 1 1/2 goes into a food processor. Chop roughly until all it is medium fine. Remove 3/4 cup and set aside. Into the processor bowl add the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Run it until the nuts are finely ground.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at time, scraping down the sides in between. Add the vanilla and bourbon. (I upped the recipe to 2 T. bourbon, more maybe tricky.) Add 1/3 the flour, mix and scrape, 1/2 the sour cream, mix and scrape, second 1/3 the flour mix and scrape, last half of the sour cream, mix and scrape, ending with the remaining 1/3 flour, mixing and scraping before adding the 3/4 cup medium fine chopped nuts.

Pour into 2 prepared 9-inch pans. I spray and parchment line my pans.

Bake for 27 ish minutes. Checking for doneness. Cool completely.

For the sauce bring the water and sugar together in a sauce pan. Brush down the sugar crystals, swirling the sugar until it reaches the brown color desired. Remove from heat and add the cream and bourbon. Return to the burner stirring and dissolving any caramel that may have hardened when you added the cream. Don’t worry it will smooth out.

For the frosting. -I do this when the pecans are toasting- take 2 of the 3 sticks of butter and melt in a pot on the stove, not the microwave. Once it’s melted allow it to keep cooking gently so the solids brown. Keep and eye on the coloring it will go from no color to too brown easily. Cool completely to where the butter is firming up but not refrigerated. In the stand mixer add the browned butter, scraping the pan and the other 1/2 cup -1 stick- together. Whip together. In to this add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip and scrape. I made a naked cake, meaning I only did frosting between layers and scant on the side. If you want more icing use a full pound of butter and 6 cups powdered sugar.

Decorate as you see fit reserving the sauce for the plate when you serve. The sauce with nicely reheat in the microwave.